What is the difference between being a doctor and physician assistant?

Simply put: Physicians have full responsibility, get paid somewhat more ($90K-500K+), have more range of knowledge due to more schooling (college degee + MD or DO + internship + residency and possibly fellowship), and they answer to themselves only (medically). PA's have less responsibility (less or no call, have a MD supervising, etc), get paid somewhat less ($90K-250K), has mmore limited knowledge (2 years of college + 2 1/2 yrs of PA school), and they have to answer to their supervising physicians. If you want to be your own boss and make decision, but don't mind sacrificing your personal life, then physician is the way to go. If you just want to be a member of the medical field without as much grueling hardship of being a physician, and if you don't mind having someone supervising you all the time, then go for PA.

What Sugabear described to you is wrong. Here is wikipedia's link to physician assistant. This has alot of information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_assistant Also you may want to check the physician assistant forums: http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/

The difference is the doctor gets paid about 3 times as much.

A Physicians Assistant is NOTHING like a doctor. It falls way below that category. They work for the doctor in the office, whether it's paperwork, typing, filing, answering phones, taking messages, helping the doctor during patients appointments by getting whatever medical equipment a doctor needs, documenting patient files, taking patient blood pressure & temperature. The amount of time a doctor is in school is somewhere between 10-15 years (includes Medical School) depending on what type of Medical Degree is wanted. It takes 8 months-1 year to become a Physicians Assistant (Medical Assistant). Here are some things a Physicans Assistant can't do, things that only a doctor can do: Physicians Assistant CANNOT: -Diagnose a patient -Perform any kind of surgery -Prescribe Medication -Give any kind of Medical Advice to anyone for any reason -Refer patients to other doctors, speciality depts or facilities There are more, but I can't list them all. Also, another difference would be the salary. While a Physicians Assistant will only make anywhere between $13-$15/per hour, a doctor makes anywhere from $55-$100/per hour depending on if he/she is "private practice" or if they work for a organization such as Kaiser Permanente or a regular Hospital/Clinic, etc.

Well many pre-meds who do not get into medical school become a PA. It is only like a 28 month course and they do alot of work hand in hand with the patient, I would imagine the doctor would have more authority and the final word on the patient. Doc:4 years Physician Assistant:28 or so months.