The Physician Assistant Field

With a median salary of $115,390 and more than 40,000 jobs open nationwide, the role of physician assistant (PA) was ranked the No. 2 best health care job and the No. 3 best job overall by U.S. News & World Report for 2022.¹ Explore how you can pursue this career path below.

PAs are medical professionals who work under the supervision of licensed physicians and surgeons although, often, the dynamic is more a collaboration between the two. In fact, in many health care settings, patients work closely with a PA in lieu of seeing a general physician, which helps reduce the obstacles that stand between individuals and medical care. PAs are trusted health care providers.

PAs can work autonomously or work on or lead health care teams, and PA responsibilities can include:

PAs work in all medical settings, including hospitals, offices, community health centers, nursing homes, clinics, and correctional institutions.

Some master’s programs, including Yale PA Online, will allow you to apply while your bachelor’s degree is still in progress—they just require that your degree be conferred prior to matriculation.

PA master’s curricula prepares students to diagnose and treat illness and disease across the patient life span. In addition to core coursework, PA students complete clinical rotations in various health care settings. As with any medical program, hands-on experience with patients is critical to any PA program’s curriculum.

In order to sit for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE)—the test PAs must pass to obtain licensure and practice medicine—students must first graduate from a PA program that is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).

To obtain certification and then licensure, you must pass the PANCE test, which covers a wide variety of questions to assess basic medical and surgical knowledge. Once certified, PAs must “renew” their certification with the Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam (PANRE) every 10 years.

The time can vary depending upon a variety of factors, but a PA program often can be completed in 24—28 months.

The country is experiencing a major shortage in primary care physicians—a recent report found that the U.S. could see a shortage of up to 139,000 physicians by 2033—and as a result, PAs are gaining more prevalence.² In fact, the PA field is expected to grow by 31 percent by 2029, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ³

For more than two centuries, Yale School of Medicine has remained at the forefront of innovation and academic excellence in the field of medicine. Now, we offer a hybrid PA master’s program so students around the United States can advance their education—and support the nation’s health care needs—from their home state.

As a student, you will complete all coursework online. However, more than one-half of the program will be spent applying your newfound knowledge and skills in person, at health care facilities near you. This includes:

¹ U.S News & World Report, 2021
² IHS Markit Ltd., 2020
³ BLS, 2020