Physicians are busy healthcare professionals, and unfortunately, they can't do it all. That's where physician assistants come in. Under the supervision of a physician, they're able to help patients.
To become a physician assistant, you'll need several years of education and you'll also need to meet other requirements. Keep reading below to learn more about these requirements.
What Is a Physician Assistant?
A physician assistant is someone who works under the guidance of a physician and examines, diagnoses, and treats patients.
The type of physician that a physician assistant works for will influence the job duties. General job duties may include:
- assessing and monitoring patient progress
- counseling and educating patients about their conditions and treatments
- diagnosing patients
- reviewing patients' medical records
- ordering diagnostic tests like blood tests or x-rays and interpreting the results
- performing examinations
- prescribing medication
- researching conditions and treatment options
- treating patients, which may include things like setting broken bones or stitching wounds
Physician assistants may work in a variety of healthcare settings. These include:
- emergency medicine
- family medicine
- primary care
- psychiatry
The majority of physician assistants work in physician offices, but they may also work in places like hospitals and outpatient care centers.
What Are the Educational Requirements to Become a Physician Assistant?
Unlike physicians, physician assistants do not attend medical school. However, physician assistants do need to complete several years of higher education.
Bachelor's Degree
The first educational requirement to become a physician assistant is to earn a bachelor's degree. This is an undergraduate degree that typically takes about four years to complete.
There is no specific bachelor's degree for physician assistants. Some good majors for future physician assistants include:
- biology
- health sciences
- nursing
- pre-medicine
Many physician assistant programs require a certain amount of credits in specific science subjects, so it's important to choose a program that allows you to fulfill those requirements.
Some physician assistant programs may offer a pre-professional phase that replaces or enhances a typical bachelor's degree.
For example, the University of Iowa allows students to designate themselves as pre-physician assistant students, which enables them to access specialized advising and coursework.
Physician Assistant Program Prerequisites
After you have earned your bachelor's degree, you'll need to attend a graduate-level program for physician assistant program. These are master's-level programs that usually take around two years to complete.
A bachelor's degree isn't the only prerequisite for acceptance into a physician assistant program. Students must also fulfill experience requirements.
These requirements are often a blend of healthcare experience, in which you aren't directly responsible for patient care, and patient care experience, in which you are responsible.
Most programs require that students have around 1,000 hours of healthcare and patient care experience, but the amount may vary between programs.
Often, this experience can be gained during your undergraduate program, but some students opt to take a gap year between their degree programs to finish these hours.
Physician assistant programs may also require you to have a minimum grade point average (GPA) and may require a standardized test such as the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE).
The Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) has a list of all physician assistant programs and their prerequisites at paeaonline.org.
Physician Assistant Programs
When choosing a physician assistant program, find one accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA).
You can find a full list of accredited programs at arc-pa.org. In order to become licensed, your program must be accredited by ARC-PA.
Physician assistant programs are usually small, with about two dozen other students. This means they're also competitive, and you should expect to study hard.
Your program will likely be two or three years long. These programs are broken into two parts: didactic, or classroom learning, and clinical rotations.
During your classroom learning, you'll cover topics such as:
- anatomy
- biochemistry
- clinical laboratory science
- medical ethics
- physical diagnosis
During your clinical rotations, you'll get hands-on experience in a variety of healthcare settings. These often include:
- emergency medicine
- family medicine
- general surgery
- obstetrics and gynecology
- psychology
What Other Requirements Are There to Become a Physician Assistant?
Before you can work as a physician assistant in any state, you'll need to be certified and licensed.
Physician Assistant Certification
To become certified, you'll need to take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE), a standardized test administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).
The PACE tests your knowledge of:
- the cardiovascular system
- the gastrointestinal system and nutrition
- the musculoskeletal system
- the pulmonary system
It also tests your knowledge of necessary skills and treatments, such as:
- formulating most likely diagnosis
- history taking and performing physician examinations
- clinical intervention
- pharmaceutical therapeutics
Physician Assistant Licensure
Once you've passed the PACE, you can obtain a license for the state in which you plan to practice.
States set their own regulations for licensure, so you'll need to check your state requirements. You can find a full list of state requirements at aapa.org.
After becoming licensed, many states require periodic renewal. This may be in the form of continuing medical education credits or current certification through the NCCPA.
Become a Physician Assistant
To become a physician assistant, you'll need to complete a bachelor's degree and an accredited physician assistant program. You'll also need experience, certification, and a state license.
With the information above, you can start your career as a physician assistant today.
