Exploring Health Professions

Physician Assistant

A physician assistant is educated to provide services that would otherwise be provided by a physician. PA's are qualified to take medical histories, counsel patients, order laboratory tests, perform physical exams, determine treatment, assist in surgery, set fractures, among other health care activities. While PA's practice medicine with the supervision of a physician, their role has become more and more important over the past decade as the profession has grown dramatically.

Physician assistants work in hospitals, HMO's, community clinics, nursing homes, physician offices, public health agencies, and any other setting where physicians work.

There are over 129 accredited programs of study for physician assistants located in colleges, universities and hospitals. While some of these programs offer certification or a bachelor's degree, the movement is towards entry-level master's programs. Many programs participate in a central application known as CASPA that can be found at the website of the Association of Physician Assistant Programs, www.aapa.org. For more information contact the Association of Physician Assistants, 950 North Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-836-2272, www.aapa.org.