Physician assistants can relieve physicians of routine duties and procedures. Besides the traditional office-based setting, PAs should find a growing number of jobs in institutional settings such as hospitals, academic medical centers, public clinics, and prisons. Additional PAs may be needed to augment medical staffing in inpatient teaching hospital settings if the number of physician residents is reduced. In addition, State-imposed legal limitations on the numbers of hours worked by physician residents are increasingly common and encourage hospitals to use PAs to supply some physician resident services. Opportunities will be best in States that allow PAs a wider scope of practice, such as the ability to prescribe medication.
Income varies by specialty, practice setting, geographical location, and years of experience.
Top Other health workers who provide direct patient care that requires a similar level of skill and training include nurse practitioners , physical therapists , occupational therapists , clinical psychologists , nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists , speech-language pathologists , and audiologists . Links to non-BLS Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.