Penn State's PA Program Analysis

The physician assistant (PA) profession has been described as “one of the greatest innovations of the last half of the 20th century.”1(p1) The profession has been established for less than fifty years, but it has managed to develop and expand vastly within those years consisting of more than 105,000 certified physician assistants and more than 170 accredited physician assistant programs. Simply stated, a physician assistant is defined as a certified medical professional responsible for providing medical care and treatment under the supervision of a physician. In order to completely understand the role and importance of physician assistants in the medical field, the history of the profession must be acknowledged.

The Physician Assistant (PA) and Nurse Practitioner (NP) career fields were the medical fields’ response to the physician shortage that began in the 1960s, but the shortage still exists today. As the population continues to grow, the gap continues to grow as well. Medical schools were having a hard time producing as many doctors that were needed to fill in the gaps in a timely manner, leaving the medical field looking for ways they could have health care providers diagnose and treat patients, but educated in half the time of a doctor. The PA program was then born out of the military. Medical doctors watched as military doctors and medics came back, but they had no formal training except for on-the-job training. The NP program was derived from previous midwifery program. Currently, as the physician shortage is still impending more and more PAs and NPs are being hired to fill in the gaps. This is causing many questions to arise: Are they qualified?, What kind of education do they have?, and Should I feel safe?. Patients want to know that they are getting excellent care, and that their medical providers are qualified to diagnose and treat patients accurately.

The biggest challenge that Physician Assistances face is when a patient questions their competency or their ability to care for them. PA’s are one of the youngest allied health fields and some people are unaware of the role of a physician assistant. The best way to reassure the patient that they are being properly taken care of is to educate the patient on the topic of Physician Assistant. The first Physician Assistant program started in 1960 in the military, to help with the growing need for primary care doctors (Mittman). Physician Assistance must first obtain a four year degree with a competitive GPA of 3.6 or

Have you ever wanted to be a physician assistant? If you do, it is a challenge to be accepted in PA (physician assistant) school. There are over one hundred and twenty-five PA programs in the United States. A physician's signature is required on some percentage of the charts of patients whom PAs treat in twenty-four states. This job is considered to be the second best job America.

As most kids grow up, their dream job changes all the time. One week they want to fly to the moon as an astronaut while the next week they want to rule the world as president. However, I’ve always wanted to help people by being a doctor. I would sit in front of the television mesmerized for hours by various trauma shows. I preformed surgery on my stuffed animals and diagnosed my friends and family with different fake illnesses. As I continued to grow up, I realized there is many types of jobs in the medical field that preform a variety of different services. After researching the different options, I fell in love with the idea of being a physician assistant (PA). A PA, supervised by a doctor, has the freedom to interpret tests, record progress, and diagnose patients. In order to become a PA, it takes a lot of schooling, but it is a rewarding job that I would be very good at. Ten years from now, I will be a great physician assistant due to the characteristics I already posses and the education that I will be receiving in the future.

Physician Assistants, or PA’s, work directly under the supervision and guidance of other medical professionals, such as physicians or surgeons. Their work includes mainly examining, diagnosing, and treating patients. PA’s typically review the medical history of patients, order tests to diagnose illnesses (such as x-rays and blood tests) and then interpret the results, make a diagnosis and then provide some sort of treatment (such as a cast or sutures), give information and advice to patients and their families, and prescribe medicine when needed. Furthermore, PA’s can work in any area of medicine, including family care, psychiatry, emergency medicine, or elsewhere. PA’s are highly qualified to take care of

The health care system is flawed, and I believe every individual who pursues a career in the health field has the ability to help fix it. During college, I was still exploring and researching potential career paths. The decision to pursue a career as a physician assistant (PA) came from a thirst to help others and to improve quality of life of individuals.

