With so much demand for PAs it is important for these colleges to be selective who they pick as potential future students in the program. There is a lot of responsibility that goes into this job and that should never be taken lightly.

There are a few tips I could give you though that would make the preparation process for this interview much easier. What I find amazing is that many colleges use the same questions so you can find out what they ask so you can prepare accordingly. Sure you may get some oddball question or two but if you are prepared enough that should not be hard to handle.

Some of the most popular interview questions are below:

Describe the most stressful situation you were in and how you handled it?

Because physician assistant’s jobs can be very stressful you may be asked various ways you deal with stress. Just be honest and complete in your answer here. I would come up with some story about how you dealt with a very stressful situation at work if at all possible. Also it may be nice to include details on how you deal with stress in general. For instance I would recommend including healthy habits such as working out, going for a walk, meditation and so on.

How can you ensure you will complete this program if we decide to accept you?

Here the interviewer is asking what ways you are going to use in order to remain focus and determined in your goal of completing this program and getting a job as a physician assistant. If you do not have a steady work history then it is important to figure out the reasons why and come up with some articulate answer so to not come across as someone who will not commit.

Has any patient left any great impact on your life?

This is of course assuming you have had to deal with any patients in the past. Just answer the question honestly. What they are looking for are signs of compassion and how you communicated with others in the past.

What makes you different from the other applicants to this program?

This is where you really need to toot your own horn here. I would be sure to list as many accomplishments as you can. If you can remember what you did on group assignments that would be helpful as well how you can handle certain stressful scenarios in your life is another thing that can set you apart. Just be honest and thorough with your explanation.

What are your favorite books?

Here it is important to describe in detail the reasons why you love certain literature or biographies. If you admire someone who is also a Doctor and they wrote an autobiography that would be great to include in here. I would not recommend talking about any of your trashy love novels you may have read during the past couple of months. Just be sure to make sure you have this answer down pat before it is asked as it most certainly will be asked.

What are the problems with the American health care system as you see them?

This would be from your personal experience and the potential problems that you think you may come up as a physician’s assistant. If you research this question it may be helpful to bring along supporting documents to help explain your answer. This will show you are prepared and have done extensive research into the problems with the American health care system.

Did you apply to any other programs?

You are required to be truthful with this answer. There is nothing wrong with applying to multiple programs and actually doing so makes you seem more determined. Just explain here the reasons why you applied to each program. Details matter here quite a lot as they want to know what motivated you to apply to their program.

These are just some of the questions that could come up during a physician assistant interview. There is no way to tell you exactly every question but if you prepare enough ahead of time you should get through this phase of the application process with flying colors.

If you are in the military or thinking about joining the military you will know that they have their own language – probably more acronyms than the medical profession. For this reason we will only provide a fairly high-level description of the interservice PA program. More detailed information can be obtained by visiting an official site such as GoArmy.

The basic requirement is a Bachelor degree with an average GPA of 2.5 and a minimum GPA of 2.5 on all science courses. Competition for admission is strong so realize that you should aim for better marks to realistically be considered. Ideally you should be less than 5 years out of school. Science courses up to 10 years old may be accepted but again do not expect to be accepted into the program just by having the minimum qualifications. Also applicants must be between the ages of 21 and 48 and be US citizens.

There are usually about 150 applicants accepted into IPAP each year. Note there are also some restriction based on service duration. For example we noticed in the 2012 application guidelines that having more than 15 years of service makes a person ineligible to apply. The guideline document is 20 pages so if you are seriously considering IPAP you should obviously speak with an Army Health Care Recruiter to assess your situation.

Graduates of the Army PA program receive their Masters from the University of Nebraska and like any other PA candidate they must pass the PA certifying exam (PANCE) before being eligible to practice. You will provide primary medical care to battalion units, division units or garrisons. One of the perks of going the military route for your physician assistant education is that once you have fulfilled your initial service obligation you may qualify for advanced training in areas such as emergency medicine, orthopedics, or cardiopulmonary perfusion – fully funded.

