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For Applicants: What Is a PA?

What is a PA?
Applying to Physician Assistant Programs
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Should You Become a PA?

What Is a PA?

PA Profession

Physician assistants (PAs) are health professionals licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision. Those employed by the federal government are credentialed under a separate system. All PAs are qualified by graduation from an accredited physician assistant educational program and certification by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).

Within the physician/PA relationship, physician assistants exercise autonomy in medical decision making and provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. A PA's responsibilities may also include education, research, and administrative services.

The growth of the profession has been substantial since its inception in 1965. Physician assistant programs were begun to offset a maldistribution and shortage of doctors. Many of the first PAs were former medical corpsmen who wanted to use their medical knowledge and experience in civilian life.

By choosing to become a physician assistant, you are entering one of the fastest-growing health care professions. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 49 percent increase in the number of PA jobs between 2004 and 2014, making it the third fastest-growing profession in the country.

State laws regulating physician assistants have expanded access to physician services provided by PAs, including the authority to prescribe in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam. The development of HMOs and other prepaid plans and the growing acceptance of PAs by other health care professionals have combined to strengthen the job market for PAs.

Physician assistants work wherever physicians or health care organizations employ them. They can be found in virtually all health care settings. From Maine to Hawaii, PAs work in hospitals, physicians' offices, HMOs, correctional institutions, military installations, VA medical centers, nursing homes, public health agencies, community clinics, research centers, urban/rural health clinics, health care education and administration offices, industrial medicine clinics, and even the White House.

The responsibilities of a physician assistant depend on the practice setting, education, and experience of the PA, and on the state laws and regulations. No matter where PAs are employed, they provide quality medical care.

Physician assistants can take medical histories, perform physical exams, order and interpret laboratory tests, diagnose and treat illnesses, counsel patients, assist in surgery, and set fractures.

Physician assistants are educated as generalists in medicine; all programs emphasize primary care. Although their education and credentialing are based on a primary care foundation, PAs can work in specialty fields, such as cardiovascular surgery, orthopedics, and emergency medicine. The largest proportion opt for the primary care specialty areas of family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.

A commitment to caring is the foundation of the physician assistant profession — and has been since the profession began. Whether it is running a rural health clinic in South Dakota or a community health center in Florida, caring for pediatric patients in New York or geriatric patients in Arizona, PAs are making a difference.

Every day, thousands of people have access to quality health care because there are PAs in their communities. Many physician assistants take jobs in rural communities that would otherwise be without a health care provider. PAs managed approximately 192 million visits in 2004, and a nationwide Gallup poll found that Americans widely accept the care provided by PAs. As patient advocates and educators, PAs help people use the health care system more efficiently and effectively.

If you want to make a difference — and have a positive influence on health care in this country — the physician assistant profession is waiting for you.

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Applying to Physician Assistant Programs

Click here to learn more information on applying to Physician Assistant Programs

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Frequently asked Questions

Click here to see a list of frequently asked questions.

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Why Should You Become a PA?

Click here to download the informational brochure, “Why Should You Become A Physician Assistant?”. (PDF Document)

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