Physician Assistant
Career Research Project
By: Jane Doe
Personal Characteristics & Work Values
Personal Characteristics
Work Values
• Emotional stability
• Detail Oriented
• Team Player
• Compassion
• Good Problem-Solving Skills
• Confident
• Hardworking
• Confidential
• Honesty
• Integrity
Abilities & Skills
Abilities
• Verbal
• communicate by speaking
• listen and understand what people
say
• Ideas and Logic
• make general rules or come up
with answers from lots of detailed
information
• use rules to solve problems
• Visual Understanding
• quickly compare groups of letters,
numbers, pictures, or other things
• quickly know what you are looking
at
• Math
• add, subtract, multiply, or divide
Skills
• Basic Skills
• listening to others, not interrupting, and
asking good questions
• reading work related information
• Problem Solving
• noticing a problem and figuring out the
best way to solve it
• People and Technology
Systems
• thinking about the pros and cons of
different options and picking the best
one
• figuring out how a system should work
and how changes in the future will affect
it
Nature of Work
• Examine patients to obtain information about their physical
condition. See more occupations related to this task.
• Make tentative diagnoses and decisions about management and
treatment of patients. See more occupations related to this task.
• Prescribe therapy or medication with physician approval. See more
occupations related to this task.
• Administer or order diagnostic tests, such as x-ray, electrocardiogram,
and laboratory tests. See more occupations related to this task.
• Interpret diagnostic test results for deviations from normal.
Working Conditions
• The work schedules may vary according to the practice setting and
often depend on the hours of the supervising physician. The
workweek of hospital-based PA’s may include weekends, nights, or
early morning hospital rounds to visit patients. These workers also
may be on call.
• PA’s in clinics on average work a 40-hour week.
Training, Qualifications and Advancement
• Obtain a Bachelors Degree and complete a 2year Physician Assistant
Program.
• All jurisdictions require physician assistants to pass the Physician Assistant
National Certifying Examination.
• Only those who have successfully completed the examination may use the
credential “Physician Assistant-Certified.” To remain certified, PA’s must
complete 100 hours of continuing medical education every 2 years.
• Every 6 years, they must pass a recertification examination or complete an
alternative program combining learning experiences and a take-home
examination.
• Some physician assistants pursue additional education in a specialty.
Postgraduate educational programs are available in areas such as surgery,
emergency medicine, and psychiatry. To enter one of these programs, a
physician assistant must be a graduate of an accredited program and be
certified by the NCCPA.
Employment
• More than 53% of jobs for PA’s were in the offices of physicians.
• About 24% were in general medical and surgical hospitals, public or
private.
• The rest were mostly in outpatient care centers, including health
maintenance organizations; the federal government; and public or
private colleges, universities, and professional schools.
• Very few are self-employed.
Job Outlook (growth rate,
opportunities/competition)
• Employment is expected to grow by 39% from 2008 to 2018.
• Projected rapid job growth reflects the expansion of healthcare
industries and an emphasis on cost containment, which results in
increasing use of PA’s by healthcare establishments.
• Physicians and institutions are expected to employ more PA’s to
provide primary care and to assist with medical and surgical
procedures because PA’s are cost-effective and productive. PA’s can
relieve physicians of routine duties and procedures. Healthcare
providers will use more PA’s as states continue to expand PAs’ scope
of practice by allowing them to perform more procedures.
Earning Potential
• The median annual wage in May 2008 was $81,230. The middle 50%
earned between $68,210 and $97,070. The lowest 10% earned less than
$51,360, and the highest 10% earned more than $110,240. The average
salary in June 2012 grew to $93,105.
• According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants’ 2008 Census
Report, median income for physician assistants in full-time clinical practice
was $85,710 in 2008; median income for first-year graduates was $74,470.
• Income varies by specialty, practice setting, geographical location, and
years of experience. Employers often pay for their employees' professional
liability insurance, registration fees with the Drug Enforcement
Administration, State licensing fees, and credentialing fees.
Related Occupations
• Nurse Practitioners
• Nurse Midwives
• Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Health Specialists Teachers (Postsecondary)
• Nursing Instructors & Teachers (Postsecondary)
• Dental Hygienist
Justification of Compatibility
• I believe my personal characteristics are compatible to the career
requirements because I am:
•
•
•
•
•
•
a team player
compassionate
Hardworking
Honest
I can listen well without interrupting
I am great in math
• These are all characteristics that someone interested in being a
Physician Assistant should possess.
References
• 10 Traits Every Physician Assistant Need. (2011). GAP Medics. Retrieved
April 27, 2015, from http://www.gapmedics.com/blog/2014/09/11/10traits-every-physician-assistant-needs
• Physician Assis
• Physician Assistant. (2015). My Next Move. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from
http://www.mynextmove.org/profile/summary/29-1071.00
• Physician Assistant. (2014). University of California Santa Cruz. Retrieved
April 27, 2015, from
http://careers.ucsc.edu/health/health_professions/physicianasst.html
• Summary Report for Physician Assistants. (2015). O*Net. Retrieved April
27, 2015, from http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-1071.00