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Family practice physician assistant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Catharine Armentrout,

Timothy Sparta

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical family practice physician assistant skills. We ranked the top skills for family practice physician assistants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 29.2% of family practice physician assistant resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a family practice physician assistant needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 family practice physician assistant skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how family practice physician assistants use patients:

Provided preventative services, routine physical exams, appropriate screening examinations, vaccinations and health education for adult and pediatric patients.
Provided primary care services to uninsured and under-insured patients in both rural and urban community health centers throughout central California.

2. Primary Care

Here's how family practice physician assistants use primary care:

Provided primary care and health education services to rural pediatric and adult populations.
Provided primary care at community Health Center

3. Family Medicine

Here's how family practice physician assistants use family medicine:

Provided basic family medicine which included ambulatory care as well as urgent care through extended hours.
Returned to Family Medicine after specializing in Otolaryngology for 18 years.

4. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how family practice physician assistants use patient care:

Document patient care encounters accurately and efficiently as well as maintain working knowledge of electronic medical record computer system.
Provide comprehensive family practice medicine patient care in a clinical setting.

5. Urgent Care

Urgent care provides assistance to patients on an immediate basis. Although the problems requiring this swift attention are not life threatening, if not seen to it immediately, they may become a bigger problem. Therefore, time plays a crucial role in such situations.

Here's how family practice physician assistants use urgent care:

Promote quality indicators in health and wellness with each clinic visit and in urgent care.
Care United Clinic, Laramie Laramie, WY Free-standing Urgent Care/Family practice clinic.

6. Epic

Epic is a private healthcare company which developed and continues to provide a software intended for healthcare professionals and the organization and management of medical records. It is by far one of the largest in its field, with over 50% of patients having a medical record present in their system. Patients, as well as clinics and various medical professionals and facilities are all able to use this system to keep medical history and information safe and easy to reach, alter, and share with the necessary people.

Here's how family practice physician assistants use epic:

Experience in electronic medical record with training in (Epic Ambulatory Care.)
Chart using EPIC and Intellicure EMR.

7. Diagnosis

Here's how family practice physician assistants use diagnosis:

Provided comprehensive primary care to adult male population at Belmont County Correctional Facility including chronic and acute disease diagnosis and management.
Detailed assessment, diagnosis, plan development and implementation, and outcome evaluation to include medication prescription and referral where appropriate.

8. Medical Care

Here's how family practice physician assistants use medical care:

Provide comprehensive medical care for university adolescent and adult patient population in a clinical setting.
Formulated treatment plans and managed outpatient medical care.

9. Diabetes

Diabetes refers to a disease of uncontrolled sugar levels in the body.

Here's how family practice physician assistants use diabetes:

Managed a wide variety of chronic health problems including hypertension, diabetes, endocrine disorders and psychiatric illness.
Developed and taught a diabetes education course in Spanish.

10. Acute Care

The branch of secondary healthcare which is responsible for giving short-term care to patients recovering from severe injuries or urgent medical problems is known as acute care. Acute care comprises multiple domains like; emergency care, urgent care, short-term stabilization, pre-hospital care, critical care, and trauma care.

Here's how family practice physician assistants use acute care:

Formulated and implemented appropriate treatment plans in collaboration with attending and consulting physicians for hospitalized patients in various acute care settings.
Assess urology patients in the acute care setting, completing consultations of new admissions and daily examinations of existing hospitalized patients.

11. Medical History

Here's how family practice physician assistants use medical history:

Document billing relative to a patient medical history, examination and/or treatment on appropriate forms and records.
Function independently to perform evaluations of medical history and physical examinations for complex acute, critical, and chronically ill patients.

12. Family Practice Clinic

Here's how family practice physician assistants use family practice clinic:

Manage multitude of diseases affecting pediatrics to geriatrics in rural family practice clinic.
Worked as a Certified Physician Assistant in a busy Family Practice Clinic under the supervision of four physicians.

13. Physical Exams

A physical examination occurs when a doctor or health care professional needs to determine or diagnose the patient's current condition. It is a method to know the patient's health's general status by assessing the physical pain symptoms and other health reasons that need to be treated right away.

Here's how family practice physician assistants use physical exams:

Performed in-office procedures, reviewed laboratory exams and performed physical exams among many other duties.
Performed comprehensive physical exams, ordered and interpreted diagnostic tests.

14. Hypertension

Here's how family practice physician assistants use hypertension:

Conducted initiatives in the surrounding community with special focus given to hypertension and diabetic screenings.
Served as Clinical Research Investigator for hypertension trial.

