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| TEACH! |
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by David Mittman, PA, DFAAPA - December 12, 2011
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 Provided by Clinician 1
We have all recently read on Clinician1 that PA and NP programs are going to raise enrollment significantly over the next few years. We may also know that there are 40-50 new PA programs in the planning stages and surely close to the same for NPs. There will be a record number of students in both professions. In itself, that may be a good thing.
On the flip side I have also heard many times from seasoned NPs and PAs who feel that the “quality” they had in their education may just might be slipping a bit. Others complain, and to my biased ears somewhat rightly so, that some of the new graduates seem not to know or even care about the people that came before them. That there were pioneers that fought to make the impossible-possible. That actual people fought for our ability to do each and every thing we now take for granted. Some do not even know that the first PAs and NPs could not prescribe! Other NPs and PAs cry out regarding the apathy they see in their professions. “Many students only care about how much they will make when they graduate” is a commonly held belief.
If you have ever thought any of the above was on target, I have an answer for you. You hold the solution to all of these problems in your own two hands. Stop moaning and pick up the phone, call the nearest NP or PA program and ask to take a student. If you are really up for a challenge, take a student of the profession you are not in, so if you are an NP take a PA student and vice versa. In any case, take a student.
If what was said above resonated, and you feel the quality may have gone down a bit, take a student. If you want students to know how it was in the “old days,” the only way you can insure that they will is by telling them. If you want them to be politically active, to know the issues, to be an advocate when they graduate, take a student. Teaching and being a preceptor is the primary way you can give back to your profession. Yes, there are other ways and I hope you are doing those also, but there are few more noble things you can do for your profession’s future than teach. Don’t make excuses, don’t tell me that the students will be a drag, don’t tell me you will do it next year. Next year for that one person whose life you will change is today. They will remember you forever.
Those of us that have precepted know that in the midst of teaching you too will learn, you too will grow, you too will become a better clinician and a better NP or PA. Possibly even a better person.
Your profession needs you. No more excuses. Dial the program’s number.
Teach!
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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