Practicing as members of physician-directed teams, physician assistants provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services, from primary care to complex surgical procedures. Pediatric PAs perform well child examinations, diagnose and treat common acute ailments, repair lacerations and perform wound care, and assist in surgery and in neonatal care units. Team practice utilizes the skills of each provider, resulting in appropriate and efficient care and high levels of patient satisfaction. According to the 2000 AAPA Physician Assistant Census Report, approximately four percent of PAs in clinical practice in 2000 reported pediatrics as the specialty of their primary employers. Most work in general pediatric settings, while a smaller number choose sub-specialties of pediatric care.
Training includes both didactic and clinical components.
The average PA student is at least 28 years old and has a bachelor s degree and nearly four years of health care experience before entering PA school. Students also complete, on average, two years of college courses in basic science and behavioral science as prerequisites to PA training, generally the same pre-med courses required of medical students. Physician assistant education is modeled after physician education. The curriculum parallels medical school and includes courses in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, physical diagnosis, pathophysiology, microbiology, clinical laboratory sciences, behavioral sciences, and medical ethics. Physicians, educators of physicians, and PAs teach the courses.