Mental Health PA Programs
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Are you looking to enroll in a mental health PA program? Becoming a mental health PA is one of the most lucrative careers in the healthcare industry because it is high-paying that will help you not only provide patient care but also make good amount of money. Before that though, you may want to know some important information about working as a physician assistant.
“Mental health practice courses are taught by both full-time and part-time faculty, who bring cutting edge evidence-based practice knowledge and expertise to their classes. Most of the part time faculty are actively in practice and bring their experience of current trends and challenges in the field into the classroom. Many of full-time faculty are involved in practice-related research and can help students learn about the important connections between mental health related research and practice” University of Pittsburgh: School of Social Work
What to Know about Mental Health PA
By working as a PA mental health, you will assist in helping patients with mental disorders. You will also help in attending to patients with anxiety, depression and drug abuse or addiction problem. Not only that you will work in these fields, but you will also help in attending and managing patients with schizophrenia disorders.
Now you may be asking, what are the duties and responsibilities working as a mental health PA. They do help in assessing the patients by talking to them or interviewing them closely. You will also have to talk with their family members and some people who know them.
You will also have to maintain the health of the patient while he is getting mental health care, assign a specific diagnosis, order consultations or labs with a neurologist or other healthcare providers and prescribe medications.
Other duties is to follow up with a patient and see how he is responding as well as you will have to adjust their medications if needed. More so, you will have to help in finding out the type of non-medication a patient needs, such as conservatorship, hospitalization and psychotherapy.
To get ready for a program properly, you should also meet all the physician assistant school requirements.
Where a PA Mental Health Works
You may be able to work in a county mental health institution, a managed care system, private health clinics, hospitals and jails or prisons.
Basically, these are the things that wait for you if you would pursue a career in the field of physician assistant in mental health. Check out several programs offering training and courses so that you can start with your career and work soon as a PA in this industry.
We’ve also prepared some tips for a surgery PA, so don’t hesitate to follow them.