The Ultimate Guide to the Physician Assistant Profession

This indispensable guide is the next best thing to having a real-life PA mentor at your side. Based on the author’s hard-won insights and extensive research as a student and professional PA, the book defines the PA’s role; reveals the secrets for getting into and through a PA training program; and provides valuable tips for students to use during their clinical rotations. Above all, through the author’s down-to-earth tone and use of personal vignettes, it offers encouragement when you need it most–and lays the foundation for a fulfilling career centered on optimizing patient outcomes.

The Ultimate Guide to the Physician Assistant Profession begins with an instructive look at the history of the profession, and subsequent chapters highlight exactly what it takes to excel in PA school; how to transition effectively from school to work; strategies for optimizing collaboration between physicians and PAs; and much more. Supporting this practical coverage are “Day in the Life” vignettes that feature engaging, hour-by-hour accounts of PAs at work across a range of unique settings and specialties, from administration and forensics, to family practice and cardiac critical care.

FEATURES: Firsthand accounts written by 6 student PAs and 39 practicing PAs relate their personal experiences in a broad range of clinical specialties, delivering an engaging, real-world snapshot of the demands and opportunities of the PA profession In-depth chapter on effectively managing the transition from school to work covers central topics such as financial planning, the job search, what to include in your first job contract, meeting the expectations of supervising physicians, and much more Valuable appendices provide key information on physician assistant schools, physician assistant affiliations, plus a valuable glossary of important, commonly used medical terminology