Physician Assistants are people who are trained in the same way as that of physicians are trained in medical schools. The work of a physician assistant is to assist the physician by performing physical examinations of patients, taking patient case histories, diagnose and treat illnesses, provide medical advice, counsel patients, set fractures, assist the surgeon during surgery, call for diagnostic tests etc.

The Physician’s assistant works directly under the care of a physician and most physician’s assistants come from different backgrounds like paramedics, medical technology, radiology technician, nurses, phlebotomists, medical assistants etc.

A physician’s assistant gets to be trained in didactic training for 18months and has to undergo clinical training for another 15 months while for nurse practitioners who have already had enough clinical training, the total period in clinical training is less. Physical Assistants differ from Physicians as they are not entitled to a license to practice independently but only under the direct supervision of a physician. Physician’s Assistants are found in all the different areas of medicine like Family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, Gynaecology, Surgery and Dermatology etc.

The Physician assistant graduate program can be studied in most medical schools where most of the students would already be holding a graduate degree and would have already had some work experience. This graduate program confers a master’s degree to the participant and all the physician’s assistants are trained as generalists. They receive 1000 hours of didactic training and around 2000 hours of clinical training. The post graduate programs for physicians assistants include surgery, emergency medicine and pediatrics and the education which is imparted to the students is mainly skill oriented with plenty of emphasis on diagnosis, treatment, surgical skills and patient education.

Within the physician Assistant post graduate program, the physician’s assistant will be able to enter specialty practices but is entirely based on previous experiences and their training which is enhanced through the job experiences. The Physician Assistant post graduate program is also known as a Physician Assistant Residency program as it involves working at a hospital and getting trained in clinical experience in a special field like surgery or obstetrics. It is a one year program. On successful completion of the post graduate program, an accredition is awarded to the student. Most of the medical schools which offer this Physician assistant post graduate degree, provide training to the students in clinics, surgical floors and also in operating rooms with post operative care and other advance surgical training techniques and concepts.

The physician assistant under the guidance of a doctor will gain the confidence and experience needed to practice.

If you intend to pursue a post graduate degree program as a physician assistant then you could search the web for medical schools which are offering the degree programs of your choice. The various web sites provide details of the different areas in which you can specialize as a Physician assistant by completing a post graduation in the subject.