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 Provided by Clinician1
Some Positives In The Air
I am one of the co-founders of the American College of Clinicans- http://www.amcollege.org. Many of my colleagues who are involved in the ACC believe that both the NP and PA professions are closer than we realize and should help each other whenever we can. We also believe that there is much misunderstanding and ignorance still left between our professions (think of MD and DO) and that when either profession is negative about the other, both professions are hurt.
I attended two CME meetings both which warmed my heart. One was a relatively new one that was in Attitash, NH and was designed for PAs and NPs who worked full time in the hospital, generally in the ares of hospitalist/intensive care/surgical ICU. It was very well done but more than that it was great to see NPs and PAs interacting together and learning from each other. I was the keynote speaker over a dinner and eyes and ears from both professions were ready to hear my talk titled; “PAs and NPs: Who Really Are the Better Clinicians?” After the talk a bunch of us sat around and shared stories of the battles we have waged over the years for our professions to get where they are today. It was great.
The other meeting was of the Association of Family Practice PAs (AFPPA) in Orlando. This is a PA specialty organization that decided to open up it’s conference to it’s NP colleagues. It has a rich tradition of putting on a high quality meeting and is very proud of it’s meeting’s motto; “For PAs, by PAs”. Except this year that motto was changed to “For Advanced Practice Clinicians, by Advanced Practice Clinicians”. A small yet significant step to show NPs they were serious about wanting them to attend.
It was great to see a high number of NPs in attendance and again, sharing their points of view and learning hand in hand with their PA colleagues. I was there to exhibit for Clinician1 so I had much time to observe. I also know many of the groups leaders and we had some very good conversations about how the next few years will be significant ones for both NPs and PAs in family medicine.
In between these meetings I also participated in a telephone conference/Board meeting of the ACC Board. That too was energizing as we started to look towards the future and outline what our objectives were for this new year. Needless to say we came up with a whole page of things that we need to prioritize and work on over the coming months. Again, it was two professions working together for the ultimate good of both. The Board is made up of clinicians who are colleagues, who respect each other, care about each other, laugh together and are making things happen.
Lastly, I got a post card that really made me smile. It is not often mass mailing postcard messages do that these days. It was from the Stony Brook PA Program which is one of the most well respected and oldest PA programs in NY State run by a PA who I know has always cared about patients. They announced a one year full time postgraduate training program for PAs in conjunction with the NY City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC). This program grants a Master of Health Science and is designed to give PAs advanced training in psychiatry and addiction medicine. It also is tuition free and provides students with a stipend while they train. Upon graduation, the students are required to work two years for the HHC in one of its hospitals or clinics. What is so great is that this demonstrates what PAs and NPs are best at; responding to significant problems or issues in healthcare delivery by thinking outside the box. Because of this program, a serious issue; the shortage of trained professionals in psychiatry and addiction medicine will be addressed and a model will be created for other cities and states to follow. This postgraduate training program will also pay PAs to participate. It to me is about as win/win/win as it gets. Kudos to Stony Brook for this type of innovative thinking. It would have been great to see the Stony Brook NP Program also involved but maybe on the next project. I can hope. Still, it’s the kind of thinking we all need.
Next blog, I will discuss my last word that hurts both the NP and PA professions.....the dreaded word “Mid-level”. Stay tuned,
Dave
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