From Primary Care to Specialization
Medscape November 13, 2024
Physician assistants (PAs) are educated as generalists — with the ability to switch medical specialties during their career. Andrzej Kozikowski, PhD, senior director of research at the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), said that having that kind of career flexibility is often a motivating factor for students who pursue the PA path.
“If you look at the research literature on physicians, you can see that choosing a specialty can be quite stressful,” he told Medscape Medical News. “It’s a lifelong decision. You have to commit to a residency, maybe fellowship training, and if you don’t like it and want to switch your specialty, you have to go back and do it again. It’s a decision that weighs...