Depending on the specific PA program, the credentials awarded include a Certificate of Completion, associate's degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree, or Graduate Certificate of Completion. After graduation from an accredited PA program, you may choose to obtain even more specialized training in a post-graduate residency program. Some of the specialty areas currently offering this training include emergency medicine, surgery, orthopedics, neonatology, and occupational medicine. A lifetime of learning continues as every PA must take continuing medical education classes throughout her or his career and pass a national recertification examination every six years. This helps to insure that each PA will maintain a core competency of medical and surgical knowledge.
PAs work in many different types of health care settings.
Some work in hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, schools, and private companies. PAs also work for the U.S. government in the military, Public Health Service, Veterans Administration, Bureau of Prisons, and in the White House. PAs serve communities of all sizes, from remote and rural towns to major cities. The demand for PA services is rapidly increasing as a result of increased recognition of the quality of care that PAs provide and the cost-effectiveness of those services. The Department of Labor projects that the total employment in the U.S. will grow by 14 percent through the year 2005.