California Physician Assistant Staffing, Inc.

The settings with the largest proportions of PAs include single and multi-specialty group practices, solo practice physician offices, hospital operating rooms, emergency rooms, and inpatient and outpatient units of hospitals. A larger proportion of new graduate reported working in solo practice physician offices (16% v 13%) and inpatient units of hospitals (13% v 9%).

Sixty-seven percent of clinically practicing PAs see outpatients only at their primary clinical job, while 7 percent see inpatients only, 25 percent see multiple patient types, and 1 percent see nursing home patients only. New graduates were less likely to see outpatients only (59%) and more likely to see multiple patient types (32%).

According to the AAPA, the number of PAs in clinical practice has doubled in the last 10 years. To date, the US health care system appears to have accommodated the increased number of PAs:

• According to AAPA estimates, the total number of people in clinical practice as PAs has grown from 27,105 to 55,061 (103%) in the last 10 years.
• In each year since 1991, more than 79 percent of the people eligible to practice as PAs at the time have in fact been in clinical practice.

These findings demonstrate that society’s investments in the production of PAs continue to return dividends and suggest that PAs are generally satisfied with their choice of profession.