What does a Physician Assistant do?
The physician assistant, also known as "PA," is now considered a key player to any healthcare team. Physician assistants are health care professionals who practice medicine under the supervision of licensed physicians. They work on several areas of medicine, from primary care to emergency service and even psychiatry. Neither they are a doctor nor a physician, but their job profile showcases many of these responsibilities. More than as assistants to the doctors, they are also equipped to examine, diagnose, and develop treatment strategies for patients.
Physician assistant responsibilities
Physician assistants play a crucial role in patient care, often working alongside physicians. They perform physical examinations, order and interpret diagnostic tests, and administer treatments. As highlighted by Timothy Sparta, Clinical Education Director at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, "PAs with a diverse skill set and are flexible" are highly valued. This is evident in the responsibilities they undertake, such as coordinating with specialists, managing primary diagnoses, and performing minor surgical procedures. They also demonstrate a commitment to patient education and counseling, ensuring patients understand their treatments and medications.
Here are examples of responsibilities from real physician assistant resumes:
- Manage a variety of acute and chronic conditions especially asthma, allergies, injuries, and infectious diseases.
- Manage chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, ASCVD, chronic back and joint pains, depression, and anxiety.
- Manage patient surgical care throughout the continuum of care from pre-op, to discharge planning, including ambulatory and hospital in-patients.
- Attain pertinent history & physicals for obstetrics and gynecological acute and preventative visits.
- Work closely with patients to manage their depression and anxiety beginning with initial diagnosis to med-initiation and follow-up care.
- Aid in the acute management of trauma patients including obtaining appropriate studies, suturing, and CPR.
- Assist with DaVinci robotic cardiac and thoracic surgical cases.
- Assist in surgical procedures including total and partial knee, shoulder and hip arthroplasties.
- Assist in the medical management of chronic diseases such as CHF, COPD, HTN, diabetes and others.
- Rotate through general, breast, colorectal, hepatobiliary, plastic, thoracic, trauma and vascular surgery services.
- Receive outpatient and inpatient training in obstetrics, gynecology and urogynecology.
- Perform tests and treatments on both pediatric and adult patients including suturing, splinting and gynecological examinations.
- Prepare patients for surgery, including education for patient, positioning, skin preparation and administration of local anesthetic.
- Design and implement rehabilitation programs for post surgical, sports medicine and chronic pain patients in collaboration with physical therapy team.
- Administer injections, apply splints, braces, and casts daily.
Physician assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 29% of Physician Assistants are proficient in Patients, Diagnostic Tests, and Surgery. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Physician Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 29%
Performed daily rounding on hospitalized inpatients, history and physicals and medical consults; interpreted laboratory data; educated patients.
- Diagnostic Tests, 6%
Determined abnormal conditions by administering or ordering diagnostic tests such as x-rays, electrocardiograms and laboratory studies and interpreting test results.
- Surgery, 5%
Shadowed anesthesiologists and observed surgeries including hernia repair, open-heart surgery, liver transplantation, and robotic surgery.
- Primary Care, 5%
Developed and implemented Primary Care model within community mental health center with goal of achieving integration of behavioral and primary care.
- Urgent Care, 4%
Developed family medical home model successfully incorporating routine annual exams while incorporating daily open appointments for urgent care/walk-in patient care needs.
- CPR, 3%
Performed ECG, CPR, all types of injections, including IV, G-tube, Oxygen therapy, specimen collection.
Common skills that a physician assistant uses to do their job include "patients," "diagnostic tests," and "surgery." You can find details on the most important physician assistant responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a physician assistant to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "physician assistants must explain complex medical issues in a way that patients can understand." Physician assistants often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provide thorough documentation on electronic records for office visits, communication notes, interpretation of labs and diagnostic tests. "
Compassion. Many physician assistant duties rely on compassion. "physician assistants deal with patients who are sick or injured and who may be in extreme pain or distress," so a physician assistant will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways physician assistant responsibilities rely on compassion: "demonstrated compassion, professionalism and a commitment to excellent patient care. "
Detail oriented. physician assistants are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to physician assistant responsibilities, because "physician assistants should be observant and have a strong ability to focus when evaluating and treating patients." A physician assistant resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "obtained detailed history, perform physical exams, ordered and interpreted laboratory and diagnostic tests. "
Emotional stability. A big part of what physician assistants do relies on "emotional stability." You can see how essential it is to physician assistant responsibilities because "physician assistants, particularly those working in surgery or emergency medicine, should work well under pressure." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical physician assistant tasks: "monitored hemodynamic and cardiopulmonary stability during the surgical procedure. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for physician assistant responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of physician assistants all the time, as "physician assistants need to evaluate patients’ symptoms and administer the appropriate treatments." An excerpt from a real physician assistant resume shows how this skill is central to what a physician assistant does: "managed scheduling for 18 medical providers at ambulatory clinic and acute care evening clinic mediated and resolved conflicts. "
The three companies that hire the most physician assistants are:
- UnitedHealth Group564 physician assistants jobs
- Geisinger Medical Center361 physician assistants jobs
- Fast Pace Health308 physician assistants jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable physician assistant resume templates
Build a professional physician assistant resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your physician assistant resume.
Compare different physician assistants
Physician assistant vs. Midlevel provider
A nurse practitioner's role is diverse. It revolves around supervising nurses in a particular area and providing immediate care and treatment to patients through extensive knowledge and clinical experience. Among the duties of a nurse practitioner involves diagnosing and treating medical conditions, performing research and analysis through various tests, evaluating data and results, operating different kinds of medical equipment, and gathering samples from patients. Furthermore, a nurse practitioner must maintain an active line of communication and coordination among fellow health workers in a hospital or clinic.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a physician assistant are more likely to require skills like "patients," "primary care," "urgent care," and "cpr." On the other hand, a job as a midlevel provider requires skills like "patient care," "diagnostic procedures," "analyze data," and "iud." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that midlevel providers earn slightly differ from physician assistants. In particular, midlevel providers are 10.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a physician assistant. Additionally, they're 5.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Physician assistant vs. Adult nurse practitioner
Obstetrics Gynecology Physician is a specialist doctor in childbirth, pregnancy, and female reproductive health. Their duties include conducting tests such as pelvic exams, breast exams, and pap smears, diagnosing diseases and disorders, carrying out a patient routine check-up, prescribing treatment plans, and monitoring expectant mothers during periods of postpartum, pregnancy, and childbirth. They maintain accurate patient medical records, educate patients on reproductive healthcare and disease detection and prevention. Obstetrics Gynecology Physicians works to keep abreast with the latest innovations, best practice and collaborates with non-medical and medical teams in accomplishing its tasks.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that physician assistant responsibilities requires skills like "surgery," "cpr," "surgical procedures," and "patient history." But an adult nurse practitioner might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "diagnosis," "health history," "health promotion," and "disease prevention."
Adult nurse practitioners may earn a lower salary than physician assistants, but adult nurse practitioners earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $112,683. On the other hand, physician assistants receive higher pay in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $125,867.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Adult nurse practitioners tend to reach higher levels of education than physician assistants. In fact, they're 16.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Physician assistant vs. Nurse practitioner
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from physician assistant resumes include skills like "surgery," "cpr," "test results," and "surgical procedures," whereas a nurse practitioner is more likely to list skills in "diagnosis," "emr," "health promotion," and "fnp. "
Nurse practitioners typically earn higher educational levels compared to physician assistants. Specifically, they're 19.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Physician assistant vs. Obstetrics gynecology physician
Types of physician assistant
Updated June 25, 2024
