One of the rising careers today is being a physician assistant. More and more people are looking to it as their form of employment. However, there are still plenty of questions about this career, aside from the typical and obvious one regarding the physician assistant salary.
Commonly asked questions on becoming a physician assistant are the basic requirements to become one. While we could set aside the school background and good moral character parts, here are some of the basic qualities that people should posses if they are thinking of a physician assistant career.
Some Basic Knowledge of Medicine
As a physician assistant, some patients would immediately see you as a doctor replacement. As such, you would be flooded by questions regarding what kind of medicine or treatment they should take. While you should not be the one giving out actual treatment advice, this should not stop a physician assistant from providing tips that would help in preventing patients from encountering dangerous situations such as a patient’s intake of wrong medication.
Of course, the physician assistant should always say that their advice are merely guides, the final say should always be based on the assessment of the actual physician. This way, you are able to help them without overstepping or even undermining the advice given by the actual doctors.
Innate Care for People
To become a physician assistant, you would need to have that innate care for people. Being with a physician means you would be working with vulnerable patients and having the skills to take care of them is critical. A physician assistant must be able to make them feel at ease while they are waiting for the diagnostic from their doctor.
This means that people who are not patient and are easily irritated would probably be not a good fit for this kind of profession. In the same vein, those who are really fond of helping people out would be the ones that are perfect to become a physician assistant.
Willingness to Work Long Hours
While many are already happy with the physician assistant salary, the caveat is that you would often have to work for it. As a physician assistant, you cannot simply walk out once the clock strikes 5. You should have the dedication to stay at least until the last patient has been treated by the doctor.
Patience
A clinic would often have more than a single physician assistant. These would often have various levels and would mean a difference in the salary. If you would want immediate high pay, then you may want to start looking for another line of work.
The thing with becoming a physician assistant is that it would require some patience on your part. You should have that willingness to wait and work your way up the ladder if you want to last at this job or else you would get easily frustrated by it.