Master's Degree by 2020?

Why are more physician assistants earning master’s degrees?


If you’re doing your homework about getting a physician assistant (PA) degree, you may be wondering why there are so many ways to go about it, from certificates and associate degrees to bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Regardless of the degree, all PAs have to pass a national certification exam administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants.

The importance of accreditation
And in order to sit for that exam, your degree has to come from an accredited program. There are 159 programs that have earned that stamp of approval from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant(ARC-PA).

The vast majority are master’s degree programs.

Why?

“Medicine has moved so far in the last 50 years,” and master’s programs do a great job of providing the broad base of generalist training physician assistants need to provide high-quality care, says Tony Brenneman, associate director of clinical education at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine’s PA program and president of the Physician Assistant Education Association. Brenneman earned his M.S.W. before becoming a physician assistant.

At one point, leaders in the profession gave serious thought to whether the Ph.D. should be the highest-level physician assistant degree. But at a summit back in 2009, the consensus was that the master’s degree was the best fit.

The ARC-PA then updated its accreditation standards to require that all entry-level physician assistant programs also offer a master’s degree by 2020.

In a few states, a master’s degree is required to get a physician assistant license: Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants.




P.A. degree requirements
In most cases, it takes about two years to complete a physician assistant degree—typically 9 to 12 months of classroom study followed by nine to 15 months of supervised clinical rotations.

Bachelor’s degree programs typically begin with a pre-professional phase focusing on core academic requirements needed for two-year professional phase.

Some programs offer a combined bachelor’s/master’s degree, which takes about five years to complete, including a pre-professional phase, according to the Physician Assistant Education Association’s most recent survey of accredited programs.




Comparing associate and certificate programs
Despite the progression toward the master’s degree, Brenneman says there’s still room for certificate and associate programs.

“Often the cost is less, because it’s a state-supported community college,” Brenneman notes.

Ultimately, students who earn certificates or associate degrees have to pass the same tests to get certified.

“They add to the richness of who we are as PAs,” Brenneman says.

Find out more about pursuing a physician assistant degree in the Articles & Resources section of AllAlliedHealthSchools.com.




article obtained from: http://www.allalliedhealthschools.com/blog/2012/physician-assistants-masters-degrees/