How To Become A Physician Extender: What It Is and Career Path

What is a physician extender and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

James Craft Ph.D.

Physician extenders are people that perform patient care but are not doctors themselves. They can be nurse practitioners or physician assistants. They use their skills to extend the services of a medical office beyond what a physician alone can do. Often, they work in clinics or emergency response services.

A physician extender is usually the person that spends the most time interacting face-to-face with patients. They conduct check-ups, diagnose conditions, and work directly with patients to manage their illnesses. In addition to knowing a lot about medicine, physician extenders also need to have good administrative skills to manage patient records.

Since they're not doctors, physician extenders do not need to go to medical school. However, they still need some form of formal education and licensing. Most have bachelor's or master's degrees in nursing, practical experience in the field of medicine, and a license to practice from their state. Becoming a physician extender takes many years of hard work, but it pays off--on average, physician extenders earn $121,216 a year.

What general advice would you give to a physician extender?

James Craft Ph.D.

Doctor of Chiropractic, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Alice Lloyd College

Stay passionate. Love what you do and love doing it. The passion will drive all the other necessary things that are needed to begin a new career. When you learn and understand your personal why then that is the foundation of a successful career. Seek opportunities, don't hesitate to ask for advice, and stand strong and work hard. There will be mountains and valleys but the passion will give you the energy to keep going.

ScorePhysician ExtenderUS Average

Salary

10.0

Avg. Salary $244,718

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.9

Growth rate 28%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.36%

Asian 9.48%

Black or African American 5.79%

Hispanic or Latino 12.69%

Unknown 3.85%

White 67.84%

Gender

female 64.64%

male 35.36%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress level

9.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a physician extender

Explore physician extender education requirements

Most common physician extender degrees

Bachelor's

59.1 %

Master's

19.7 %

Associate

15.1 %

Start to develop specific physician extender skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	42.53%
Patient Care	15.28%
Medical Care	4.55%
Rehabilitation	4.10%
Physical Therapy	3.44%

Complete relevant physician extender training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New physician extenders learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a physician extender based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real physician extender resumes.

Research physician extender duties and responsibilities

Work closely with patients to manage their depression and anxiety beginning with initial diagnosis to med-initiation and follow-up care.
Render emergency medical treatment and transport patients.
Initial reading of EKG's.
Assess patients' symptoms while conducting initial injury evaluation.

Prepare your physician extender resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your physician extender resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a physician extender resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable physician extender resume templates

Build a professional physician extender resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your physician extender resume.