Don’t forget there are similar programs offered by the Navy, Air Force, National Guard, Coast Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. Hopefully this post has given you some idea of what is involved in being accepted into the Army PA program. You may also want to check-out military forums to see what questions others have on the program. We noticed that some people have timing issues related to say completing their basic training and college admission deadlines.

If you want to make your dreams a reality you must put the best strategies in place that will allow your studies to get you as far as you can go to be prepared to earn your degree as a physician assistant.

One very important factor that you may not realize is that your studies have to provide you with a strong foundation in theoretical study. This will allow you to perform the work that you will be doing in the future at a level that is expected of someone in the field of physician assistant.

The strategy you want to work on first if you wish to apply to physician assistant degree programs is that you want to make sure you practice being disciplined and use your determination throughout your studies as you progress.

Some of the theoretical studies that you will have to learn about while earning this degree are in the areas of pharmacology, anatomy, microbiology and quite a few other topics that a lot of people will often consider really boring.

It’s important that you completely understand that you need a firm grasp of theoretical studies because it will help create the foundation that you need in order to pass your certification exam, as well as work in the field in the future. So stay diligent with your studies and get motivated so you will learn as much as you can and finally allow yourself to achieve the dream you have been pursuing.

Another very important and effective strategy that will help you attain a PA degree is to immerse yourself in all things that are related to medicine and health. You can do certain things like reading a lot of material that you come across in journals, magazines and even online newsletters.

This will help you attain a lot of knowledge on all different types of medical subjects which will allow you to be well versed in all areas of health and medicine. And this is great for you because it will allow you to prepare for your Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) a lot earlier than you may have attempted otherwise.

The third and final strategy we will discuss to help you earn a PA degree is that you need to become very proficient in the area of time management.

It is so important to you, when you are first learning and training to become a physician assistant, that you become excellent at prioritizing the things that are important during your day and allocating time to get all of your studying done when you need to.

That’s why you need to learn how to schedule study time properly and also learn how to focus and concentrate on the tasks at hand much better. You want your study sessions to be as productive as possible so becoming proficient at time management will definitely help you in achieve your goal of a physisician assistant degree.

So, here’s a quick list of what different types of activities a physician assistant will undertake throughout the day:

Primary Care Physician Assistant

The first of our physician assistant specialties is primary care. When you work in the role of primary care, you are what’s known as the first contact for a patient when they need help with a health problem or preventative care measure.

A physician assistant working in the area of primary care will perform such duties as working with patients who are suffering from everyday illnesses (like diabetes, rashes, high blood pressure and viruses), they will perform physical examinations and even provide a patient with any ongoing care that they happen to need.

They will also have to order tests, prescribe medications, diagnose their patients and also work in either a health clinic or a doctor’s office to perform these duties.

Surgical Physician Assistant

The second thing on our list of PA specialties is surgery. There are PAs out there who perform the duties as first assistants in surgery right alongside a doctor.

If you are a surgical PA you will perform such duties as creating incisions on a patient, clamping a patient, retracting a patient and also sewing a patient’s wounds when needed.

You could work with either a surgeon, nursing team or even an anesthesiologist when you are working in this particular field of medicine.

Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant

The third occupation on our list is an emergency medicine physician assistant. If you are a physician assistant in the emergency room, you will be required to help out the patients that are relatively stable compared to some of the other cases that need immediate assistance.

Some of the duties you will perform are treating infections and colds, suturing any wounds on a patient, treating any strains or sprains that a patient may have and also helping a patient with any rashes or medication refills that they need assistance with.

If you work in a busier hospital then you may be required to perform a lot more advanced procedures depending on the rules of the hospital and the situations that arise.

In these cases you may find yourself starting central IV lines, inserting surgical drainage tubes, and even putting in breathing tubes as well as other major emergencies that may arise within a hospital on any given day.

