Requirements to become Physician Assistant
While some people are well
informed and would consider a physician assistant’s job as normally as
willingly as they would accept any other, there are again some who do not know
about this specific job and have never even heard of it! This job grew into the
market after the Vietnam War in the 1960s. During this period, a lot of injured
and experienced navy men were returning from war. The navy corpsmen who were
serving as medics with the navy, returned with a huge amount of combat
medicine. With this abundant resource, they started looking after thousands of
injured, bandaged them, provided medication, operating on them if it required
so and performed similar duties.
However the corpsmen did
not have a similar kind of job in regular civilian life. Thus the job of the
physician assistant was developed to accommodate numerous such navy corpsmen
and soon many seemed to take a lot of interest in this kind of work and hence
it eventually grew popular with the masses. Today even though you need not be a
navy corpsman to become a physician assistant but the experience definitely
counts. For this a two years course in the same is mandatory. Thus only those
with hands on training kind of experience are going to be accepted in this job.
These trainings could include that of a nurse, therapist, paramedic, medical
volunteer, and the like.
But only training is not
sufficient, an applicant must also be academically successful. A physician
assistant applicant must take some necessary classes before he can apply for
this specific post. Though every program varies with the institute providing
it, most follow the similar framework of offering lessons on chemistry,
biology, microbiology, anatomy, physiology and English. And these courses can
be pursued only after your graduation in most cases. What is the most difficult
is applying for the course. Since the job is in great demand, the number of
applicants is as large as 500 while the seats are only 50 in each institute.
Hence you have to work hard on your application. Give a lot of attention to
your personal statement, as this will make you stand out from the rest. Be
thorough with your personal statement and do sufficient research as at the
interview you cannot afford to come across as ill equipped since there will be
applicants with brilliant records competing with you.
The next hardest part is
to score well at the interview. You definitely are good material if you made it
to the interview but the jury or selectors want to see what you are like in
person now and test your personality as well as your zeal for this profession.
If you make it through this usually very grilling session, you have to face
newer challenges – the first being two years of rigorous studying and the
second being the certifying exam which you have to clear in order to get your
license and keep renewing in order to be able to prove you are worthy of that
license every six years. A physician assistant school is as tedious as medical
school except that it is compressed to two years rather than four years. The
exam you have to take is also similar to a medical students’. While he answers
800 questions, you attempt 600, only 200 lesser.
As you can see, the
procedure to become an assistant is not easy, thus it is very valued and
respected in the world of medicine. It will pay you equally well too. So if you
have thought about it, go ahead and give it a shot. It is many a person’s dream
job to be a physician assistant.
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Please refer To This Blog For Further Details:
4 Main Reasons to Become a Physician's Assistant
24 May 2010



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