Physician assistant is the person who works under the licensed physician. He supports the doctor in diagnosis and management of the patients. They work under the direct supervision of the doctor. They are the licensed physicians who prescribe the medicine with assistance of the physician. They perform the duties starting from the primary care to the high technology specialized procedures. They act as a first or second assistant in the major surgery cases and provide pre and post care to the patients. They are trained in the preventive services for the health care, diagnostic, therapeutic and give assistance to the physicians. When they work as a health care team, they obtain the medical history of the patient, examines the reports and based on the analysis done, they treat the patients; they interprets the laboratory tests, take X-rays and Diagnosis; he also helps in writing the prescriptions for the patients. They work in the hospitals and in clinics under the guidance of the physician and work accordingly described by the physician. They take care of the patients and give assistance to the physician.

Physician assistant must hold the 2 year degree of the post graduation education. He must also be educated in the field of the medicine. They are educated in the medical design as a model physician rather than the nurse as a nursing practitioner. The work of the physician assistant is not to be confused with the work of the medical assistant as the medical assistant do the secondary work such as simple medical tasks with the post secondary education where as the physician assistant do the primary work in the clinic as to collect the medical history of the patient etc. They are also known as assistant medical officers, medical associate, clinical officer, medical care practitioners and feldshers in few countries. In early times the physician assistant is known as physician associate. With change in this field the name of this profession is also changed. This medical care was firstly provided in the Europe by the feldshers and later the Russia adopts this thing in the later century. In 1960 china trained 1.3 million barefoot doctors to take care in the matter of delivery cases. In 1960 United States developed a cadre of assistant physicians so that they help in the primary care. Several countries are increasingly adapting this concept as it is very helpful to the physicians. Numerous studies showed that the type of medical assistance given by the medical assistant is similar to the physician. And they give good medical assistance to the patients with high level of patient satisfaction. They have the improved access to give the health care to the rural population, inner city, and to the undeserved area. They are the viable alternatives of doctor in the rural areas.

The physician assistant must be versatile in his work and know various medical conditions. Physical assistant is not required to be specialized in one field. He helps the doctor in various medical things and help out in the primary work of the hospitals, clinic etc. This job is having a good career opportunity because the physical assistant can assist more than one physician and handle the work properly. Due to this they are having more career stability in this field. The physician assistants have a great career opportunity. Physician assistant have their own license and do not work under the physician’s license.

CAREER OPPORTUNITY OF PHYSICAL ASSISTANT:

• Work in physician office or clinics.
• Work in hospitals.
• Work in rehabilitation centers.
• Work in public health clinic.
• Work in nursing homes.
• Work in schools.
• Work in prison.
• Work in home health-care agencies.

The physician assistants have a great opportunity to work in the rural areas and in the inner city where it is not possible for the doctor to give his assistance. He works under the supervision of the doctor and prescribe medicine only under his guidance. The career is bright in this field due to the stability of the job. The physician can choose any field according to his choice and he is having various options for this. It is seen that in 2008 physical assistant occupied 74,800 jobs in America.  One physician assistant can choose more than one work at a time. A research is conducted by American academy of physician assistant and the following facts are generated out of that research:

• 15% of the physician assistants are working more than one job at a time. On an average, they are doing two or more than two works at a time in 2008.
• 54% of them are working in the office of the physicians.
• 24% works in the surgical hospitals, medical care, and private and in public.
• Rest of the physician assistant are employed in the outpatient care centers which include the federal government, health maintenance organization and public and private universities and colleges, also in the professional schools.
• Few of them are self employed.
• This occupation is growing much faster than the average of any other profession. Mostly it is growing in the inner city health care facility and in rural areas.
• It is expected that the physician and the institutions will employ more physician assistants so that they can provide the primary care. He is the one who is cost effective and the most productive member for the health care team.

Physician assistant earns good amount of money and this field is having a good career opportunity as there is the stability in the work for the physician assistant. He earns salary based on the training, experience, practice and the geographical location. Those who have undergone associates training will earn more than those who has less training or no training.

Physician Assistant Salary:

HOURLY SALARY:

• The average hourly salary of the physician assistant is $40.80 per hour
• The lowest salary paid to the 10 % of the physician assistant is $26.90 per hour.
•  The salary paid to the upper 10% is $55.35 per hour.

  ANNUAL SALARY:

• The average annual salary for the physician assistant is $84,831.
• The lowest salary paid to the 10% of the physician assistant is $ 55,885 per year.
• The upper 10% of the physician assistant is paid $115.085 per year

  HIGEST AND LOWEST Physician Assistant Salary:

• The lowest paid Physician Assistant gets less than $60,100 annually
•  The highest paid Physician Assistant gets more than $142,225 per year.

