Physician Assistant Career Required Training
All PA's must complete a state induced formal education program. There are plenty of such programs for students to take across the country. In fact there were 129 of them accounted for in 2001. Half of these programs even lead to a master's degree. Another interesting fact: most PA students already have at least one bachelor's degree.
The programs tend to take 2 years to complete. A good portion of such programs have clinical teaching affiliations with other medical schools. Students usually take courses at health centers and medicals schools or even four year universities. Some students might even find programs at junior colleges.
To become a PA you also must pass the Physician Assistants National Certifying Examination, which is administered by the National Commission of Certification of Physician Assistants. The test is open to all graduates of the PA curriculum and is in accordance with laws governing the practice of PA's. Even after becoming certified, PA's will be required to complete 100 hours of continuing medical education.
This makes sure they are up to par with any policy changes, and the 100 hours will be necessary every 2 years. This, however, is not the end of their refresher courses, as every 6 years they will be required to pass a recertification examination or complete an alternative program as necessary.
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