Employment Physician assistants held about 48,000 jobs in 1990. In the early years of the occupation, informal training was not uncommon, but today, nearly all States require that new PA's complete an approved program. Approximately 16,500 PA's had completed such training programs by 1984. Admission requirements vary, but 2 years of coursework at the college level in science or one of the health professions is usually the minimum requirement. About half of all applicants hold a bachelor's or master's degree but fully one-third hold no formal degree beyond high school.
Most programs require applicants to have experience working directly with patients.
Jobs that provide the requisite clinical experience range from medical technologist to registered nurse. Education programs are generally 2 years in length, although some are longer and a few are shorter. Regardless of the institutional sponsorship, most accredited PA programs have clinical teaching affiliations with medical schools or medical school faculty. PA education begins with a classroom or didactic phase that lasts 6 to 24 months. Classroom instruction includes human anatomy, physiology, microbiology, clinical pharmacology, applied psychology, clinical medicine, and medical ethics.