AVERAGE SALARY OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT PER YEAR:

• $62,000 to $150,000 plus per year.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT SALARY ACCORDING TO THERE EXPERIENCE:

• One Year or Less: $69,381
• One – Four Years: $71,688
• Five – Nine Years: $79,826
• Ten – Nineteen Years: $82,765
• Twenty or More Years: $86,276

 ADDITIONAL BENEFITS FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT:

• Additional $6,000 to $7,000 annually is earned as retirement benefits.

• Benefits mostly depend on the size of the organization and the location he is working in.
• He gets the benefit of doing more than one job at a time. This profession allows doing more than one job at a time.

Physician assistant is the person who assists the doctors in different types of work. The study of the physician assistant consists of the medical science or health science program and it also requires a bachelor degree and physician assistant has to get score in the medical entrance exams to get entry in the schools of physician assistant. Some of the physician assistant programs make him earn the degree in the clinical doctorate but few will award an undergraduate bachelor but many of these are transitioning to graduate level training. They get the license from the medical board of the individual states. Many of them pursue the doctorate degree in the health care related field. The physician assistant studies are based on the science model.

 EDUCATION REQUIRED FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

• The physician assistant studies include 3 years of studies. Among all these 3 years, one year is for the internship.
• Two years are having 2 semesters which consist of 5 months each. And 1 month is for the theoretical and practical assessment.
• The student must have the bachelor’s degree. It is beneficial if he is graduated in science because preference is given to those who have a degree in science.

Physician assistant required the following degrees:

• Bachelors, Physician Assistant Studies
• Masters, Physician Assistant Studies Masters,
• Health Sciences Masters,
• Medical Sciences Several Certification Courses – To get license

            Physician assistant studies the following subjects:

• SYLLABUS  FOR 1^ST YEAR

                     Syllabus for 1^st Semester

• Anatomy and Physiology of all Systems
• Clinical Biochemistry
• Language of Medicine
• Clinical Hematology
• Clinical Microbiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Clinical Pathology

• Syllabus for 2^nd Semester

• Research Methodology
• Intensive care
• Complete head to toe examination
• Emergency care
• Common therapeutic invasive and non invasive procedures
• Clinical pharmacology
• Special investigations
• History taking of common presentations

SPECIALTY SYLLABUS for 2^ND YEAR

• Syllabus for the 1^st  Semester

It is the semester which covers the studies related to various disorders, pre requirement for undergoing a test and diagnostic procedure.

• Syllabus for the 2^nd Semester

It is a semester which includes the detailed study on the pathological conditions and the other special procedures.

•  3^RD YEAR  INTERNSHIP

• It is required for the student during his internship to be involved in at least one research project and assist his consultant in his research area.
• The physician assistant must have the certified license from the medical board to work with the doctor.
• He is not allowed to prescribe the medicine to the patient. He can prescribe the medicine only under the supervision of the doctor.

   SKILLS REQUIRED FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT:

Physician assistant helps the doctor in the following ways:

• Evaluation
• Monitoring
• Diagnostic
• Therapeutics
• Counseling
• Referral

• Good communication power
• Capable of working independently
• Good decision-making power
• Good motivator
• Good understanding power
• Keen observer

The physician assistant works under the physician and helps the physician in the primary works of the hospital, clinics, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, prisons, rural areas, military units etc.

                          
                       ROLE OF THE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT:

• He takes the medical history of the patients.
• He does the  physical examination of the patients by ordering laboratory tests
• He diagnoses the illness of the patient.
• Helps the physician in treating the illness of the patient.
• Generally gives counseling to the patients related to the illness.
• Assist the physician in the surgery.
• He does the major work of promoting the wellness in the patient.

  Physical assistant does the work under the assistance of the physician and he is responsible for all the primary work in the hospitals, clinics and also in any medical environment. Physician’s assistant does the same job as a Physician.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

•    Physician assistant plays the major role in taking care of the patients.
•   Physician assistant do the work of the doctors where there are not enough doctors.
• Visits the patients and give all the detailed reports of the patients to the doctors for the examination. Physician assistant work always depends on that in which medical field they are in. They are supervised by the doctors and the state law.
• They can give counseling and instructions to the patients.
• They assist the doctors in various works like in minor injuries etc.
• Patient needs the therapy and if the physician assistant is qualified he can give the therapy to the patient.
• Many states even allow a physician assistant to prescribe medicines to the patients.
• In some cases the responsibility of the physician is decided by the doctor or the state law.