Choosing one’s path to become a physician assistant (PA-C) is no simple undertaking, mainly because there are several valid routes, all of which converge and culminate with passing the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE). While one candidate might enter a baccalaureate PA program right out of high [...]
Editor’s Note: This post was previously published in In Practice, which is hosted by the New England Journal of Medicine and NEJM Journal Watch. Harrison Reed, PA-C, practices critical care medicine in Baltimore, MD. In 1985, Frederic Friedel destroyed the game of chess. At least that’s [...]
In 2014, newly certified PAs and practicing PAs who had completed their 6-year certification maintenance cycles began transitioning to the new certification maintenance cycles established by the National Commission on the Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Under this process, PA certification maintenance takes place over a 10-year period [...]
Editor’s Note: This post was previously published in In Practice, which is hosted by the New England Journal of Medicine and NEJM Journal Watch. Harrison Reed, PA-C, practices emergency medicine in Las Vegas, NV. One night in the early 1960s, psychology researcher Robert Rosenthal snuck into [...]
Editor’s Note: This post about PA education was previously published in In Practice, which is hosted by the New England Journal of Medicine and NEJM Journal Watch. Bianca Belcher, MPH, PA-C practices neurosurgery in Boston, MA.In 2010, there were 146 accredited physician assistant (PA) programs in the United [...]
In the early part of November 2015, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) selected a new Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam (PANRE) model for further exploration and public comment. The NCCPA believes that the new “two-component” model, consisting of the usual secure exam plus a [...]