PAs: Key to Effective Healthcare Delivery - Research Paper

Introduction

The existence of physician assistants (PAs) in various healthcare's is primarily paramount. They usually work and the powers of the physicians to facilitate duties like treatment and diagnosis of illnesses, doing surgery treatments, making sure that all activities within the hospital's setup runs well, and also working under the commands of the physicians, in performing some treatment procedures. In particular, these duties may include, monitoring of all assigned healthcare facilities, writing prescriptions for patients, and developing well-organized treatment plans for patients.

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However, the Pas are entitled to work to given mark beyond which they are not supposed to. First, it must also be understood that the roles or the extent of activities that a physician assistant is able to perform, is determined by the level of expertise of the individual physician assistant. The state laws, allows the Pas to perform almost the same duties as the physician except for the technical occasions that require a higher level of experience, knowledge and skill to handle. Therefore, this fact can prove that physicians are always more professional and their duty level is always beyond that of their PA.

The physician assistants are also usually attached to a particular code of ethics that helps them to run their duties effectively without a quarrel with other professional healthcare workers. For instance, in the amendment made by the American Academy of physician assistant in the year 1885, and later reaffirmed in 1990, highlighted that, PAs were supposed to apply the professional skills and know how to help them in improving the community, by serving and advising the community members accordingly. Secondly, they were required to always consider offering diagnosis and treatment processes, before they can diverge into the material gain (Chapman, 1984).

To become a qualified Physician assistant, one will need to have the following requirements ("Physician", 2019). Must attain a bachelor degree in healthcare or science, get working experience by either working in a healthcare facility or volunteering and apply to Pas program; ARC-PA. Additionally, one should complete a master's program level PA which takes 2-3 years and sits for PANCE licensing exam and attains a pass. Two of the best institutions that offer physician assistant program are The Yale University and The Duke University. A bachelor degree in science or healthcare takes only 4 years, ARC-PA takes around 2-3 years and master's level PA takes about 36 months. In the United States, the undergraduate degree takes 27 months whereby residents pay approximately $71, 369 for tuition and $89, 975 for non-residents. However, private schools are slightly expensive than the public with about 4% of the total tuition. ARC-PA costs approximately $8,000 to $12,000. A master's program in health care or science costs between $30,000 and $120,000 ("Best masters", 2019). A bachelor degree in science or healthcare qualifies an individual to become a physician assistant. Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) licensure is required to practice physician assistant ("Study.com", 2019).

Once a person has attained physician assistant program requirements, he or she can land a job to work as a physician assistant or medical assistant, medical reviewer, emergency medicine physician assistant or a physician extender. According to the Bureau of labor statistics' report, the demand for Pas is increasing year after year. Between 2016 and 2026, the demand is likely to rise by 37%. PAs demand is growing faster than any other existing occupation. Cost-effectiveness and shortage are the primary factors leading to the rise in demand for PAs. Indeed.com is a job advertising site. On 29th May, it published approximately 8641 jobs for the physician assistant (Indeed, 2019). Physician assistant job is quite demanding and requires a lot of accuracy and commitment. Therefore, experience is needed before employment. Experience can be attained by volunteering or working in a health facility as a PAs. It is necessary to have an understanding of the practical part of the work. Besides, PAs is a busy professional so there is no time for training once an individual is hired. Once hired, a person proceeds directly to work. In the United States, an average salary for a physician assistant is $93, 835 per year with a bonus of $5,071, profit sharing of $5,093 and $14,740 as the commission. Different employees offer varied salaries which range from $77, 381 and $132, 508 ("Physician", 2019). Most employers will require you to have an experience of at least one year to land a serious job in America. However, others allow for undergraduates to get experience by paying them a little amount subject to agreement or work for free. Without furthering education level, physician assistants advance their careers by working with doctors, medical professionals and surgeons in treatment and diagnostic procedures. However, PAs advance their careers by going back to medical school and spending more years while learning. They later can become surgeons, doctors, anesthesiologists and health and medical managers.

A physician assistant can choose to join fellow PAs in the following organizations. The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA), Connecticut Academy of Physician Assistants (ConnAPA) and National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). For Yale, PAs associate cost is $101,080 to join the organizations as a student. Continuing Educational Units (CEUs) are required for the professional. They are usually two in number and are earned either once in a year or upon recording or member logging in the AST website (Yale, 2019). Therefore, a member can choose to continue his education by earning education credit in the following ways. First, once CE credits are set for record and results shows that one is accepted, he or she is mailed the recording. The second way is to visit AST.com with member login. Lastly, PAs wait for January CE credits for the previous year to be sent to them. From which the winners are announced ("AST", n.d).

I perfectly fit in Physician assistant career since I have taken the first step to attain a bachelor's degree in medicine. Once I am done with my degree course I will go for an internship to gain the necessary experience. I will then apply for the ARC-PA program. Later I will complete a master's degree in level PA and make sure I pass the PANCE licensure exam. My career goals will be to be the best of a physician assistant and later become a doctor. My objectives are prospering in my career, become an admirable physician, helping those that need medical attention with diligence and lead a medical organization that I will own in the future. My strategies are focusing on my weaknesses and polish them to become my strengths, explore my strengths and bring the best out of me.

References

AST. (n.d.). Association of surgical technologists. Retrieved from https://www.ast.org/uploadedFiles/Main_Site/Content/Members/AST_Recertification_Brochure.pdf

Best Masters. (2019). How much does a master's degree cost? Retrieved from https://www.bestmastersdegrees.com/best-masters-degrees-faq/how-much-does-a-masters-degree-cost

Chapman, C. B. (1984). Physicians, law, and ethics.

How to Become a Physician Assistant. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.geteducated.com/careers/how-to-become-a-physician-assistant

Indeed. (2019, May 29). Physician Assistant Jobs, Employment.com. Retrieved from https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Physician+Assistant&start=20

Study.com. (2019). Physician Assistant Programs in NJ with School Information. Retrieved from https://study.com/physician_assistant_programs_in_nj.html

Yale. (2019). Medical education at Yale. Retrieved from https://medicine.yale.edu/education/financialaid/paprogram/#page2