The Average Salary of a General Surgery Physician Assistant
- Physician assistants have completed formal training to prevent, diagnose and treat illness and injury. Those specializing in surgery assist doctors during operations, and they provide preoperative and postoperative care. During surgery, they have duties such as retracting tissues, inserting tubes, placing sutures and starting intravenous solutions.
- Accredited physician assistant programs are offered at universities and colleges, medical schools and schools of allied health. Applicants typically have a college degree and some work experience in health care. The training usually lasts at least two years as a full-time student, and some programs lead to a master's degree. To legally practice, after completing the training program, physician assistants must pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. The median starting salary range for all physician assistants as of December 2010 was about $64,200 to $77,500, reports the PayScale salary survey website. Those with one to four years of experience were earning in a median range of $68,300 to $82,600, and with five to nine years of experience, $73,500 to $91,500.
- The average salary for all physician assistants as of May 2009 was about $40.80 per hour, or $84,800 per year, according to the BLS. Those working in general medical and surgical hospitals had an average salary of $86,800. Surgical physician assistants had salaries in a median range of $76,200 to $95,600 in 2010, with the top 10 percent making over $103,500 per year, reports Salary.com.
- Physician assistants working in general surgery in 2008 had an average salary of about $90,100 per year, according to a census report from the American Academy of Physician Assistants, as cited by Advance for NPs and PAs. Their average salary ranked 13th on the list of 32 physician assistant specialties. The top two highest-paying specialties were cardiovascular/cardiothoracic surgery and dermatology. Physician assistants in these specialties were making an average salary of more than $100,000 per year.