If you’re interested you can check-out our information on what sort of physician assistant salary to expect based on your area of expertise. Specializing in Emergency Medicine should ensure that you are among the highest paid PAs out there.

Orthopedic Physician Assistant

The last of the PA specialties we will mention right now is becoming an orthopedic physician assistant. When you work in this area of medicine you will be required to assist the doctor you work with on surgeries of broken hips or other bones.

Other than that, you will be required to create and remove casts and also perform procedures of live imaging like fluoroscopy.

These are just some of the physician assistant specialties available to you. Other possibilities are specializations in pediatrics, cardiology and radiology.

Are you ready to take the challenge and become a physician assistant today?

Did you know that a lot of PAs actually work at more than one place right now because the demand for them is so high? The best part about this particular career is that you have the potential to earn quite a high salary but you are only required to have a two-year degree before you enter the workforce. Most PAs make around $75,000 per year (and that’s only at one job) and they receive excellent health benefits as well.

Since this field is in such high demand right now there are a lot more grant and scholarship opportunities available to anyone who is thinking about becoming a physician assistant.

Even though there are more physician assistant scholarships available today, the tough economic times that we are facing still force a lot of potential candidates to miss out on their opportunity because they just don’t know where to find the funding.

Tuition costs have been going through the roof over the last few years and you’ll end up having to spend the next 10 years paying off your student loans if you don’t manage to get some kind of financial assistance. That’s why so many people skip out on schooling. They just don’t want to mortgage their life for the next 10 years in order to pay for their education.

But there is hope for you, and the American Academy of Physician’s Assistants has laid out a number of possibilities for you to consider when looking for grants and PA scholarships. Here are some examples of funding options you should consider:

The first option is to get physician assistant scholarships through the federal and state government. But don’t worry, because there are so many more options available to you than just a Pell grant. If you’re not familiar with Pell Grants here is a little info on them:

• Unlike a loan you do not need to repay a Federal Pell Grant
• For the award year 2011/2012 (Jul 1/11 to Jun 30/12) the maximum Pell Grant is $5,550.
• Some factors that determine your financial need are your status (full-time or part-time) and whether you plan to attend school for the full academic year.

If you’re interested in pursuing this, the US Dept of Education website contains all the details.

Like we said though, there are other options that you can look into.

If you are a mother in the workforce, you can get working mom grants to start. Or, you can allow the armed services to pay for your education in exchange for several years service in their organization. Other options are SEOG, Pell, Hope and ACG.

Did you know that you can also get PA scholarships through working at an internship?

Clinics and hospitals are in such desperate need of PAs that they are willing to personally educate them in order to have them work for them once their education is complete. So check with the clinics and hospitals in your area and see if they offer any programs like this one.

This way you will get the education you need, for free, and even have a job waiting for you once you finish your education. That sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Finally, you can check with professional societies and find out if they have any physician assistant scholarships available. Often these professional societies will have money set aside to assist the most promising students. You usually need to write an essay or fill out some kind of an application to become eligible for a scholarship of this nature.

There are plenty of PA colleges out there right now that offer physician assistant programs where you can get a degree and receive the formal training that is required of you in order to become a physician assistant. These programs are typically set aside for individuals who are at the level of education required to earn a Master’s degree.

You need to have a minimum of two years post secondary education to qualify to perform the duties of a PA. This particular education is focused on showing students all they need to know about treating and working with patients directly. Some of the ways they may treat a patient are attending injuries by giving stitches, splints or cast.

The vast majority of PA programs out there now though are advanced Masters degrees. To gain admittance you must have a Bachelor degree and usually a significant amount of heath-care experience.

Some of the basic things that PAs learn during the course of their studies include how to interpret lab results and create a diagnosis based on what you learned while evaluating a patient.

