OUTLOOK ON PROFESSION:
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the number of PA jobs will increase by 53 percent between 2000 and 2010. The BLS predicts the total number of jobs in the country will grow by 15 percent over this 10-year period to 80,000 PA's in pratcice by 2010..
Employment of PAs is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations due to anticipated expansion of the health services industry and an emphasis on cost containment, resulting in increasing utilization of PAs by physicians and healthcare institutions.
Physicians and institutions are expected to employ more PAs to provide primary care and to assist with medical and surgical procedures because PAs are cost-effective and productive members of the healthcare team. Physician assistants can relieve physicians of routine duties and procedures. Job opportunities for PAs should be good, particularly in rural and inner city clinics, because those settings have difficulty attracting physicians.
Besides the traditional office-based setting, PAs should find a growing number of jobs in institutional settings such as hospitals, academic medical centers, public clinics, and prisons. Additional PAs 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 PAs to supply some physician resident services.
