Physician Assistant Bachelors Degree

Do you yearn to be in the thick of the medical field? Do medical procedures and medical treatments intrigue you? Will you not be professionally satisfied until you have secured your spot in this industry? If you said yes to each of these questions then pursuing a career as a physician's assistant will no doubt fulfill your professional goals. After completing your high school diploma (or the equivalent) you will be ready to choose a four year college or university that fits your educational needs and to start pursuing your bachelor's degree.

In your profession as a physician's assistant you will be working with surgeons and doctors to perform a variety of tasks. You will likely be responsible for managing inventory, prescribing medication to patients, examining patients, treating minor injuries of patients, supervising medical technicians, and deciphering the results from medical tests

To obtain your bachelor's degree as a physician's assistant you will be required to successfully complete a training program that is approved by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education. Depending upon the program you apply for, you may be required to have already completed some college level course work or to have significant experience in the healthcare industry.

Applicable experience would be in the nursing profession or in the emergency medical service industry. Of course, the requirements are not the same for all degree programs so it would be wise to check into what is mandatory for the program you hope to pursue. Generally speaking, the bachelor's degree program for physician's assistants are offered by colleges and universities, medical schools, and healthcare cente

As you work on your degree program you will be required to complete courses in the classroom, clinical based instruction, and hands-on laboratory experience. Common classroom instructional courses include: pharmacology, anatomy, clinical medicine, diagnostics, and physiology. The final year of course work is clinically based. For this year, students will work in a real world setting to gain hands-on experience and to further their level of understanding. Everything that is done during this clinical experience will be directly supervised by a teacher or a mentor. It is common for individuals to select an area of specialization to focus their studies on. Common areas of emphasis that students choose are: surgery, pediatrics, internal medicine, emergency care, and urology. It is important to understand that should you select an area of specialization you will probably be required to complete different prerequisites to become certified.

After completing your degree you will want to complete the certification requirements mandated by your state. In addition to your state's requirements you will also want to successfully pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination. This multiple choice examination will ensure that you have adequate knowledge of the surgical and medical fundamentals that will be used on a daily basis. Upon successful completion of the certification exam, you will be able to refer to yourself as Physician Assistant Certified. Keep in mind, in order to maintain your certification you will need to complete 100 continuing education hours every two years.

 

Physician assistant Program Goals

The school you decide on attending will have clear program goals or objectives. These goals are set so that they teach you how to become a physician assistant based on industry requirements. Your Bachelor’s Degree in Physician Assistant will cover many of the below program goals and assessments.

- Develop very strong communication skills that can be used at work.
- Be able to solve problems in the fast paced health care industry.
- Review test data. Understand and prevent disease.
- Learn organization skills and the ability to work as a team in a facility.
- Perform accurate patient examinations for clinical procedures using test data.
- Have a high level of ethical standards as they relate to the patient and their current issues.

 

Suggested Curriculum

When researching Bachelor degree programs make sure the physician assistant training you seek contains course including:

 

- Clinical Procedures
- Disease Prevention
- Psychopathology and Pharmacology
- Geriatric Medicine
- Microbiology and Chemistry
- Public Health and Maintenance
- Psychology and Statistics
- Theory and Medical Ethics

 

Potential Salary

This career makes up over 98K jobs in the US. Over 60% are in offices of health practitioners and 24% hospitals. The smallest population of these careers is in the private sector. The average pay $90,930 with the highest earners taking in a salary of $124,00+. Hospitals pay the highest average salary including the best benefits. The medical industry has continued to grow over the years and this career is expected to grow by 39%.

 

Top Physician Assistant Responsibilities

Post Operation – In post op you’ll go over what to do after the surgery with the patient and their family members. Often the family is going to take care of the patient so they need to understand what they will be responsible for including and prescription medication that need taken.

Education – A big part of your role will be to educate the patient including therapy to help them recover quicker. This includes update progress reports for the patient but also for their files so it can be evaluated by the doctor.

Care – Physician assistants can administer emergency care to a patient and conduct hospital rounds.

Tests – As a physician assistant you can conduct and interpret different test including blood work on the patient.