You will also learn the proper way to counsel patients who are in distress as well as to teach them the proper way they should take their medication. Sometimes it will be necessary to show patients how to perform their own physical therapy if they find themselves in a situation that requires it.

As a physician assistant, all of the work you do will be supervised by a practicing physician. You will be asked to provide the physician with proper treatment plans for the patients, patient histories and depending on the practice setting perhaps some clerical tasks when needed. And if the medical clinic where you work is large, there’s even a possibility that you’ll have many more responsibilities other than the ones previously mentioned.

One of the main physician assistant requirements you need to be aware of is that you must have a bachelors degree before you can actually enroll in a physician assistant’s program. So, you should seriously consider pursuing a bachelors degree in some area of science if you intend to pursue a physician assistant  Master’s degree.

As mentioned earlier there are a only a few PA programs out there today that offer an undergraduate degree to become a physician assistant. Another possible option is to pursue a health sciences degree for your undergraduate study and still qualify to become a physician assistant.

All of the avenues mentioned above will supply you with the prerequisite science knowledgebase that you need which will allow you to perform to the best of your ability once you begin your graduate studies.

Getting the proper physician assistant education is not easy so it is very important that you research the field thorougly, determine what schools or programs you may be interested in and make sure that you satisfy all the prerequisites.

Things such as cost, location, pre-requisites and clinical rotations available should be considered as well as the student mix. But first we’ll take a look at the rankings.

The 2011 rankings of the 10 Best Physician Assistant programs are as follows:

1. Duke University, Durham, NC
T2. University of Iowa, Iowa City IA
T2. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
T4. Emory University, Atlanta, GA
T4. George Washington University, Washington, DC
T6. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
T6. Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR
T8. University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – Newark, Piscataway, NJ
T8. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center – Dallas, Dallas, TX
T8. University of Washington, Seattle, WA

These rankings are based on peer assessment surveys completed by deans, administrators, and faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline. Respondents are asked to rate the academic quality of PA programs on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2), or marginal (1). Only fully accredited programs in good standing during the survey period are ranked.

Now this is certainly helpful in determining what the top Physician Assistant programs in the country are but you really need to think about what’s important to you when choosing your PA school. Some things to consider are location, price, PANCE pass rates and what types of clinical rotations they offer.

When you have come up with a list of possible schools you also need to look at the pre-requisites and if you do or want to try to meet them. It is likely that you may be stronger in one aspect than another. For example your academic marks may be strong but you may be light on work experience. Certain PA programs will place more weight in one or the other and therefore be a better fit. You will also want to visit any schools you are interested in if at all possible and talk to some staff, faculty and current students.

Finally, something you might want to consider when figuring out what Physician Assistant program is best for you is the general mix of students. Generally speaking you will find that schools that “rank” high may tend to have younger students with excellent marks but little practical work experience so if you have been in health care for a number of years, perhaps as a nurse or EMT or maybe in the military then you may feel more comfortable attending a PA school where experience is an important factor.

So as you can see a Top 10 list of Physician Assistant programs is really just the starting point when picking your PA school.

We have plenty of information on this site about Physician Assistants so let’s begin by talking a bit about what a Nurse Practitioner is.

What is a Nurse Practitioner?

The first point to make is that a Nurse Practitioner must be a Registered Nurse. Not only that but they must have a Masters degree or Doctorate and considerable clinical experience. The advanced degree can be in nursing, or in some other field that is obviously related to health care. As far as typical responsibilities, NPs diagnose disease and also develop treatment plans for them. They are authorized to write prescriptions and order tests, and most NPs have hospital privileges as well.

This all probably sounds fairly similar to Physician Assistants but there are two major differences.

PAs vs NPs – Two Major Differences

As mentioned throughout this site a PA must always have a supervising Physician. Nurse Practitioners on the other hand can have their own practice.

The second difference between a Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant is the general approach their training takes. PAs are taught what is referred to as the medical model while as you might guess NPs are taught the nursing model.

