Physician Assistant - Education and Certification

Education and Certification

As of October 2011, there were 156 accredited PA programs in the United States. The majority are graduate programs leading to the award of master's degrees in either Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS), Health Science (MHS), or Medical Science (MMSc), and require a bachelor's degree and GRE or MCAT scores for entry. Some PA programs are starting to offer a clinical doctorate degree (Doctor of Science Physician Assistant or DScPA)(Baylor University and the Department of the Army), while a few still award an undergraduate bachelor's, but many of these are transitioning to graduate-level training. Professional licensure is regulated by the medical boards of the individual states.

Physician assistant education is based on the medical model although unlike medical school which lasts four years plus a specialty-specific residency, PA training is usually 2 to 3 years in duration, completed during undergraduate education or post-graduate studies, for a total of 4–7 years of postsecondary education. However, most PA students start their medical education with a background of health care experience. The didactic training of PA education consists of classroom and laboratory instruction in medical and behavioral sciences, such as anatomy, microbiology, pharmacology, pathophysiology, hematology, pathology, clinical medicine, and physical diagnosis, followed by clinical rotations in internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, and geriatric medicine, as well as elective rotations. Many PA schools do not differentiate between the first year PA students and first year medical students, and their classes are taken together. Unlike physicians, who must complete a minimum of three years of residency after completion of medical school, PAs are not required to complete such residencies. Despite this, there are "residency" programs in certain specialties for PAs who choose to continue formal education in such a format.

PA clinical postgraduate programs are clinical training programs which differ from training on the job in their inclusion of didactic education and supervised clinical experience to meet learning objectives which are clearly defined. The Montefiore Medical Center Postgraduate Surgical Physician Assistant Program was established in 1971 as the first clinical postgraduate PA program to be recognized. Currently, there are known to be 49 programs in various specialties such as Neurology, Trauma/Critical Care and Oncology. The Association of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Programs was formed in 1988 as an instrument in the establishment of educational standards for postgraduate PA programs and currently includes 50 member programs.

A physician assistant may use the post-nominal initials "PA", "PA-C", "APA-C", "RPA" or "RPA-C", where the "-C" indicates "Certified" and the "R" indicates "Registered". The "R" designation is unique to a few states, mainly in the Northeast; The "A" indicates completion of the Army Flight Surgeon Course. Most PAs use "PA-C" During training, PA students are designated PA-S. The use of "PA-C" is limited only to those PAs currently certified and in compliance with the regulations of the national certifying organization, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).

In the United States, a graduate from an accredited PA program must pass the NCCPA-administered Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) before becoming a PA-C; this certification is required for licensure in all states. In addition, a PA must earn and log 100 Continuing Medical Education (CME) hours and reregister his or her certificate with the NCCPA every two years. Every six years, a PA must also recertify by successfully completing the Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam (PANRE), though a ten-year cycle has been implemented, though the full transition will take six years. Similar testing/credentialing is required in Canada by PAs as well. NCCPA eliminated the Pathway II as a means of recertifying in 2010.