I have questions regarding becoming a PA. To be honest I am pretty confused.
What exactly do mean by assist?
Assisting has avery specific meaning for surgeons and a PA wouldn’t assist doing the actual procedures in the OR. Other physicians would do that. A PA might work with patients before and after surgery or see them in the office for follow-up care.
It’s certainly possible to work as a PA in a reconstructive surgery practice, but please realize there are no guarantees that you’ll get hired by a plastic surgeon upon completion of your training.
Starting in 2016, any person who wants to be a PA must complete a master’s degree to be license eligible.
Probably a good thing to have since a full year of college biology is a pre-req for PA school.
The easiest route to becoming a PA is a 3+2 program. That is three years of undergrad followed by two years in the professional stage. At the end of the fourth year you get a BS in health sciences and the MS in PA at the end of the 5th. Look for schools that guarantee placement in the graduate phase for all qualified students who entered as freshmen. Some do not and that leaves you competing for grad spots with med professionals who are looking for a career change. It is very difficult to get into the grad phase right out of college though I know some who have.
With plastic surgery you would’ve doing intake and follow up exams. Depending on the number of staff you could also be assisting in surgery by doing some suturing or just retracting and other minor but important tasks.
Thank you so much to both of you definitely cleared things up for me. 