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Physician Assistant Job opportunities in the future Employment of Physician Assistant is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through the year 2014, ranking among the fastest growing occupations, due to anticipated expansion of the health care industry and an emphasis on cost containment, resulting in increasing utilization of Physician Assistant by physicians and health care institutions. Physicians and institutions are expected to employ more Physician Assistant to provide primary care and to assist with medical and surgical procedures because Physician Assistant are cost-effective and productive members of the health care team. Physician assistants can relieve physicians of routine duties and procedures. Telemedicine—using technology to facilitate interactive consultations between physicians and physician assistants—also will expand the use of physician assistants. Job opportunities for Physician Assistant should be good, particularly in rural and inner city clinics, because those settings have difficulty attracting physicians. Besides the traditional office-based setting, Physician Assistant should find a growing number of jobs in institutional settings such as hospitals, academic medical centers, public clinics, and prisons. Additional Physician Assistant may be needed to augment medical staffing in inpatient teaching hospital settings as the number of hours physician residents are permitted to work is reduced, encouraging hospitals to use Physician Assistant to supply some physician resident services. Opportunities will be best in States that allow Physician Assistant a wider scope of practice. |