Position Paper sent by Bob Blumm, PA-C Past President ACC
I am sending this paper to all agencies and forums to serve as a reminder that the ACC, which now serves NPs and PAs as an Advocate for the professions scope of practice, did in fact publish a white paper to honor and make a special pathway to those who served “in harm’s way” and upon returning to CONUS desire to further their education and become either NPs or PAs. We feel that they have given a part of their lives to serving in a time of war and that they deserve special consideration when applying to programs of advanced practice clinicians. The following is a joint effort of the executive committee 2-3 years ago demonstrating what we feel would best serve both professions as a “thank you for a job well done.”
As we all know, America is involved in military action in the Middle East. This has increased the use of all military nursing and medical personnel. It has also exposed many of these caregivers to combat, trauma and other medical experiences and training that they could not have received in any other way.
The physician assistant and nurse practitioner professions have extensive roots in military medicine. In fact, the first three PAs at Duke were Navy Corpsmen and the professions link to the military endures up until today. It is the same with the nurse practitioner profession, as many NPs were former nurses, medics and corpsmen. Today, both the NP and PA professions enjoy commissioned officer status in our armed services and are a vital cog in the wheel of military health care.
The American College of clinicians recognizes these roots. Upon their return to our shores, nurses, medics and corpsmen should be greeted warmly and praised for their sacrifices. The College also thinks that their vital experience and training has created a new pool of potential students for NP and PA education. Most of these people possess the tools to become excellent leaders and clinicians.
The College asks all PA and NP programs to look favorably on these veterans if they apply to their training programs. We ask that every program work to allow these people get the information needed to become NPs and PAs. We also request that our members reach out to NP and PA programs in their areas to advocate for their local returning veterans with military experience. In the near future, the ACC will design an outreach program to inform potential military of their post service opportunities as advanced practice clinicians.
In summary, the College thinks that we are now at a unique period where qualified combat and trained RNs, medics and corpsmen will be returning to America. We would like to see those veterans who feel that they would like to become PAs and NPs embraced by the NP and PA professions, and we call upon our members to request that their local training programs act favorably regarding these applicants for future training.
Robert M. Blumm has received national recognition as a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). He is the past president of the Association of Plastic Surgery Physician Assistants, and was past-president of the American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants, past president of the American College of Clinicians and NYSSPA, as well as Chairman of the Surgical Congress of the AAPA. In addition, Bob received the John Kirklin MD Award for Professional Excellence from the American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants. Along with his associate, Dr. Acker, Bob was the first recipient of the AAPA PAragon Physician-PA Partnership Award. He has been a contributing author of three textbooks, written 150 plus articles and is a sought out conference speaker throughout the United States.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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