In the mid-1960’s, physicians and educators realized that there was a shortage of primary care physicians. In response to this, Eugene A. Stead Jr. , MD, put together the first class of of Physician Assistants , or PA’s, in 1965. This PA program’s duty was not only to help the shortage of primary care physicians, but instead was to help train

I believe people everywhere should always have access to adequate medical care. Where you live should not determine whether you live. The PA profession was created to make healthcare more available in rural and underserved areas. As a PA, I would be eager to help people who in the past may have not had the availability to the care they needed. I want to serve those that need medical attention, but don’t have the means to obtain it whether in rural Mississippi, the inner city of Atlanta, or the backwoods of Arkansas. Widening the availability of great medical care is crucial to improving public health, a necessity across this country and the world. I want to be on the front lines of that undertaking as a physician assistant.

I have grown a passion for the medical field and one day, I will become a physician assistant. As a physician assistant, I will embrace my intelligence and passion in this health profession to allow me to help others. By already taking health classes it has helped me learn more about the direction I want to continue in this field. As I begin to advance my education into post-secondary school, I will be preparing myself to become the most driven and intelligent health professional by maintaining a high GPA and excellent study skills. My main goal during my education is to obtain as much experience and knowledge as a Patient Care Technician. This will allow me to increase my confidence in the medical field by interacting with doctors, nurses

Greek life can be looked upon with a closed mindset by many college students and graduates that decided to not join the social movement that is brought upon by fraternities and sororities on college campuses. An article written by Caitlin Flanagan for The Atlantic Daily takes a negative turn toward Beta Theta Pi at Penn State University for many valid reasons such as: the reoccurring destruction of their 8.5 million dollar renovated home, their degrading hazing acts which involve a pledge catching bodily waste from a fraternity brother, the lack of compassion they have toward their fellow fraternity brothers, and the lack of authoritative action taken to prevent this from happening again. The Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Penn State

I am encouraged by the growth of physician assistants in primary care and strive to one day be a primary care provider myself. With changes in health care, it is becoming increasingly important for patients to have a primary care provider that they trust and rely on, and a physician assistant is a viable option for many families. One of the main focuses of the University

The enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 brought many changes to the United States health care system. Many Americans that did not have health coverage were finally able to acquire a health plan. Unfortunately, the increased influx of patients with new health coverage affected the clinician-to-population ratio. In addition, aging Baby Boomers have worsened the problem of an overflowing patient population. Currently, the United States faces a shortage of clinicians. Physician assistants (PAs), are licensed health professionals trained under a medical education model that can effectively fill the shortage of clinicians in the nation by providing health services and accommodating the imminent influx of patients.

The PA Platform is an online community targeted towards pre-physician assistants, physician assistants, as well as certified physician assistants.4 For certified physician assistants, there are many publications in this blog regarding topics such as: searching for a job in the physician assistant profession, tips for medical conferences, what to expect during your first year working as a physician assistant, how to properly respect patients and much more.5 All submissions for this blog are posted by Savanna Perry of Georgia.6 On this blog, there are posts on current news regarding the profession, tips to strive in the physician assistant profession, service opportunities, etc. The most current post on the blog was a volunteer opportunity the author of the blog participated in in Kenya, Africa providing health care services to the underserved population.7 This blog is an additional resource for physician assistant professionals to connect with other PA’s as well as learn what could be considered less formal information, such as tips. Although I am currently not a certified physician assistant, this blog also provides many resources for pre-physician assistant students such as mock interviews and even practice acceptance exams,8 which I intend to take advantage of these resources to prepare myself for my future as a physician

Physician Assistants are also known as a PA’s; they practice medicine under the direction of physicians and surgeons. They formally trained to examine patients, diagnose injures and illness, and provide treatment. Physician Assistants also evaluate and treat patients under the supervision of doctors and surgeons. A Physician Assistants is a graduate of an accredited Physician Assistant educational program who is nationally certified and state- licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a physician. Core tasks of a Physician Assistant are they take medical histories and examine patients. They Interpret lab test and make diagnoses, Treat minor injuries with stitches, splints, casts, and prescribes certain medications, The