hospitals or practice independently. According
to the AAPA or the American Academy of Physician Assistants, in January
2006, there were almost 60,000 certified Physician Assistants practicing
in clinics.In 2005, over 50% of Physician Assistants were found to work
in clinics and offices of physicians, either in osteopathic or allopathic
practice. Almost 40% were hired by hospitals and the remaining few were
engaged in nursing homes, prisons, The United States Department of Veterans
Affairs, public health clinics, schools and home health care agencies.
In addition, the AAPA states that almost 20% of all the Physician Assistants
were found to provide health care to many rural communities.Accredited
Programs In 2006, almost 150 accredited Physician Assistants Programs
exist. One governing body, the ARC-PA or the Accreditation Review Commission
on Education for the Physician Assistant, accredits all these programs.
Most of these programs are Master’s Degree programs,
however, a few of them do provide undergraduate
majors and graduate level training.One governing body, the NCCPA or the
National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, grants the
certification of a Physician Assistant.Other Innovative Medical Careers
Physician Assistants and the Nurse Practitioners provide similar services.
The only dissimilarity would be that Nurse Practitioners are registered
nurses and have to undergo extensive training, more than the PA’s,
and they have to obtain a Master’s Degree in nursing. They are also
known as APC’s or Advanced Practice Clinicians or MLP’s or
Mid-Level Practitioners.Medical Assistants perform routine clerical and
clinical tasks at any physician’s clinic. A Medical Assistant is
a multifaceted healthcare practitioner, who is capable of performing a
variety of laboratory and clinical procedures, along with certain administrative
responsibilities. They are multi-skilled and versatile professionals.
Their formal education takes place in community
colleges, junior colleges, vocational or technical institutes or proprietary
schools. The curriculum has to be accredited, if graduates plan on getting
registered or certified. Accreditation requires that the school curriculum
should offer classroom lectures and well equipped laboratories. Today,
many of the health care placements focus on healthcare services and almost
15% of all healthcare jobs available have increased. The factors that
contribute towards the growth of jobs in this industry include the growing
and aging population that demands additional medical services and of course
the use of innovative medical technology for treatment and intensive diagnosis.Tony
Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six
Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org
) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean
six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.
