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You know you’re in demand when you can hold down two jobs and no one’s complaining. This is currently the life of many physician’s assistants. Their demand is so great that they often work at a private office for one shift, and then hit the highway for a second job at a clinic or other major health care facility for a second one. Yes, it’s a hard way to make a living, but the end result is these medical personnel end up making even more than some doctors. Many are even attending college for medical degrees they need to further advance.
Physician assistants are not medical assistants. The latter handles administrative and clerical functions of an office while the PA is directly involved with a patient’s health. Also, a PA must have at least an associate’s degree, and now four years is becoming more preferred. That said, her salary is leaps and bounds ahead as compared to her medical assistant counterpart.
At her core, the physician’s assistant actually does practice medicine; just under the supervision of doctors and surgeons. PAs provide diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive healthcare services as delegated by a physician. Working as members of a healthcare team, they take medical histories, examine and treat patients, order and interpret laboratory tests and x-rays, and make diagnoses. They also treat minor injuries by suturing, splinting, and casting.
Many PAs work in primary care specialties, such as general internal medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine. Other specialty areas include general surgery, emergency medicine, orthopedics, and geriatrics. Specialists in surgery provide preoperative and postoperative care and may work as first or second assistants during major surgery. Much of their duties are regulated by local and state laws.
There are an incredible number of schools offering to educate PAs, among them a number of online colleges. So, before a student signs up to one, she should do a background on its reputation. Is it accredited? What’s its success rate? Test the water before jumping in. One important factor is a PA must get hands-on time with patients before graduating. They also must go through a certification exam. Many PAs find online colleges particularly handy as they must also get one to two years work before the certification exam.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation has a little under 75,000 physician’s assistants in the country as of 2008. It predicts we will need another additional 29,000 by 2018. Even then, the Bureau feels there will still be so many open positions the “double dipping” won’t be stopping anytime soon. This all boils down to the fact that this is a growing field with plenty of opportunity.
To counter this incredible shortage, there is more than enough financial assistance out there if a student does a bit of research, way beyond the standard Pell and state grants. For instance, a number of corporations and societies have set up scholarship and grant programs. Also, PA’s are one of the professions that have been targeted by President Obama stimulus initiatives.
With salaries that can go into the $90,000 range at the high end, it’s easy to see this is a high demand field. $75,000 per job is an average. Like any position in such high demand, they usually come with extraordinary benefits including insurance, overtime bonuses, education refunds and 401(k) programs. The more education one has, the further the demand, perhaps a reason so many attend best medical college. Even more encouraging are the college grants, fellowships, and grant for online school to help those entering.
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