Assignment: A Career As A Physician Assistant

Unit 4 Assignment
As a young girl I always knew that in my future I would go into a career that consisted of helping others. I also knew that I wanted to have a career in the medical field. When I put the two together and after researching different careers in the medical field, I knew being a physician’s assistant was the best fit for me. Not only would I be able to work helping others but I would be in the field that in my eyes is the best field to be in.
The average growth rate for occupations is about 7%. However, employment of physician assistants has an average growth of 30% from here until 2024, making it one of the fastest growing careers. With 94,400 job opportunities in 2014, I can only imagine how many there will be in 2024. Due to the growing and aging population there will always be a demand for healthcare services. Also, the role of physician assistants is expected to expand as there have been increases of several chronic diseases such as

diabetes. Due to this and the fact that some physicians will be retiring or entering different specialty areas of medicine, more physician assistants will be given larger roles such as taking on the role of primary care providers. It looks like in the near future physician assistants will be obtaining much larger roles than what they’ve already obtained.
To become a physician assistant, you have to obtain a master’s degree. You cannot just obtain any master’s degree, when obtaining this degree you have to make sure it is from an accredited educational program or it will not be accepted. Although requirements vary, most programs require two to four years of undergraduate coursework with a focus in science. After these four years you are required to take two years of full-time study in a physician assistant educational program. All states require physician assistants to be licensed as well as complete 100 hours of continuing education every two years to remain certified. They want to make sure that you stay updated with things such as all the latest health information which is extremely important. Some states even require physician assistants to hold an agreement with a supervising physician although they will not be seeing them too often.
There are many personality and skill sets required when being a physician assistant.

You have to know how to listen to others without interrupting, know how to problem solve, and know how to weigh out the pros and cons of situations and pick the best option. Your personality has to consist of liking to help people, teach, talk, be dependable, have a concern for others, and have stress tolerance just to name a few. When doing my unit 3 learning activity, I learned that I am a social person as well as I enjoy helping people and being of service to them, teach, search for facts, and figure out problems. I’m very good at working individually but I also know how to work on a team and be a team player so I feel that will definitely help me out. My personality profile really lined up with the personality traits you need to have when working in my chosen profession. The only thing I can think of that I may need to work on is knowing how to tolerate stress especially since I will be working in a very stressful

environment.
My ultimate career goal is to become a physician’s assistant. All of my life I have been a very selfless, giving person and I love to help others in any way that I can. I really enjoy and get satisfaction out of helping others and being of service to them. Being able to see them come in at a low point and leave at a much higher stage is very rewarding to me, especially knowing I was able to be a part of that. I plan on obtaining my Bachelor’s in Health Science, coming back for my master’s degree, and then going straight into a physician’s assistant program to get certified as a physician’s assistant. I know that it’s going to be a six year process at the very least however; I plan on making it a great journey. I want to be able to have a college degree and a wonderful career that will allow me to provide for me and my family. It is completely rewarding to me that I get to help people along the way especially with something so important such as their health.
Kaplan University’s career services are a very great way to start your career search when attempting to pursue your career goals. They offer many services to not only students but alumni as well! I plan on using Kaplan’s career services when seeking guidance on where to even begin and when searching for job openings. Kaplan’s interview preparation and mock interviews are also two other things I will be using. I’ve had interviews previously however, going into an interview for a specific career that you’re trying to get into is different and I would like to be fully prepared. I find it so amazing and helpful that Kaplan offers these services to their students. They will definitely be of great help to me when pursuing my career goals.
In five years I envision a bright future for myself. I see myself with a great job in the medical field after obtaining my Bachelor of Science in Health Science from Kaplan University. Also, my goal is to go into an educational program right after I finish my bachelor’s degree so that I can become a certified physician’s assistant. This means, that I will be halfway into the program in five years and halfway into reaching my career goal. After I receive my degree and find a stable job I also plan on starting a family. In four years I will be almost 24 years old and my plan is to start a family at that age. If everything goes as planned my goal is to have an amazing career and an amazing family just a little over five years from now.
My ultimate goal in not only my career but in my life is to help people. I plan on making these five years and all the years to come the most positive, influential, and great years of my life. Physician’s assistant is a very rewarding job in many aspects. I look forward to enjoying a long time career in the medical field, helping as many people as I possibly can along the way.