Orthopedic physician
assistants work in the operating room under a doctor's orders.
Physician assistants reduce costs and patient wait times by helping in operating rooms and freeing orthopedic surgeons from routine tasks. Canada also hope to achieve similar results, despite a shortage of orthopedic surgeons. An Orthopedic Physician Assistant must complete undergraduate course work, a certified two-year physician assistant program, complete an orthopedics residency and pass a certification exam.
Accreditation
To gain accreditation as a physician assistant, all states require a minimum high school education and satisfactory proof of completion of a formal physician assistant program approved by the state's Education Department. These two-year programs include up to 32 semester hours of classroom work and 40 weeks of supervised clinical training in orthopedics. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 142 accredited physician assistant programs in 2008. Schools included allied health schools, academic health centers, four-year or community colleges, the military and hospitals. Some offered course work on line, others were affiliated with medical schools. The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant has a list of accredited school programs at arc-pa.org.
Certification
Before taking the Orthopedic Physician Assistants certification exam, candidates should have a minimum of two years of post-graduate education in the sciences from a college or university.
The National Board for Certification of Orthopedic Physician Assistants says candidates who pass a physician assistant program, primary care physician assistant program or nurse practitioner program from an approved college or school are eligible to take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination, a computer exam given four times a year. Candidates who have completed an approved health care program from a college or university and have a minimum of five years clinical orthopedic experience working with the muscular-skeletal system to treat sports injuries, bone fractures, degenerative diseases (knee and hip replacements), infections, tumors and congenital disorders and who have assisted in surgeries, physical assessments and immobilization techniques under a Board-certified orthopedic surgeon are eligible to take the exam. Individuals who pass can use the title Orthopedic Physician's Assistant - Certified (OPA-C).
Graduate Level
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says the admission requirements vary, but most physician assistant program students have a bachelor's degree with courses in anatomy, microbiology, organic chemistry and statistics, plus medical experience like nursing or EMT training involving classroom and laboratory work. The orthopedics residency program is intense, involving 70 hours a week under a surgeon's direction. It typically takes a year to prepare students to assist in surgery, treat trauma patients and perform administrative work. Approximately 80 percent of physician assistant programs offer a masters degree, says the BLS. Graduates can enter a growing field of careers as surgical physician assistants, emergency department physician assistants, orthopedic physician assistants and cardiac physician assistants.
Tags: physician assistant, assistant program, physician assistant program, physician assistants, Orthopedic Physician, Orthopedic Physician Assistant, Physician Assistant
