U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration https://www.onetonline.org 14m 3,607 #insights
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Assist anesthesiologists in the administration of anesthesia for surgical and non-surgical procedures. Monitor patient status and provide patient care during surgical treatment.
Sample of reported job titles:
Anesthesia Assistant, Anesthesia Technician, Anesthesiologist Assistant, Anesthesiologists’ Assistant, Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Technician, Certified Anesthesia Technician, Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant
Tasks
Provide airway management interventions including tracheal intubation, fiber optics, or ventilary support.
Respond to emergency situations by providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), or pediatric advanced life support (PALS).
Verify availability of operating room supplies, medications, and gases.
Pretest and calibrate anesthesia delivery systems and monitors.
Participate in seminars, workshops, or other professional activities to keep abreast of developments in anesthesiology.
Control anesthesia levels during procedures.
Assist anesthesiologists in monitoring of patients, including electrocardiogram (EKG), direct arterial pressure, central venous pressure, arterial blood gas, hematocrit, or routine measurement of temperature, respiration, blood pressure or heart rate.
Administer blood, blood products, or supportive fluids.
Collect and document patients’ pre-anesthetic health histories.
Assist in the provision of advanced life support techniques including those procedures using high frequency ventilation or intra-arterial cardiovascular assistance devices.
Monitor and document patients’ progress during post-anesthesia period.
Administer anesthetic, adjuvant, or accessory drugs under the direction of an anesthesiologist.
Assist anesthesiologists in performing anesthetic procedures, such as epidural or spinal injections.
Provide clinical instruction, supervision or training to staff in areas such as anesthesia practices.
Assist in the application of monitoring techniques, such as pulmonary artery catheterization, electroencephalographic spectral analysis, echocardiography, or evoked potentials.
Collect samples or specimens for diagnostic testing.
Technology Skills
Electronic mail software — Email software
- Medical software — Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR; eClinicalWorks EHR software; Vitera Healthcare Solutions Vitera Intergy; WRSHealth EMR; 17 more
- Office suite software — Microsoft Office
- Spreadsheet software — Microsoft Excel
- Word processing software — Microsoft Word
Hot Technologies are requirements frequently included in employer job postings.
Work Activities
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials — Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
Assisting and Caring for Others — Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
Controlling Machines and Processes — Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information — Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Coaching and Developing Others — Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
Providing Consultation and Advice to Others — Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.
Developing and Building Teams — Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.
Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
Detailed Work Activities
Adjust settings or positions of medical equipment.
Assist healthcare practitioners during examinations or treatments.
Monitor patient conditions during treatments, procedures, or activities.
Implement advanced life support techniques.
Treat medical emergencies.
Administer blood or other fluids intravenously.
Record patient medical histories.
Gather medical information from patient histories.
Maintain inventory of medical supplies or equipment.
Examine medical instruments or equipment to ensure proper operation.
Maintain medical equipment or instruments.
Monitor patient progress or responses to treatments.
Administer anesthetics or sedatives to control pain.
Supervise patient care personnel.
Collect biological specimens from patients.
Maintain medical or professional knowledge.
Work Context
Exposed to Disease or Infections — 88% responded “Every day.”
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 84% responded “Extremely important.”
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 95% responded “Every day.”
Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets — 95% responded “Every day.”
Face-to-Face Discussions — 74% responded “Every day.”
Work With Work Group or Team — 72% responded “Extremely important.”
Physical Proximity — 63% responded “Very close (near touching).”
Structured versus Unstructured Work — 50% responded “A lot of freedom.”
Telephone — 56% responded “Every day.”
Responsible for Others’ Health and Safety — 68% responded “Very high responsibility.”
Coordinate or Lead Others — 50% responded “Extremely important.”
Contact With Others — 51% responded “Constant contact with others.”
Freedom to Make Decisions — 51% responded “A lot of freedom.”
Wear Specialized Protective or Safety Equipment such as Breathing Apparatus, Safety Harness, Full Protection Suits, or Radiation Protection — 61% responded “Every day.”
Deal With External Customers — 47% responded “Extremely important.”
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls — 50% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
Responsibility for Outcomes and Results — 40% responded “Very high responsibility.”
Spend Time Standing — 37% responded “About half the time.”
Consequence of Error — 56% responded “Extremely serious.”
Exposed to Radiation — 63% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 43% responded “Extremely important.”
Exposed to Contaminants — 59% responded “Every day.”
Time Pressure — 55% responded “Every day.”
Frequency of Decision Making — 36% responded “Every day.”
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 40% responded “Important results.”
Spend Time Walking and Running — 32% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
Electronic Mail — 28% responded “Every day.”
Duration of Typical Work Week — 45% responded “40 hours.”
Frequency of Conflict Situations — 29% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions — 36% responded “About half the time.”
Level of Competition — 39% responded “Highly competitive.”
Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People — 29% responded “Every day.”
Exposed to Hazardous Conditions — 45% responded “Every day.”
Sounds, Noise Levels Are Distracting or Uncomfortable — 30% responded “Every day.”
Exposed to Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites, or Stings — 33% responded “Every day.”
Job Zone
- Title
- Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master’s degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
- Related Experience
- Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
- Job Training
- Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
- Job Zone Examples
- These occupations often involve coordinating, training, supervising, or managing the activities of others to accomplish goals. Very advanced communication and organizational skills are required. Examples include pharmacists, lawyers, astronomers, biologists, clergy, neurologists, and veterinarians.
- SVP Range
- Over 4 years of preparation (8.0 and above)
Training & Credentials
- State training
- Local training
- Certifications
- State licenses
- Apprenticeships
- Have a career path or location in mind? Visit Apprenticeship.gov
to find apprenticeship opportunities near you.
Skills
Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Operations Monitoring — Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
Time Management — Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people.
Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Operation and Control — Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Science — Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
Knowledge
Medicine and Dentistry — Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Chemistry — Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Mathematics — Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Biology — Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Education and Training — Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Education
How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:
Abilities
Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Perceptual Speed — The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Selective Attention — The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Arm-Hand Steadiness — The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Control Precision — The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Flexibility of Closure — The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Manual Dexterity — The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Finger Dexterity — The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Mathematical Reasoning — The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Speed of Closure — The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Time Sharing — The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Visual Color Discrimination — The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Interests
Realistic — Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Social — Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Investigative — Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Work Values
Support — Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
Relationships — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
Achievement — Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Work Styles
Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical.
Self-Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Concern for Others — Job requires being sensitive to others’ needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Achievement/Effort — Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Cooperation — Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Adaptability/Flexibility — Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Independence — Job requires developing one’s own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Persistence — Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
Social Orientation — Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
Analytical Thinking — Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Leadership — Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Innovation — Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
Wages & Employment Trends
Median wage data for Physician Assistants.
Employment data for Physician Assistants.
Industry data for Physician Assistants.
- Median wages (2021)
- $58.43 hourly, $121,530 annual
- State wages
- Local wages
- Employment (2020)
- 129,400 employees
- Projected growth (2020-2030)
-
Much faster than average (15% or higher) - Projected job openings (2020-2030)
- 12,200
- State trends
- Top industries (2020)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2021 wage data
and 2020-2030 employment projections.
“Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2020-2030). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.
Job Openings on the Web
- State job openings
- Local job openings
Sources of Additional Information
Disclaimer:
Sources are listed to provide additional information on related jobs, specialties, and/or industries.
Links to non-DOL Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.
Actively assisted with the O*NET data collection, helping to identify occupational experts who can be surveyed about their work in the occupation.
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