15. EKG

Here's how family practice physician assistants use ekg:

Supported several research trails by monitoring screenings, performing physical examinations, drawing labs and performing/interpreting EKG's.
Maintained electronic medical records performed EKG, administered IV medications.

What skills help Family Practice Physician Assistants find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on family practice physician assistant resumes?

Catharine Armentrout

Assistant Director of FNP Program, American International College

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with a Master's or Doctorate degree that allows one to practice in their chosen field. I am a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), and my training prepared me to take care of patients in the community in primary care. I am Board certified to practice as an FNP. Family Nurse Practitioners can care for newborns to geriatric patients. Times have changed since I graduated, and most inpatient occupations for Nurse Practitioners require an Acute Care Board certification, which is a different learning track than the FNP program.

Knowing what jobs to apply for is the first step. Understand the area you want to work in and consider all aspects of the job to include distance to travel back and forth to work, schedule, benefits, CME's, PTO, employer reimbursement for licenses to include RN and NP licenses, DEA license (every 3 years), State registration to prescribe (not every state has this, but Massachusetts does (150 a year)), Board Certification renewal (every 5 years), training schedule and length of time to train, expected number of patients that will be seen per day once fully independent, loan repayment, tuition reimbursement and RVU's if applicable.

Skills that stand out on a Nurse Practitioner's resume should include:

Use of EMR's (i.e., EPIC), dictation applications like Dragon

Performing procedures including IV placement, Phlebotomy, punch biopsy for skin changes, I and D of wounds, suturing, wound care (wound vac, e.g.), Foley placement as you might be surprised what occurs in a primary care office

Ability to interpret EKG's, CXR's, lab results

Ability to identify skin changes, stages of wounds and develop treatment plans for wound care

Ability to reduce utilization of the emergency room via primary care/ telehealth and preventing hospitalizations when possible

Ability to review end of life decisions with patients and families, including MOLST, Advanced directives, Health Care Proxy

Having a good bedside manner, ability to speak to patients and families using language they can understand. Having the ability to follow through on previous visits regarding abnormal labs, diagnostic tests even if the results are normal and overall providing excellent customer service.

Knowing when to ask for help is always a strength. You will most likely be among very experienced providers, and they will know you care because you asked about something you were not sure about or requested a second opinion.

Nurse Practitioners, first starting out, will likely receive the starting pay rate for the area they are working in. Urban vs. Suburban vs. Rural areas will have, often, significant differences, and it is not always about the cost of living. The longer the FNP was a nurse before graduating may not have much impact on starting pay, but nursing experience and clinical experiences during graduate school should be noted on the resume to help the employer understand the true clinical background of the applicant.

Due to your research! Evaluate practices and check reviews. Network your colleagues and co-workers and think outside the box because your next job might be a dream come true!

What soft skills should all family practice physician assistants possess?

Timothy Sparta

Clinical Education Director, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Punctuality; willingness to always learn, as medicine is a constantly evolving field.

What hard/technical skills are most important for family practice physician assistants?

Timothy Sparta

Clinical Education Director, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Good bedside manner, great communication skills, strong physical examination skills; many technical skills will be based on where the PA decides to practice, such as ER vs. office setting.

What technical skills for a family practice physician assistant stand out to employers?

Dr. Charman Miller

School Director-Interim, Ohio University

Our clinical partners have consistently listed qualities such as being self-motivated, ability to work in teams, and having sound clinical decision-making skills as ones they value. I believe that a single skill that has proven to be highly beneficial in these times of pandemic is that of having the ability to communicate effectively with patients and families. As patients and their families have faced terrifying situations and have been restricted from being together due to COVID restrictions, nurses have become an even more critical connection between those patients and their families to share patient updates and offer reassurance or support.

Do you want to know more?

List of family practice physician assistant skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a family practice physician assistant resume and required skills for a family practice physician assistant to have include:

Patients
Primary Care
Family Medicine
Patient Care
Urgent Care
Epic
Diagnosis
Medical Care
Diabetes
Acute Care
Medical History
Family Practice Clinic
Physical Exams
Hypertension
EKG
CPR

Suturing
Diagnostic Tests
OB
PA-C
Acls
Internal Medicine
Immunization
Health Maintenance
Diagnostic Procedures
Chronic Illnesses
Patient Histories
DOT
Lab Tests
Joint Injections
Medical Practice
Chronic Care

Chronic Pain
Patient Education
Diagnostic Studies
Disease Prevention
Family Practice
IUD
Laceration Repair
GYN
Memorial Hospital
STD
Sports Physicals
Asthma
Acute Illnesses
Discharge Summaries

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Family Practice Physician Assistant Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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