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 Provided by: Clinician 1
It has been three weeks since the “PA Leader Name Change Statement” was posted.
In those three weeks more PAs have written to express their opinions than ever before about any one topic.
On Clinician 1, the Facebook Name Change Group, Advance for PAs Web Site, The PA Forum, AdvancedPracticeJobs.com and other places PAs have been letting the world know how they feel about their name and other feelings associated with it. There have been presidents of specialty organizations, many current leaders, founding presidents of state and national groups, academic leaders, military leaders and clinical leaders – all types of PA leaders, who never agree on much, agreeing on this topic. That in itself is a wakeup call. More importantly are the numbers; three weeks, over 2,000 PAs on the Facebook Group, over 700 on a Survey Monkey survey, others on other places. This is important to many PAs. More than we ever thought have come to voice their opinions.
On one post, On Being a PA one of our colleagues from Clinician1 summed it up better than I ever could in a post. If you have not read it, please do. http://clinician1.com/posts/article/on_being_a_pa/
Firstly let me say there is a group of colleagues that are working together on this. I do not speak for them, only myself.
So what lessons has this quest taught me?
Lesson One – Few, if any, PAs feel our name represents the profession. The PAs that do not want to change the name post that they are generally worried about what organized medicine will think. I understand them completely. That is why any change should come with much education. We should bend over backwards to make sure that organized medicine understands our motives are simple; we feel the name does not represent the profession. It also misrepresents the relationship we have with the physicians that work with us. It is as bad for them, as it is for us. Again, we should bend over backwards to educate all, but we need to determine our own future. We will not all get fired, not all get replaced if we decide that we need our profession to grow and evolve. Now is a good time for this move.
Lesson Two – We need to say what we feel, who we are and what we do for patients. We need to say we practice medicine. We need to say we are good at what we do. We need to say that we care about patients and our healthcare system. What we do not need to do is say we are better than physicians, better than NPs, better than any other profession. Just say, “We do what we do with excellence”. Many times it’s the same things physicians do, but our education is excellent and we are not in competition with anyone.
Lesson Three – Much of the physician anger towards PAs (and I think NPs) has little to do with us. Let me explain. There is a PHYSICIAN ONLY site like Clinician 1 called Sermo. They posted the PA leader statement regarding the name change on their site. You cannot imagine what was written about us. The negativity of so many about PAs (and NPs) also was astounding. More was the ignorance. Another physicians site also posted what Sermo posted and the comments were close regarding some of the feelings. Even the headline of the thread told PAs they should do something that I cannot print here. On both sites a few physicians who worked with PAs and NPs really went out of their way to back us but most physicians posted some really vile feelings. If you stepped away and read into them a bit you realized that the physicians posting did not know much about us or our laws. They were reacting to an erosion of power that some physicians really feel negatively about. We were the people who wanted to be doctors but could not. We want to be them (?). So they ridiculed our education. They used the word assistant in a very demeaning way. As in the reason we are assistants is to do chores or we are assistants because we could not make it into or through medical school. They were astounded that PAs said that we were held to the same treatment standards as physicians. They clearly were angry when we said we practiced medicine. They even made fun of people’s titles. Said we love initials after our names; must make us feel good. Clearly, some physicians don’t like us for reasons we will never understand. Much of the anger has little to do with how good we are or how we practice. I have never seen online, feelings so negative towards people who are supposed to be your colleagues. So I say, let’s realize we can’t hold our own profession back because some physicians don’t like or even want to understand us. These people will never be happy, so let’s move on and do what we need to do. When we as a profession need to meet with people who respect each other and our profession, I am sure knowing the PA leaders within the AAPA and state organizations, our hand will always be outstretched in friendship.
Lesson Four – People will come if called. When people care about things, they will sign things, back statements, and even thank their leaders. I was surprised but many people thanked those that started the “statement”. I have to admit, I have long felt PAs were apathetic. “Fat and happy”, I have been told. “PAs don’t care”, is a common phrase. I agreed but always hoped things were not that bad. Well, we (I) found out different. When PAs think people listen or maybe on just this one topic, PAs REALLY care. They care more than I expected to see. I am smiling broadly that there is passion in this profession.
So, as a PA for many years, I am sure that your state and specialty groups will also be talking about this. Leaders do want to do what their people want and need. Some of our leaders many disagree, some, I know, agree because they signed or verbally told me so and some are on the fence. Let’s see what evolves. I am sure the right thing will be done and I am sure there will be more lessons to report on.
Yours for a stronger profession,
Dave
Dave has been a PA, and later NP, leader for thirty years. He strongly believes that NPs and PAs must work together to insure a better future for both professions. Most recently Dave has been busy launching another dream; Clinician 1, the first internet community for PAs and NPs. In October 2008, Dave was honored by the New Jersey State society of PAs with its “Lifetime Achievement Award”.
