Why Study to become a Physician Assistant?
A physician assistant (PA) is a medical professional who practices medicine with the supervision of a licensed physician. PAs provide a wide variety of medical services traditionally per-formed by physicians. The concept for the profession originated in the early to mid-1960s as a way to enhance the provision of medical care to people residing in medically under-served areas. The care of the underserved remains an ongoing goal of the profession. Physician assistants work in all 50 states, Guam, and the District of Columbia in a wide range of medical settings including physicians’ offices, hospitals, clinics, emergency departments, military and Veterans Administration installations, nursing homes, industrial health centers, and correctional institutions. They work in conjunction with a physician and have a wide array of responsibilities including taking medical histories, conducting physical examinations, ordering or per-forming lab and other diagnostic tests, synthesizing data to make
