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| We Hit The PA and NP Lottery: Now What DO We Do? - A Look at the Funding Increase for Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner Programs |
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by David Mittman, PA - October 4, 2010
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 Provided by Clinician 1
Last week there were a flurry of press releases from scores of NP and PA programs. All were celebrating the news that the Federal government has agreed to fund millions and millions of dollars to train thousands more PA and NP students. May programs are getting close to a million dollars or even more. On face value that is great, as it gets us all so much. It is great because it strengthens both professions in so many ways, least by increasing our numbers. It is great because it recognizes that we play a huge role in the future of primary care in America. It is great because we can now look to innovate on how we teach our future clinicians.
But if you know a bit more, you realize that like hitting the lottery, getting a bunch of money can be both a blessing and a curse.
We all know the stories...............
I would like to ask that a number of initiatives come out of this Federal windfall. Before I explain, let me say I have the utmost respect for NP and PA educators. They have a hard job to do, and much of the time the professions do not thank them for a job well done. That being said, here’s what I would do.
First would be the full realization that we need to reform the training of more teachers. We need more and better teachers if we are going to add more programs and add thousands more students. I would propose a serious look at part time instructors/faculty. I know people who would like to teach and are excellent clinicians. Some of them can’t give 40 hours a week but could give 20. I would personally love to help in this regard. We should figure out how to incorporate part time faculty into our teaching mix. If not the quality of the new graduates will fall and that will hurt us all.
Borrowing from an idea first proposed a number of years ago by the American College of Clinicians, I also would ask the programs to set aside a number of seats for returning nurses and corpsmen from the military who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. These people will add leadership to both our professions and come with the added experience that will make them fine clinicians.
Lastly, in the spirit of sound judgement, why not train some of these PA and NP students together? It would save the institutions that do the training money, and lead to a better understanding between our professions. Physical Examination 101 can be taught to both. Pharmacology, etc. Makes sense I think.
In any case, we are at a period where both the NP and PA professions will be growing as we did in the 1970s. I think we have the leadership to do it better and possibly even together in some cases. We can do so much in this period of growth if we think ahead. If not, we will be like the guy that won the lottery and does not know where the money wound up ten years later.
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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| Dave Mittman, PA (Livingston, NJ) |
on 06 Oct 2010 at 8:56 pm |
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Wonder how many programs do it?
Time to get over this silly territorial thing.
(See Kim's Blog on here now).
Dave |
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| NJ Adult NP (Verona, New Jersey) |
on 06 Oct 2010 at 7:10 pm |
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| Dave, I LOVE the idea of educating PAs and NPs together for the basic classes (pharma, PE, etc.). It's a win-win on so many levels -- not only for the reasons that you mentioned, but also for building trust, respect, and comaraderie. |
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| Gloria Sanchez Np (Ontario,California) |
on 05 Oct 2010 at 4:24 pm |
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| Yes, I agree P A and NP students could be trained together. They eventually accomplish the same outcome . The NP student can learn from the PA and vice versa.The NP student coming from a nursing background augments the care and the PA student depending on their background also can augment the learning experience. |
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