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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| Trudy NP (Florida) |
on 09 Jul 2010 at 2:06 pm |
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| When I worked in the hospital as an RN we had a neurosurgery group and a cardiovascular group of surgeons who required that if anybody needed to speak to them about one of their pts then they needed to call their PAs. I also found that the PAs were the ones holding the pts hands and informing them of the surgeries and helping them afterwards. They weren't just working with the surgeons, they were doing things the surgeons should have been doing. |
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| AJB (Michigan) |
on 05 May 2010 at 10:36 pm |
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| Not that I think we could change the name so drastically, but I think a more approriate title would be Advanced Practice Clinician. Instead of PA-C we could be called APC. |
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| William (Augusta) |
on 04 May 2010 at 5:40 pm |
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| As a PA I see our profession being long over due for a name change, and the change should not be connected to another profession. We need our own professional identitiy. I agree the name should better reflect what the PA's profession. I do not care for the term physician assoicate. I would prefer a name which reflects more of what I do, such as medical practitioner. I would prefer even the mundane term of clinical provider over the term physician associate. |
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| Dave Mittman, PA (Livingston, NJ) |
on 04 May 2010 at 1:03 pm |
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In my humble opinion, we will not be thought of as full providers because we are "assistants". Please read the original "PA Leaders" statement on Clinician 1 or Advance for PAs.
Assistants do not do what the people who they assist do. If you are a legislator who is told you need more medical care the last place you would look is towards a "Doctor's assistant". NPs sound much more logical as they are "higher level nurses".
We need to re-define ourselves and stop lying to the public about what we do. We are associates in the true sense of the word. |
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| R.Powers (Delaware) |
on 04 May 2010 at 11:56 am |
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| I second M. Carter's statements. The NP lobby has done a fabulous job of profiling NPs as independant providers and PAs as needing supervision. As PAs, our lobbying boards, associations and members have allowed this mischaracterization to occur so such a point that the USA Today ran a huge article on NPs as the future of health care and the fact that 18 states are considering reducing and or eliminating regulation of NPs to a level of complete independance. All one has to do is examine the education methodologies and you can see the stark difference. Until the PA community stands up for itself, defends itself to MD, DOs and NPs then not even a name change would be worth the effort. Changes in state regulations needs to happen and fast. Attempt to work amicably with the NPs and their lobbies but if push comes to shove, PAs should shove back hard and fast by comparing and contrasting nursing education with medical education, board testing and requirements and CME requirements. Only time will tell if PAs as a profession will stand up and fight for a future. |
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| J. Luther (Washington) |
on 28 Apr 2010 at 12:52 pm |
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| Hi Dave. I agree with your physician associate but would recommend "associate physician". This is similar to the principal and associate principal concept. The associate principal performs a lot of the same functions of the principal on a day to day basis. My neighbor is an associate principal at a high school. I think this title change would eliminate the occasional "so how long until you become a doctor?" or "when will I see the doctor?". |
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| R. Nevling (Burlington, Iowa) |
on 28 Apr 2010 at 10:21 am |
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| Dave, I have been following this closely since your initial post and want to say that I am in total agrement. As a PA who graduatyed from ths Oklahoma program, I commonly tell people that my degree is as a Physician Associate. I feel that this much more accurately describes what we do. I always tell my pts. I am a PA. but tuse the term associate to describe our relationship with physicians. It is a sad statement that so many physicians are quick to take the money we produce for their practice and then disparage us behind our backs. I recently e-mailed a respected PA who is practicing in the state of Iowa where I am now at and asked why I didn't see his name on the list of those who signed on to your original statement he he feels like there are other more pressing issues for PAs right now and it seemed he didn't want to rile the physician community. But with their atitudes the way they are I think you are right and we need to look after ourselves because there will always be that group oh Docs who feel like we are 2nd class no matter what our name or when we tackle this. So I say now is the time. |
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| Yvonne Whitt |
on 28 Apr 2010 at 9:53 am |
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Thank you, Dave, for continuing to bring this important issue forward. I have hoped for a resumption of the more precise moniker of physician associate since I graduated in 1996. I strongly believe that the 'assistant' name has diminished how we are viewed by many physicians and those who have not been on the receiving end of the excellent care we provide.
I join other perceptive PAs who want our profession to enjoy the respect we deserve.
Regards,
Yvonne L. Whitt, PA-C |
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| R.Hamby (Michigan) |
on 28 Apr 2010 at 9:09 am |
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| My son is a physician and from what he has told me, negative attitudes towards PA"s seem to start in medical school. He would listen to other med students speak negatively about PA's and then after telling them his father was a PA, educate them about the profession. He has seen the perception continue as resident. Perhaps that would be a good place to start in changing the attitudes of physicans toward our profession is educate them while they are still in medical school. |
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| M. Carter (Las Vegas) |
on 27 Apr 2010 at 8:25 pm |
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| Dave, I commend you on carrying the torch on our behalf. But, even more than the name change is the ongoing issue of the physician shortage and who is going to fill that bill. In our local paper today there was an article suggesting that NP's fill that void. Some articles have even suggested RN's. But no where have I seen a suggestion written or vocalized that PA's are there and capable. One would think that our numbers would contradict this, but like you mentioned, it seems we are all "fat and happy" and don't care. That speaks ill for our future. Unfortunately, we need "local" leaders to speak out and let it be known that we can help, not just you folks at the national level. But, I have no idea how to change that. Sadly, I don't even belong to our local PA chapter because of the leadership. I honestly don't believe after 40+ yrs there will ever come a day when we are truly respected for our talents, by MD's, DO's or even NP's, much less the AMA or DO board. |
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