What exactly does this mean? Well, basically the nursing model attempts to take a more holistic approach to health care. In other words treating the “whole person”. So while NPs certainly treat and diagnose disease and illness they also focus on disease prevention and health maintenance as well as patient education. This could include paying particular attention to a patients’ environment, family, diet, etc.

This is not to say that Physician Assistants (and Physicians) do not appreciate the importance or value in taking a holistic approach but this is not the model under which they are trained.

Which is the right career path for you?

A Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner? If you are an RN the choice is really yours. You will have already been trained under the nursing model so the NP route is perhaps the more logical choice but remember this will require an advanced degree which a PA does not.

If you are not already an RN, Physician Assistant Programs take less time but you have to remember that you will never be fully independent which may be an important consideration. It all depends on your temperament and what will make you feel fulfilled.

Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how a Physician Assistant differs vs a Nurse Practitioner.

American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA)

The AAPA is the only national professional association representing all Physician Assistants regardless of specialty throughout the United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the federal services and the armed forces. By providing advocacy and support to PAs the AAPA hopes that patients will see better access to quality, cost-effective health care.

Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA)

This is the only national organization in the US that represents physician assistant educational programs. The PAEA has mission, vision and value statements but basically they are the organization primarily responsible for collecting, publishing, and disseminating information on Physician Assistant programs.

By developing and distributing educational products and services designed to meet the ever-changing requirements of the PA profession and the health care industry in general the PAEA strives to ensure that Physician Assistants receive a quality education.

National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA)

The NCCPA serves to protect the public interest. They believe that certified PAs are a vital part of the health care industry, providing more affordable and high quality health care to millions.

The vision of the NCCPA is that certifying quailifed PAs through programs that not only improve patient care but also exemplify a commitment to excellence unparalleled among certifying organizations will transform the delivery of quality health care. These programs evaluate Physician Assistant competencies and encourage the pursuit of life-long learning and improvement.

Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA)

The ARC-PA is the independent accrediting agency authorized to accredit qualified PA educational programs leading to the professional credential, Physician Assistant (PA). This is accomplished by determining whether a program meets certain standards for function, structure and performance.

The American Academy of Physician Assistants, The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Surgeons, the Physician Assistant Education Association, and the American Medical Association all cooperate with the ARC-PA. Their goal is to determine, maintain, and promote the appropriate standards of quality for entry level education of PAs as well as recognize educational programs that meet the minimum standards.

It should be noted that the ARC-PA does not actually accredit academic degrees (BS, MS, etc.) this is solely at the discretion of the sponsoring institution (school).

Hopefully this information has provided you with a good overview of the different Physician Assistant Associations and their general roles and responsibilities.

At first this seems hard to believe but if you take a moment to think about it, it makes sense. Do we really want tomorrow’s heath care professionals training from home? With little to no interaction with trained faculty?

In searching for online Physician Assistant programs we were led to believe on a number of occasions that several existed but upon further investigation it turned out that the online programs were for other related areas such as Medical Assistants or perhaps Health Care Management.

The only online PA program we were able to locate was the A.T. Still University (ATSU) of Health Sciences located in Arizona.

The degree offered is a Master of Science in Advanced Physician Assistant Studies (M.S.) 

The degree description is as follows:

Licensed PAs can pursue a master’s program (40 credit hours) at the Arizona School of Health Sciences at ATSU. There is also a non-bachelor’s degree track for physician assistants without a bachelor’s degree. There are two specialty areas available for candidates; either education/leadership or clinical medicine.

Graduates of the program demonstrate competence in their respective concentration which creates even greater opportunities to practice in a wide range of administrative and clinical settings.

Accreditation:  Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA).
Delivery Format:  Entirely online
Educational Level:  Master
Language:  English
Requirements:  Current PA license & minimum 2.5 GPA required

We will continue to monitor PA programs and update this information if we become aware of any other online Physician Assistant programs.