All states except Mississippi require physician assistants to pass certification exams. This gives them the title of Certified Physician Assistant (PA-C). These exams are open only to graduates of accredited physician assistant programs.

You must take continuing education courses periodically after graduation in order to renew your certification.

As a physician assistant, you may want to specialize in a particular field such as surgery, pediatrics, or emergency medicine. You can apply to postgraduate residency programs to do so.

Most programs require that you have a laptop computer. Some programs ask that you also have a personal desktop assistant (PDA).