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All the Roles for Physician Associates in 2025

Happy PA Week from PA Jobs, LLC! To all of the physician assistants/ physician associates (PAs) in the United States celebrating (and to those PAs practicing internationally!), we want to take a moment to acknowledge that we see you and we're proud of everything you bring to the profession. We're committed to the PA career, and we're among excellent peers. We can't prove that PAs are the best, but... they are, aren't they? And no matter what, we know PAs who are doing their best every day.


The PA profession was founded upon an extension of military service to provide healthcare to people at home. And an important mission of the PA profession is to expand health services to our communities, especially in areas where healthcare is expensive, over-booked, and/ or under-resourced. However, in 2025, the role of the PA has broadened to include many other types of work and myriad job titles. We're always PAs, but our skill set brings useful and advanced training to dozens of positions in leadership, pharmaceutical services, business, education, and more.


In 2025, we can celebrate PAs in all spaces, from clinical providers to PA educators to healthcare leaders to community advocates to clinical researchers to international practitioners.


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In 2025, physician associates will remain essential clinical providers in multiple environments and in multiple specialties. In inpatient settings, PAs will participate in patient rounds, evaluate their patients, and work alongside multidisciplinary teams to execute effective treatment plans. If trends predict decreased access to care, we know hospital emergency departments will see an increased volume, and it'll be PAs in the emergency room and hospital floor making a difference in providing their patients a good outcome.


In outpatient settings, PAs will continue to provide preventive care and manage both acute and chronic diseases. PAs see about 11 million patients a week and conduct about half a billion evaluations a year (NCCPA). PAs expand access to care for patients of all ages, prenatal to neonate to child to adult to geriatric. PAs are a solution to provider shortages and the increasing health care needs of our country (AAPA).


In surgical settings, PAs do it all. They assist in surgeries, manage pre-operative and post-operative care, and maintain an efficient workflow from OR to hospital floor to clinic. PAs in surgical care can improve the efficacy of rounds, improve nurse-physician collaboration, improve management of surgical cases, and positively impact the surgery clinic (Patient Safety in Surgery).




From 2018 to 2024, PA program enrollment rose 34% and the number of PA programs nearly doubled (Gray DI). With so many students interested in the number 3 job in America (and number 2 in healthcare!), there is demand for PA education, demand for PA programs, and, ultimately, demand for PA faculty. (US News and World Report). There are 317 accredited PA programs in the United States, and, with a requirement of 3 teaching faculty per ARC-PA standards, at least 1000 PA educators working full-time to train the next generation of PAs (PAEA, ARC-PA).


While historically medical schools were taught by practicing physicians and PA programs practicing PAs, the role of the PA educator is not synonymous with the role of a PA clinician, and PA faculty can face a steep learning curve upon entering the field. The science of education can be novel to a new PA educator, and, thankfully, the Physician Associate Education Association exists to help fill the gaps and launch new educators into successful faculty.


But beyond the PA program classroom, PA faculty contribute to and advance the education of PAs at a national level. They promote education initiatives, lead workshops and seminars, raise awareness of challenges facing both higher education and the healthcare space, educate their communities, and promote the PA role.



In 2025, PAs are emerging as important healthcare leaders who can both create and shape policy and decision-making. The formative training of PAs - as team members and leaders - can provide unique insights into the needs of health institutions and health delivery teams. PAs provide significant benefit to health leadership, and their position as administrative leaders is only growing (JAAPA). This growth is so essential the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) created a task force to decide competencies for PAs in healthcare administration (AAPA).


Community Advocates


PAs care about their communities, and that emotion is not limited to clinic and hospital settings. Many PAs are collaborators, creators, and contributors to important community endeavors, advocating for closing gaps in patient care, promoting patient-centered care, providing a voice for under-resourced populations, and addressing health disparities. PAs provide care to all populations.


PAs are also involved in advancing the profession, supporting their local state chapters to codify safe practice law that allows PAs to practice medicine with appropriate guidance and autonomy. Joining PA forces allows the profession to grow and, ultimately, improve patient care.




Physician is not the sole title associated with principal investigators in clinical research (JAAPA). The role of PAs in clinical research is expected to grow, and in 2025, there are live positions for PAs specifically in clinical research. PAs bring to clinical research expertise as clinicians, knowledge of evidence-based medicine and interpretation of statistics, adept communication skills with patients and peers, a broad medical knowledge, and, more than likely, experience with research studies through their own practice.


Importantly, PAs continue to be champions of evidence-based practice, translating research findings into clinical care of their patients.



As healthcare becomes more interconnected, international opportunities for physician associates are growing. In 2025, PAs can find autonomous work in several countries, including New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and Germany. Practice law varies by country, but an increase in the presence of PAs can only improve the community and health system trust in the profession and the value PAs bring to patient care.


For those PAs already practicing abroad, thank you for providing excellent care to patients and representing this profession well! We look forward to the day when a certified PA equates a collectively positive impression internationally.


And Beyond


While we can name a thousand health systems, find thousands of jobs in each specialty, support our PA chapters in each state, and easily count the ways in which this profession is serving our communities, we know there are still a dozen roles PAs are filling that we have not yet accounted for!


Happy PA Week, because we really, really can do it all!

 
 
 

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