Today’s lecture on the physician assistants (PA) was very informative. Mrs. Hughes spoke on what a physician assistant is, what they do as well as what the requirements are for those who chose the career path. PA’s are individuals whom practice medicine while also being under the supervision of medical doctors or physicians. They can work in all areas of medicine including emergency medicine, surgery and psychiatry which Mrs. Hughes works under. Within this occupation individuals have the ability to prescribe medicine, diagnose and treat mental illnesses, give immunizations as well as perform various other tasks. Many often confuse this type of practice with nurse practitioners which led Mrs. Hughes to distinguish the difference between the two professions. The PA program is schooled under the medical model while nurse practitioners are schooled under the nursing model.
The prerequisites for applying to a master’s program depend on what school individuals chose to apply to. When tying to become a physician assistant you have to have an undergraduate degree (of any kind), pass the GRE, have twelve hundred hours of patient contact as well as meeting the general class requirements. For example some of these
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Many were medically trained for military purposes such as to assist soldiers and from it came a growing organization. The PA program is actually fairly new and continues to expand. This is great in terms of not having to worry about job security if one chooses this path. Mrs. Hughes also stated that in general the average salary of PA’s is between $90,000-150,000 a year which is conducive when it comes to finical stability. Though this field can be very persuasive I don’t believe that it suits me. I am not very interested in the medical field as it is associated with psychology and based on my goals I don’t believe that it’s something that I would take joy in