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Will the name PA be changed to something else in the near future?


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  • Moderator

I bet it would be a lot easier and affect our reputations much more profoundly if, in leu of a name change, we simply upped the minimum direct-patient hours for admission to PA school to 2500...

nope, no one would know. they didn't know when the avg was 5000 and they don't know now...

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  • Moderator

I bet it would be a lot easier and affect our reputations much more profoundly if, in leu of a name change, we simply upped the minimum direct-patient hours for admission to PA school to 2500...

you would also have to clarify what "counted" as HCE...

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nope, no one would know. they didn't know when the avg was 5000 and they don't know now...

 

I don't think anyone would have to know.  I think the quality of our graduates would be higher.  I'd hypothesize that learning curve upon graduation would be less, and we'd earn the respect of colleagues, patients, and coworkers much more quickly.  

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I don't think anyone would have to know.  I think the quality of our graduates would be higher.  I'd hypothesize that learning curve upon graduation would be less, and we'd earn the respect of colleagues, patients, and coworkers much more quickly.  

probably....I always thought pance graduation rates were a poor measure of how a program does. I would like a survey of pas and docs who work with new grads of programs that focus on prior experience vs those that don't regarding clinical competence in the first year of practice. then we could say (for example) 98% of pa grads of programs which focus on hce were adequately prepared to function in their first year of practice vs 82% of grads of programs requiring no prior hce...

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"Physician Associate" is hardly better than Physician Assistant.  English language: adjective "assistant/associate" ALWAYS goes before the noun "physician".  (Imagine if all professions skewed their word order the way we do: Doctor Medical, Accountant Certified, Worker Social, Therapist Licensed...)  First we need to correct the ludicrous grammar of the name by either arranging PA to AP or by adding an apostrophe-s to become Physician's Assistant.  Assistant or Associate--as long as the word order remains unintelligible (and therefore, vague and perpetually misunderstood), patients and colleagues are going to continue wondering "By 'PA', do they mean AP or P'sA?"  And if we rule out Assistant Physician, Associate Physician, and Physician's Assistant as names, then we need a new name entirely.  But don't think keeping the acronym "PA" is reasonable just because it's convenient.  

To know how much the change to Associate would mean in terms of perception, you only have to look at how vehemently docs oppose it.

And perception is what matters- patients, administrators, payors, legislators....

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  • 3 weeks later...

I heard tonight that in the state of Florida  PAs are going to purpose a name change to Physician Associate. Is that true? I heard it was on the AAPA web page.

Yes, introduced by Florida Academy of PA's; don't have a link but here is the wording of the amendment.

 

 

2015-B-10-FL             Physician Associate or Physician Assistant as the Title of the PA Profession

 

2015-B-10                   Resolved

 

Amend policy HP-3100.1.1 as follows:

 

The AAPA recognizes that “physician assistant” OR “PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATE” MAY BE USED as the official title for the PA profession.

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Guest Paula

It's a resolution for the HOD to consider and vote on for AAPA to adopt it as an official policy that we could opt to use the title Physician Associate if we chose.  If passed by the HOD it would pave the way for state chapters to introduce legislation for changes to their own law.  Email your state HOD delegate and ask them to vote for the resolution.

 

There are other interesting resolutions out forth by various COs such as a  (1) resolution for PA programs to adopt a clinical doctorate degree based on the number of credits we already get through the Master degree programs,  (2) Recertification Exam cycle for PAs who have 20 years experience or have passed the PANCE and 2 PANREs and would allow them to have 25 CMEs per year and avoid the other SA/PI pathways (a way to keep us oldsters active in the profession without the continual recerts as we near retirement), (3) Medical Home resolution that would adopt PAs as leaders of medical home and (4) Compilation of Data to Support Scope of Practice Legislation ( by Florida academy of PAs asking for data to evaluate if PAs are being disciplined by their respective medical boards for unsafe prescribing of controlled substances).

 

I have asked my chief delegate to support all of the above resolutions.  You should be able to find our who your representative is by contacting you state PA chapter or looking for them on their websites. 

 

All of the above resolutions will have lively discussion, I am sure of that!  Our profession has started to see the light and is introducing more resolutions to push us forward into modern medicine! 

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Well that is great news. I'm perplexed as I tried to introduce such language here two years ago when I was part of a Committee to modernized P.A. laws. Not only did the state Chapter not Support me, the president Wrote me a letter trying_ to slap me on the wrist for bringing it up. Maybe change is Coming. I will rejoin,_P.A.F.T.  Maybe the state Chapter and who know, even the A.A.P.A.

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Guest Paula

@jmj11;  I think it is all about timing.  This last year  PA practice laws has seen many changes, most for the better.  AAPA, in my opinion, finally is starting to see the light.  It is COs such as the Florida Academy, the Missouri Academy, the Dermatological society, the VA system, the New Mexico and Nevada Academy, PAFT, AFPPA,  students  and a few others who are pushing the envelope.  I guess they have caught up to your way of thinking, finally!!!!  It will take a coordinated effort for all of us, as individuals and as members of state chapters or COs to continue to advocate for ourselves, and if need be, to challenge our own state chapters to think broadly and in the future. 

 

I'm still waiting for the final version of the updated State model legislation (previously with terminology of the 6 Key elements to PA practice) to see what AAPA has done with it.  Rumor has it that it will call for collaboration, for PAs to be responsible for the care they provide, and deletion of the supervisory/delegated status of PA.  I am hopeful for what it might have been updated to, and will be using it as a template to start discussion with my state chapter to propose we start working on updating our laws again.   

 

Does anyone know if the Model State Legislation revision is official or public yet?  I could not find a new version on the AAPA website and I was told it was to be done by the end of April.   Hello.....It's May!!!  Maybe it will be introduced at the upcoming AAPA national meeting? 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Is there going to be a move soon? Is there a committee that we can be part of to continue the support of the name change? I think we need to come collectively and MAKE THIS CHANGE NOW since there has been a great delay of it. What can I do as a student, what can I do to partner up with other PAs?--do we need to sign a document to request this change, is there a document out now?

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  • 1 month later...
  • Moderator

I think we need to push physician support. If we all could get our SPs to sign off on it. It would be more powerful.

some of my sps don't even know they are sps. in a large group an sp is just a name on a paper in a file somewhere to fulfill a legal requirement.

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  • Moderator

Which is why a lot of places refuse to hire PAs unfortunately.

yup, one of the best em jobs in town here won't use PAs because if fears of added liability. I know some of the docs in this group and they freely acknowledge PAs have better training than the Nps they currently employ...

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