Why choose a PA career?
Physician Assistants are well-recognized and valued members of the modern health-care team—professionals licensed to practice medicine, working interdependently with a physician. PAs are educated in the medical model, taking many of the same core courses as medical students, but their overall formal education path is much shorter.
PAs provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services:
• take patient histories,
• conduct physical exams,
• diagnose and treat illnesses,
• counsel on preventive care,
• order and interpret tests, and
• assist in surgery.
In most states, including West Virginia, Physician Assistants can write prescriptions.
What can I study?
At MSU, Physician Assistants receive two years of broad education in medicine, starting with classroom and laboratory instruction in the basic medical and behavioral sciences. In the 3 rd year, clinical rotations in internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, and geriatric medicine offer practical training and experience to the PA student.
Special opportunities — Unlike most master's degree programs, the MSU PA program does not require a bachelor’s degree to gain admission to the program. A successful completion of 66 hours of undergraduate-level prerequisite study, however, is required.
Career Outlook
50-75% of PAs practice in the areas of primary care medicine - that is family medicine, adult medicine, pediatrics, gerontology, and obstetrics and gynecology. Some PAs also choose surgery and surgical subspecialties - orthopedics and cardiovascular, for example.
At MSU, many of our students return to the communities from which they came, choosing to meet the needs of residents in smaller cities and rural areas of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia.
A Brief Message From
LTJG Joseph Newcomb, MSPA, PA-C (Class of 2004)
IHS McGrath Health Center, McGrath, AK
“As a rural health care practitioner, and a recent graduate, I rely heavily on what I learned in MSU’s PA program. I don’t have the luxury of going to my Medical Supervisor’s office and asking for advice - he is stationed 211 miles away and is accessible by water and air only! The assessment and clinical skills I learned at MSU allow me to work independently, assuring quality patient care here in the rural areas of Alaska.”
Please see our catalog for program and degree requirements.
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