Become a Physician Associate

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What is a Physician Associate?

A Physician Associate (PA) is a member of the healthcare team, trained to practice in the field of medicine supporting the medical team in clinical practice under the direction of a Doctor. A Physician Associate will undertake many tasks including examination, diagnosis, and management of patients. A Physician Associate is trained as a generalist enabling them to work across a variety of specialisms in hospital or general practice.

Why be a Physician Associate

Becoming a PA is an exciting career choice. It involves a lot of hard work, and PA programmes are becoming increasingly competitive to gain entry to. PA training is achievable over a 2-year period, the education however is extremely intense given the responsibility that is held once qualified.

PAs are trained to be flexible generalists; this means you can move around difficult specialties over the course of your career. You could work in emergency medicine for a few years then move to surgery then to obstetrics & gynaecology. PAs in addition to being generalists if working in a speciality area can gain specialist skills. This will depend on the area worked in, needs of the service, experience of the PA in that area, appropriate education, training and governance and agreement with and appropriate supervision from their supervisor. This flexibility over your development as a PA and the potential of the role is exciting. There are lots of myths and inaccuracies around how PAs work, so speaking to or shadowing a PA will give the best insight into deciding if PA is for you.

How are Physician Associates trained and how do they work?

At Swansea university PA students undertake a 2 year postgraduate masters degree programme. Across the UK there are also undergraduate into postgraduate programmes and more recently the PA Apprenticeship (England only). Once qualified PAs can diagnose, investigate and manage patients under the supervision of a medically qualified, GMC registered consultant or GP. PAs generally do not rotate in their jobs offering continuity of care, support and stability to the medical team. PAs are not doctors, cannot substitute for and do not replace doctors, but are there to enhance and support the delivery of medical care. Whilst PAs may develop specialist skills or have more autonomy with experience they are expected to maintain a generalist knowledge and always work under the supervision of a doctor.

Career path and progression of a Physician Associate

PAs can progress in their careers in several ways such as: increasing complexity of the types of patients seen with time and experience, flexibility to change specialities or areas that they work in, work across primary and secondary care, work in academia and clinical practice, work in clinical research, learn new procedural skills to support the service they work in.

Our Student Stories

Rabhia Khan

"The clinical skills sessions on Friday are such fun, we learn everything from how to inject anesthesia (into oranges!) and suture incisions to learning the cardinal signs for someone in heart failure and the appropriate examination to take. Everyone on the cohort is so friendly and it honestly as cliché as it may sound, it feels like one big family, we run regular revision sessions to help each other out. Placement is also really great, the buzz of working in a hospital or general practice and seeing your own patients with the clinical supervision and support makes you feel as if you are already qualified and working as a PA."

Find out more about Rabhia's Story

How much does a Physician Associate earn in the UK?

A Physician Associate (PA) typically starts on a Band 7 pay scale (currently £43,742). However, some PA internships for newly qualified PAs start on a band 6 and may involve rotations - link to NHS bands can be found here. PAs can progress to a Band 8 or further pay increases with experience; management, education and research roles in addition to clinical responsibilities are examples of how this occurs.

Can Physician Associates prescribe?

PAs cannot currently prescribe medications in the UK due to the law. PAs are educated in pharmacology and may recommend prescriptions and medications after they have assessed patients and diagnosed a condition indicating medication. These proposals are then discussed with and written and authorised by a prescriber. Once regulation for PAs commences (expected at the end of 2024), there are plans for further consultation on prescribing rights for PAs with a view to amend the law to enable PAs to prescribe. This constant development of the PA role makes it an exciting time to join the profession.

Why choose Physician Associates Studies at Swansea?

We are a PA led programme with experienced doctors, PAs, nurses and other healthcare professionals who are experts in their respective fields providing teaching. We have excellent links with the Health Boards, General Medical Council and Health Education and Improvement Wales who support the programme. We are an established programme and have excellent results at the PA National Examination. We provide excellent pastoral and academic support for our students. We are currently a funded programme for those eligible to receive the funding.

This qualification is UK specific so you can currently only practice in the UK.

What does Physician Associate Studies cover?

Physician Associate Studies (MPAS) covers many of the topics in medicine and focuses on the knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes necessary to practice as a PA and to support doctors in the provision of medical care to patients. Throughout the two year MPAS programme you can expect to spend at least 50% of your time on clinical placement across Wales in general practice, general medicine and in a variety of speciality areas. Students can also expect to cover a range of topics from; clinical skills, healthcare law and ethics, research and evidenced based practice, public health and life long learning skills vital to maintaining practice throughout your career.

Want to know more?

We have so much more we want to share with you, why not visit our Physician Associate course page, for a more detailed look at the course, entry requirements and how you will be taught.