Davenport, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/18/2014 -- According to numbers available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment opportunities for physician assistants are expected to grow much faster than for most other careers in the next decade. The BLS predicts that between 2012 and 2022, the number of job openings for physician assistants will increase at an impressive 38%.

It pays to become a physician assistant - in 2012, the median pay for PAs was $90,930, or $43.72 an hour, and most practitioners reported a high level of job satisfaction. As a result of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, record numbers of physicians are leaving the medical profession, thus creating a shortage of qualified medical professionals, an effect that serves to make the PA path shine all the more brightly.

The educational path to becoming a certified PA is fairly straightforward; however there are important choices and distinctions that to make along the way. In order to educate students as yet undetermined as regards their future career path, Online Physician Assistant Programs has released an educational guide with information not only about physician assistants and what it is that they do, but also, how to become one.

According to online physician assistant programs spokesperson Gunnar Bengtsson, "It is clear from current statistics that certified physician assistants are going to play a pivotal role in upcoming years in meeting the health care needs of Americans. With fewer available physicians, and an aging population, it will be physician assistants who will 'stand in the gap', so to speak, and provide the population with a large part of its basic health care."

Bengtsson goes on to say, "There are a lot of young people in school right now who know they want to enter the medical profession, but who are undecided as to exactly what part they want to play. Do they want to go to medical school? Become a nurse practitioner? Do they even know How to become a certified physician assistant or what the profession actually entails? Our guide will answer these questions and will provide people with genuinely usable info, not hype, and will give those with an interest in becoming a PA the tools they need to do so."

Certified physician assistants typically practice medicine, usually independently, yet under the supervision of a physician. They examine patients, diagnose illness and prescribe treatment. While the majority of PAs work within the primary care field, PAs are also needed within specialty areas including geriatrics, neurology, dermatology, emergency medicine, pediatrics as well as others. Generally speaking, if a PA is required to pursue additional education in order to work within a particular specialty, he can expect to earn a higher salary, one commensurate with his education.

About Online Physician Assistant Programs
Online Physican Assistant Programs is an informational website providing content-rich, usable information for those with a possible interest in pursuing the certified physician assistant career path.