Surgical Physician Assistant Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Surgical Physician Assistant resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Surgical physician assistants are highly trained medical professionals who work alongside surgeons, performing tasks that require precision and accuracy. They help surgeons prepare for procedures and assist with everything from patient prep to post-op care.
If you’re looking to join a team of highly skilled professionals, or if you’re ready to take the next step in your career, a job as a surgical physician assistant could be right up your alley. But before you can land that dream job, you’ll need an impressive resume to help you stand out from the pack. Here are tips and an example to help you write yours.
How to Write a Surgical Physician Assistant Resume
Here’s how to write a surgical physician assistant resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most important part of your resume because they’re the first thing recruiters will see. And they’re the best way to showcase your experience and qualifications.
But many candidates make the mistake of using generic bullet points that don’t really tell a story or provide any context. For example, rather than saying you “provided patient care,” you could say you “provided care for 15 patients during morning shift, ensuring all patients received timely care and all necessary procedures were performed according to hospital guidelines.”
The second bullet point is much more specific and provides more detail about what exactly you did and the results of your work.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
In order to be considered for a surgical physician assistant (SPA) position, you will likely need to submit your resume through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This system will scan your resume for specific keywords related to the job. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, the ATS might disqualify you from the pool of applicants.
To increase your chances of getting an interview, make sure to use the most relevant keywords on your resume. You can find them by reading through job postings and taking note of the terms that appear most frequently. Here are some common surgical physician assistant keywords to get you started:
- Surgical Skills
- Surgery
- Healthcare
- Medical Education
- Medicine
- Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
- Orthopedic Surgery
- Hospitals
- Patient Safety
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
- Healthcare Management
- Physician Assistants
- Emergency Medicine
- Inpatient Care
- Laparoscopic Surgery
- Anesthesia
- Medical Research
- Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
- Operating Room
- Patient Education
- General Surgery
- Acute Care
- Trauma Surgery
- Advanced Life Support (ALS)
- Critical Care Medicine
- Surgery Assistant
- Operating Room Management
- Endoscopy
- Nursing
- Wound Care
Showcase Your Technical Skills
As a surgical physician assistant, you will need to be proficient in the use of technology in order to effectively do your job. This might include familiarity with surgical software, electronic health records (EHR) systems, or medical devices. Additionally, you will need to be able to use technology to communicate with other members of the healthcare team, including surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists.
Some of the programs and systems that surgical physician assistants are typically expected to be proficient in include: surgical software, EHR systems, medical devices, and surgical equipment.