Access to healthcare is a real challenge for many people. Thanks to dedicated Physician Assistants, this is much more manageable now than ever. A Physician Assistant or PA is qualified to examine patients, diagnoses illnesses, prescribe medicines, and develop treatment plans. In many places, a PA is more commonly seen than a physician.
This is an interesting field that is both rewarding and challenging. If you are a PA, we’re here to help you with a cover letter sample for physician assistant, and some great tips.
Emphasize Your Ability to Communicate With The Community
It’s quite common for a PA to work in acute care centers, clinics, community centers, and large doctor’s offices. One thing you’ll need to do in your letter is to show that you understand who you will be serving, that you can treat them with empathy, and that you can communicate with them. Ideally, you will use your medical cover letter to show that you can help educate your patients and involve them in their own healthcare. Here’s an example:
“The community your clinic serves is 80% Hispanic. In addition to speaking Spanish fluently, I have worked extensively with immigrants from LatinX countries. I am confident that I will be able to adequately assess these patients, and communicate with them about their health concerns.”
Detail Your Specialties
Just like any doctor, a physician assistant usually has one or more areas of specialty. In addition to this, your work history likely includes using specific types of equipment and administering specialized treatments. You may also have valuable transferable skills from other positions such as a medical assistant or nurse practitioner. Mention them too.
Share the most relevant of these in your cover letter to prove that you are capable of serving patients from day one. Take a look at the following sample:
“It’s been my pleasure to serve women as a PA at the Bridgeport Women’s Wellness Center. There, I performed well on women exams, pap smears, general physicals, and administered vaccines. In addition to this, I worked with a comprehensive team of technicians, nurses, patient advocates, and other specialists to ensure that the women we served received the best healthcare possible.”
Debi Douma-Herren
Senior Certified HR Professional & Career Coach
Avoid Using ‘I’ Excessively
While you want to share your experience and talents with potential employers, beware of the danger of the word ‘I’. Use it too much, and it can be a bit of a turn-off. Instead, frame your writing to focus on your patients, and ways that you have benefited them through your work. Here is a brief example:
“Dedicated to providing highly personalized healthcare to the residents of Miami.”
Share The Value of a PA
What if your potential employer has never hired a physician assistant? If you’re submitting your application ‘cold’, you’ll have to share the value of hiring a physician assistant in addition to giving information about your experience and skills. So, think like a doctor’s office manager. How do you convince them that they should hire a PA?
That’s easy! You share some numbers. Take a look at some examples of this:
- Within one year of my hire, we were seeing 25% more patients.
- Patient wait times reduced by 30 minutes on average.
- Assisted doctors so they could focus on more challenging cases.
- Gained an increase of 10% in positive patient outcomes.
You could even open your letter with a positive statement about the value of physician assistants.
“Did you know that medical centers that employ at least one PA will increase their ability to serve patients by at least 25%?”
Also, be sure to check other medical cover letter examples on our websites for even more ideas!
Physician Assistant Cover Letter Sample in .docx Format
Here’s a brief cover letter sample for an experienced physician assistant who is seeking a job in a large urgent care clinic.
Download example (Word version)
Cover Letter Example For a Physician Assistant – Text Format
Dear Dr. Myers,
Greetings, my name is Nancy Ninja I am a PA with more than a decade of experience in the areas of family and general medicine. Last week, while attending the annual community health luncheon, I spoke with BethAnn from your office. She informed me that you were looking for someone to take over patient care, as you were interested in moving to a part-time schedule. If this is still the case, I’d like to put myself up for consideration.
In my current position, at Quick Care Plus, I see a variety of patients each day with concerns ranging from gastrointestinal flu to burns and abrasions. My goal in this job has always been to provide the kind of expedited care that customers expect without sacrificing compassion or attention to detail. If hired as your PA, that commitment will not waver. Further, the patient demographic at my current clinic, and yours are quite similar. I’m confident that I will be able to serve them with the attentiveness and cultural sensitivity that they deserve.
During my tenure at Quick Care, I have been able to improve patient outcomes, improve diagnostic accuracy by 10%, and manage a patient increase of 15% per year. I was especially honored to be appointed to the position of President of the Tri-City Association of Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners.
In closing, thank you for considering me for this position. I would love to discuss this with you further. I am available on Mondays and Wednesdays all day, and alternating Fridays. Please contact me at your convenience.
Regards,
Nancy Ninja
Final Tip: Talk About Honors or Distinctions
Have you been recognized by your colleagues or patients? That’s a positive that can help you stand out from other applicants. Don’t share all of your honors though. Just one or two that are especially relevant.