Our country is blessed to have medical regulatory boards that serve to protect patients and their providers. Some other parts of the world do not require a license or special privileges. Those countries just want help from anyone willing, and it does not always end well. So, the United States has a blessing and a curse. Since ...

I am now able to say that I have officially graduated from PA school. I may not be able to add the ''C'' to the end of my title until I pass my boards, but I am able to say that I'm no longer a student. It's such a strange feeling to finally be done, because PA school so easily became such an identifying part of my life. Graduation was ...

Cheesy title, I know, but I thought it was appropriate for the lessons learned last week. I’m still in the orientation phase primarily because I do not have hospital privileges or malpractice insurance. I do have a temporary license!!! Can I get an ''Amen?'' For all the new grads and old grads, you remember the feeling. As soon as you got ...

This week is chock full of final exams and with everyone from my class finally back in the area, there is much to be done. The beginning of the week consists of various lectures meant to comprise part of an all-inclusive review of more or less everything we’ve learned while in PA school. At the end of the week we have a directed practical on ...

As I enter the 3rd week on the job, my nerves are starting to settle, and I'm starting to feel acclimated. Still no temporary license (fingers crossed …hopefully this week!) and thus unable to see patients in the clinic or assist in surgery. I am so grateful that my supervising physician has allowed me to start with the group while waiting ...

Physician assistants are increasingly more likely to head into specialties such as surgery and emergency medicine rather than primary care, according to the News & Observer. Researchers at the Duke University PA program studied the job choices of PAs from 1997 to 2006 and found that the number of PAs going into primary care declined to 41% ...

Once again, physician assistant has been named one of the best careers, this time in a U.S. News & World Report article called ''America's Best Careers: 2010.'' Back in November, CNNMoney.com ranked physician assistant #2 in the 50 best jobs in America. Unfortunately, the U.S. News article makes a few mistakes (what is a ''physical ...

And so the health care reform debate continues... A recent article at Examiner.com champions PAs and NPs as a possible solution to the physician shortage. ''Primary physician shortage spurs search for alternatives,'' by DC public policy examiner Alan Portner, identifies PAs and NPs as the product of ''shorter, more intensive, ...