How to Choose a College With a Physician's Assistant Program

A physician assistant is a trained healthcare professional who is able to practice medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician. To work as a physician assistant, you must be certified--and to become certified, you must attend an accredited physician assistant program. If you are confused about how to choose the right college with a physician assistant program, here are some tips. Most physician assistant training programs will require prior healthcare experience, such as experience as a registered nurse, for consideration.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Experience in the healthcare profession

1. Draw up a list of the accredited physicians assistant training programs that are located in your geographical region or in a region to which you would consider relocating. The program must be accredited by the Accreditation Review Committee on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), and you can find a list of all the accredited programs on the ARC-PA website (see Resources).

2. Decide what type of degree you want to have at graduation. Some physician's assistant programs end with a certificate of completion, whereas others work as associate, bachelor or master's degrees. All accredited programs will lead to certification eligibility but you may wish to have a specific level of degree to list on your resume.

3. Eliminate any options from your list that do not meet your degree requirements.

4. Visit the websites or call the program adviser from each of the remaining colleges on your list. Find out what the prerequisites are. Different programs may require a different amount of healthcare experience (a good average is 2000 hours of experience in nursing or allied health).

5. Eliminate from your list any schools for which you do not meet the required prerequisites (or for which you are unable to meet the required prerequisites).

6. Decide which of the remaining programs best suits your needs in terms of how the classes are delivered, where the clinical rotations will be located and length of commute. Submit an application to that school.

Tips & Warnings

• Note that a physician assistant is a much higher responsibility position than a medical assistant. A medical assistant assists the physician primarily with paperwork and reception of patients, whereas a physician assistant can actually perform medical procedures. The training requirements for the two professions differ considerably.
• Consider applying to more than one school in case you are not accepted to your top choice.
• The CASPA website (Central Application System for Physician Assistants) offers students the option to apply to multiple schools through a single web application.
• Always verify the accreditation status of any program you are considering.

Resources

• Accredited Physician Assistant Programs by State
• CASPA

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