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What is a day in the life of a Physician Assistant?

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Richard’s Answer

I am a radiologist. The PAs in my group work in the hospital. They perfom history and physicals before procedures. They also perfom some of the radiology procedures such as barium studies, PICC and central line placement, routine biopsies, lumbar punctures, abscess drainage, paracentesis and thoracentesis

However I believe most PAs work in clinic evaluating patients and either prescribing medication/treatment or referring to specialists.
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Clay’s Answer

Great question. I have worked in the orthopedic medical area for 17 years. I worked along side many PAs. You are the right hand of the Dr. You may assist in surgery or be a clinic dedicated PA. Much depends on the specialty of the Dr you work with.

You are seeing patients and helping the Dr build his work load. You will diagnose patients using X-rays and MRI images. You will have the Dr validate findings and you will play a key role in the surgeries if you work with a surgeon.

The day can start very early. Most of the time you are seeing hospital patients early in the morning before heading to clinic or to surgery. Often times you may need to see patients on Sat mornings if those patients are set to be discharged from hospital . You are helping the Dr. scale his patient load. One doctors and nurse can only do so much so a PA or nurse practitioner are often hired to help scale the business. There are several different work environments a PA can work in. So know this, you will be very busy in which every environment you work and what you do is very important. You are seen as an extension of the Dr so you will need to build their trust. Once you have trust, you will build a very strong relationship with the Dr. We are in a sue happy time and doctors are a main target and they are counting on you being very details in your job.
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Hwal’s Answer

Katie,

I'm a current PA student, and found this link for you on who PAs are and what they do:

https://www.aapa.org/what-is-a-pa/

Let me know if you have any questions for me.

Good luck!

Hwal
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Rachel’s Answer

PA's that work in my specialty of surgery spend the majority of their day in clinic. They see patients that have undergone an operation and evaluate their recovery. They make sure pain is controlled, that the patient is tolerating a diet, and steadily improving. If there are problems, they bring the issues to the attending surgeon.
Thank you comment icon I appreciate your support, Rachel Alexandra
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