Physician Assistant Jobs

Welcome to our Physician Assistant Jobs site. The purpose of this site is to provide a frequently updated list of current open positions for the physician assistant. Our focus is on physician assistant jobs which are available in the United States. Our list of jobs consists of a page for each state, and each page combines the results from several job search engines. Our paradigm is similar to the meta-search engines like Dogpile, except here we combine the results from job search engines as opposed to regular search engines.

Here we also provide to the physician assistant informative articles, useful statistics, videos, a selection of relevant books, and current physician assistant career news. The physician assistant jobs listed here are in the form of RSS feeds, and will be automatically updated when new jobs become available. This site is produced by IntellegoJobs, a division of Intellego Web Publishing.

The following data should be interesting to the physician assistant who resides within the United States. This data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is for May, 2007.

Physician Assistant Jobs - Statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

States with the highest concentration of physician assistants with annual salary:
(highest at top)

Montana $64,440
South Dakota $77,920
Nebraska $79,010
Maine $82,960
New York $83,160

Top paying States for physician assistants with annual salary:
(highest at top)

Connecticut $91,010
Alaska $89,460
New Jersey $88,800
Utah $86,360
Washington $86,210

Mean annual salary for physician assistants:

$77,800

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of physician assistants with annual salary:
(highest at top)

Greenville, NC $69,310
Niles-Benton Harbor, MI $81,970
Fayetteville, NC $81,450
Barnstable Town, MA $89,500
Glens Falls, NY $84,740

Top paying metropolitan areas for physician assistants:

Lubbock, TX $118,050
Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner, MA $111,430
Iowa City, IA $108,940
Panama City-Lynn Haven, FL $107,540
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX $107,510

Industries with the highest levels of employment for the physician assistant with annual salary:
(highest at top)

Offices of Physicians $77,620
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals $79,850
Outpatient Care Centers $81,300
Federal Executive Branch (OES Designation) $75,650
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools $66,230

Top paying industries for the physician assistant with annual salary:
(highest at top)

Residential Mental Retardation, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities $104,310
Specialty (except Psychiatric and Substance Abuse) Hospitals $86,500
Facilities Support Services $85,970
Office Administrative Services $85,590
Employment Services $81,700

Education required for the physician assistant:

Education required for the physician assistant consists of successful completion of a 2 year program followed by passing a national exam to gain a license. Minimum requirements for acceptance into a physician assistant educational program is 2 years of college and some health care experience. Almost all applicants into physician assistant educational programs had at least a bachelor’s degree.

Physician assistant education programs must be accredited by the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Most of these programs concomitantly offer a master’s degree. These programs can be found in medical schools, 4 year colleges, allied health, and academic health centers.

All states including the District of Columbia require the physician assistant to be licensed. Licensure is obtained by passing the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination, administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). This exam can only be taken by the those individuals which have successfully completed the 2 year physician assistant educational program. There are also specific requirements for maintaining certification.

For more information about education required for the physician assistant in the United States go to Occupational Outlook Handbook provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Job outlook for the physician assistant:

As health care cost containment continues throughout the United States, physician assistants will continue to be in high demand. Locations of highest demand will be the rural and inner city clinics since these areas have more trouble in attracting physicians.

Between 2006 and 2016, employment for the physician assistant is expected to grow at around 27%. This is considered much faster relative to all other occupations. The bottom line is that job prospects for the physician assistant are considered very good over all. The main reason for this is because most states allow the physician assistant to take over routine duties of the physician which is a very cost effective way to treat patients.

Source for the above data:
Bureau of Labor Statistics