Physician Assistants
Certified Physician Assistant (PA-C),
Family Practice Physician Assistant,
Physician Assistant (PA),
Physician's Assistant
What they do: Provide healthcare services typically performed by a physician, under the supervision of a physician. Conduct complete physicals, provide treatment, and counsel patients. May, in some cases, prescribe medication. Must graduate from an accredited educational program for physician assistants.
- DemandHigh
- state Avg. Salary $$$$$$122,690Download Career Flyer
What do they typically do on the job?
- Make tentative diagnoses and decisions about management and treatment of patients.
- Interpret diagnostic test results for deviations from normal.
- Prescribe therapy or medication with physician approval.
Personality
Interests
Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.
Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz
Abilities
Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.
Verbal
Listen and understand what people say
Communicate by speaking
Ideas and Logic
Make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
Notice when problems happen
Visual Understanding
See hidden patterns
Quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things
Skills
People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.
Basic Skills
Reading work related information
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem
Problem Solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
People and Technology Systems
Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it
Does this sound like something you'd like to do?
1. Do some research
- Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
- Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
- Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career
2. Plan your next move
- Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
- Visit Idaho Launch
- Search for available Physician Assistants jobs on Idaho Works
Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop