How easy is it to get a job as a PA?

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This afternoon, I thought it would be interesting to look into how prevalent physician assistant jobs are specifically in the Pittsburgh area. Additionally, I would like to look at how many physician assistants there are in Pennsylvania in comparison to other states in the US. This information will be important to be aware of as I soon transition into the professional phase of my program and then later when searching for an actual job. 

When looking at statistics about PAs in Pennsylvania, I came across a page that was published by the NCCPA. The acronym stands for the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. This is a widely accredited group, so I know that the data I will be looking at will be accurate. The statistics on the page show that Pennsylvania was ranked 4th overall in 2014 for number of physician assistants in the state. New York, California, and Texas were 1-3, which was not surprising simply because of their high population count. To be honest, I was not very surprised about the large number (6,710) of PAs in Pennsylvania because of the saturation of PA college programs here. I feel as though those programs are a large contributing factor to the high number. 


When I first searched for PA jobs in Pittsburgh, I was blown away first about the raw number of jobs available that I found. Clicking on the first couple of sites that I found, each generated at least 100 plus job opportunities. After looking at them more closely, it was easy to see that the job listings either involved hirings at some kind of hospital or more of a private practice. Additionally, these companies usually offered either part time or full time jobs. Most of the jobs ranged from $60,000-$100,000, with some outliers of higher or lower. UPMC had the highest amount of positions available for hiring out of all of the employers in the Pittsburgh area. I did not find this surprising, however, because UPMC is such a strong healthcare powerhouse in Pennsylvania. 


It was a good idea to quickly research the different questions I had about job availability in the Pittsburgh region because I need to be prepared about what to expect when I finish my 5 year program at Duquesne. A lot of the numbers looked promising for potential jobs close to my college, but I look forward to learning more about employers and opportunities outside of the Pittsburgh area in the future. 



Thanks for reading and until next time!!

-Meredith 




Websites mentioned: 


https://prodcmsstoragesa.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/files/2014StatisticalProfileofCertifiedPAsPhysicianAssistants-AnAnnualReportoftheNCCPA.pdf

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/physician-assistant-jobs-pittsburgh-pa

https://www.indeed.com/q-Physician-Assistant-l-Pittsburgh,-PA-jobs.html

https://www.glassdoor.com/Job/pittsburgh-physician-assistant-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,10_IC1152990_KO11,30.htm


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