Automatically apply for jobs with Zippi

Upload your resume to get started.

Physician assistant student skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Timothy Sparta,

Timothy Sparta

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical physician assistant student skills. We ranked the top skills for physician assistant students based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 19.2% of physician assistant student resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a physician assistant student needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 physician assistant student skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how physician assistant students use patients:

Performed well and sick visits, consisting of both comprehensive and focused history and physical examinations of pediatric patients, respectively.
Performed and documented complete history and physicals on new patients and problem oriented physicals on returning patients; performed well-woman visits.

2. 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 physician assistant students use physical exams:

Conducted histories and physical exams followed by a patient presentation to preceptor with an assessment and plan including written prescriptions
Conducted history and physical exams during rounds, presented physical findings and laboratory results to residents and attending physicians.

3. Emergency Medicine

Here's how physician assistant students use emergency medicine:

Discipline: Emergency Medicine All duties performed under supervision of attending physician.
Major focus in Primary Care with secondary emphasis in General Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, and OB/GYN.

4. Family Medicine

Here's how physician assistant students use family medicine:

Obtained experience and performed duties of a PA in Family Medicine.
Rotated with Dr. Steven Horrocks, DO, Surprise Family Medicine in Surprise, AZ.

5. 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 physician assistant students use patient care:

Aided in preoperative and postoperative patient care management.
Delivered preoperative, postoperative, and outpatient care.

6. Internal Medicine

Here's how physician assistant students use internal medicine:

Provide medical care within the scope of an Internal Medicine inpatient hospital setting.
Enjoyed sharpening my skills in triage, internal medicine, and family practice.

Choose from 10+ customizable physician assistant student resume templates

Build a professional physician assistant student 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 student resume.

7. Patient History

Here's how physician assistant students use patient history:

Formulated treatment plans based on patient history, exams, and interpretation of labs and diagnostic testing.
Performed new patient history and physicals in an urban methadone clinic on the north side of Pittsburgh.

8. Primary Care

Here's how physician assistant students use primary care:

Ordered surgical clearance from referring physician or primary care provider.
Completed a six week clinical rotation in Primary Care Medicine

9. Psychiatry

Here's how physician assistant students use psychiatry:

Obtained a detailed medical and psychiatry history from each patient.
Worked at CPEP (comprehensive psychiatry emergency program)

10. Family Practice

A family practice is a specialization that constitutes those comprehensive medical services provided to people corresponding to all age groups and genders. It includes healthcare coverage for all diseases whether chronic or acute. Apart from the clinical cures, the practice also includes therapy treatments. Family practice is delivered by physicians who are commonly referred to as family doctors.

Here's how physician assistant students use family practice:

Completed 42 hours of shadowing and observation of duties in a family practice setting.
Discipline: Family Practice II All duties performed under physician supervision.

11. General Surgery

Here's how physician assistant students use general surgery:

Preformed rounds on post-operative patients on the general surgery floor of Utah Valley Hospital.
Assisted in trauma, orthopedic and general surgery with trauma physician assistants and surgeon.

12. Surgical Procedures

Surgical procedures include the list of tasks that are done while doing surgery. Usually, a surgical procedure involves an incision with instruments, performed to repair damage or heal the disease in a living body. Surgical procedures are performed by trained individuals such as surgeons, doctors, and nurses.

Here's how physician assistant students use surgical procedures:

Assisted with surgical procedures and performed outpatient management techniques such as joint injections, aspirations, and post-operative wound care.
Scrubbed in and became familiar with various general surgical procedures and learned their expected outcomes and complications.

13. EMR

Here's how physician assistant students use emr:

Gained experience with medical documentation by means of EMR.
Mastered 3 EMR programs and imaging study programs.

14. Geriatrics

Here's how physician assistant students use geriatrics:

Perform histories and physicals on 30 patients/day from infants to geriatrics.

15. Patient Education

Here's how physician assistant students use patient education:

Formed relationships with patients and provided patient education on disease processes, medications, and preventative medicine.
Encouraged responsibility, patient education, and prevention to our low income patient population.

5 Physician Assistant Student resume examples

Build a professional physician assistant student resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 5+ resume templates to create your physician assistant student resume.

Create my resume

Build a professional resume in minutes using this template.

What skills help Physician Assistant Students find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on physician assistant student resumes?

Timothy Sparta

Clinical Education Director, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

PAs that have remained at the same job and received at least 3 to 5 years of training in their specialty, PAs with a dedicated stance on serving the local community and diverse patient populations, PAs with a diverse skill set and are flexible.

What soft skills should all physician assistant students 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 physician assistant students?

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.

Do you want to know more?

List of physician assistant student skills to add to your resume

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

Patients
Physical Exams
Emergency Medicine
Family Medicine
Patient Care
Internal Medicine
Patient History
Primary Care
Psychiatry
Family Practice
General Surgery
Surgical Procedures
EMR
Geriatrics
Patient Education
Suturing
CPR

PA-C
EKGs
Medical Care
Cardiology
Diagnostic Tests
Gynecology
Clinical Rotations
Obstetrics
Orthopedic Surgery
Acls
Catheter
Direct Supervision
PAP Smears
Medical Histories
ICU
Dermatology
IV

Laboratory Tests
Differential Diagnoses
Diagnostic Studies
Lab Results
Hypertension
Joint Injections
Intubation
ECG
Health Maintenance
Cryotherapy
Plastic Surgery
MRI
Allergies
Pelvic Exams
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.

Zippia Careers
Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Physician Assistant Student
Physician Assistant Student Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs