kslight6 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Calling all PAs and PA Students, the Parenting magazine July 2013 Issue 276 page 30. The magazine reports that parent should chose NP over a PA if parents want prescriptions for their children, "PAs can't write scripts". I have written to the editor to ask them to correct this error. Please write to the editors.. http://www.parents.com/parents-magazine/ I am posting a flickr picture of the magazine I hope you can click on it and see the article and the incorrect statement <a href=" " title="IMG_0403 by viet.souvannarath, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/9230939127_0e9f0dbb17.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_0403"></a> <a href=" " title="IMG_0403 by viet.souvannarath, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/9230939127_0e9f0dbb17.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_0403"></a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Disgusting. You bet I'm going to write a letter, how about with threat of legal action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Is it the same people who did this??? http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/showthread.php/40196-Article-in-Parent-magazine-about-PAs-Read-it-and-cringe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicinePower Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 What is the exact quote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 What is the exact quote? As can be read in the 'article': YOU REALLY HATE BEING RUSHED - AND NEED A SCRIPT YOUR GO-TO: A nurse practitioner (NP). He or she has an advanced nursing degree and can treat patients independently. CHOOSE FOR: Everything you'd see a NP for, plus antibiotics and other medications requiring a prescription (PAs can't write scripts). Also, if you are always full of questions, you may want to request the NP. They're trained in providing medical education to families." :O_O: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicinePower Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 There's no excuse for that. Do they lack all journalistic integrity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicinePower Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 This is the only email address I could quickly find for them. support@parents.com http://www.parents.com/parents/file.jsp?item=help_quickanswers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatChecko Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Is it the same people who did this??? http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/showthread.php/40196-Article-in-Parent-magazine-about-PAs-Read-it-and-cringe! Yep! It's a double post. Thanks for the reminder for those of us who haven't written yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatswain2PA Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kslight6 Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 COOL.. I guess I missed that, thanks. Yep! It's a double post. Thanks for the reminder for those of us who haven't written yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpRegulated Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 I just wrote them. And I'm an SNP. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jen0508 Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 I didnt know I cant write prescriptions.. crap *tears up prescription pad* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amthrasher Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 I wrote to the email address support@parents.com. Hopefully the email is read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmj11 Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 This is where there is grounds for legal action. This is where organizations like the AAPA should hold people accountable. PAFT? The Men's Journal published a piece like this 15 years ago. I wrote them a letter and I threatened legal action. I met with a lawyer who said, "sounds like there is a case but I'm a small-town lawyer and would have no idea how to start." When something is said in public form and is untrue and hurts us financially (that can be proven when patients choose not to see us) there is grounds for a suit. But who has the knowledge and the balls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 This is considered libel but it'll be difficult to get anything more than a retraction and maybe an apology from it. To recover in a libel or slander suit, the plaintiff must show evidence of four elements: that the defendant conveyed a defamatory message; that the material was published, meaning that it was conveyed to someone other than the plaintiff; that the plaintiff could be identified as the person referred to in the defamatory material; and that the plaintiff suffered some injury to his or her reputation as a result of the communication. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?rd=1&word=Libel+and+Slander You can prove that there was a defamatory message, it was published, and that it identified PAs as a professional organization. What the defense lawyer is going to argue against this case is, were there any injuries to the profession or people resulting from this. Meaning, as a direct result of this article did this impact the profession or patient care or any PAs by name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 What the defense lawyer is going to argue against this case is, were there any injuries to the profession or people resulting from this. Meaning, as a direct result of this article did this impact the profession or patient care or any PAs by name. What's the number of readers? How many of them would turn away from seeing a PA instead to see a NP? There you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 What's the number of readers? How many of them would turn away from seeing a PA instead to see a NP? There you go. I agree with you. We would need to show that impact to have the case. That could be done by contacting subscribers to the magazine and having a blind survey completed that would give us the number of people exposed, those who saw / read the article, and those who know or use a para physician currently, and how many are likely to choose a NP or a PA more over the other based on the article from this magazine. People can always lie with statistics so it'll come down to who can prove it best. The defense team will argue that the article did not sway the audience one way or another. That's what we'd have to prove with our data collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Yup, but access to the subscriber list would be impossible so we'd have to somehow start a survey asking the general public that subscribed to the magazine. It could be started on Facebook. For that matter, they may already have a public Fb page where we could inquire of subscribers. It might give a statistically significant number, if enough were willing to answer a brief survey. Oh look: https://www.facebook.com/parentsmagazine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpSite Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 http://www.aapa.org/news_and_publications/pa_pro_now/item.aspx?id=6450&utm_content=07102013_story1&utm_source=multibriefs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mediwatch Apologies from Parent Mag (plus, apparently, the magazine will be shutting down soon). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Well if you want to pursue this you can go after Meredeth Publishing. Technically there was never a retraction printed. There is admission of guilt (although unintentional supposedly), there is an apology to the national organization (more of a hey lets get them off my back), and then there is an excuse to leave the damaging comments uncorrected ("oops that's the last issue ever, ha ha"). So since there isn't any correction and Parent magazine is now going to be Parenting magazine it needs to be corrected there or you can go after the parent publishing house (Meredeth) if you want to pursue this. I hope the AAPA goes after these guys even further, I'm pretty sure you'll find a similar article in some of their others gazing brands if we looked like in Fitness Magazine or even their Spanish publication Padres. Food for thought 2,057,351 (subscribers) + 15,117,000 (newstands) = 17,174,351 potential magazines with this information was distributed (circulated) to the public. Not to mention readers who will view this as part of the LONG shelf life magazines are known to have over every media outlet available. Knowing this (btw my undergrad was in advertising ans an MBA emphasis in Marketing) not 1 of these readers will have that information corrected. Sounds to me that this was intentional, call me cynical I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmj11 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I can remember 15 years ago when no one would do anything when these things were published. It drove me crazy to see bizarre things in the press about us and no one holding them accountable. I'm glad to see the AAPA taking these things seriously now and forums like this, where we can unite for one cause, has changed the culture. But I agree with Timon, that this is not settled yet. They need to communicate the truth to as many people they mis-informed. These little things do ad up. We did a study at my practice (which I mentioned here a few weeks ago) that, while showing an over all high satisfaction level, did show some initial hesitancy about patients seeing me because of 1) they weren't sure if PAs could write prescriptions and 2) the patient wasn't sure if insurance would pay for a visit to a non-MD, non-NP. So bad information does hurt and hurts us financially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I can remember 15 years ago when no one would do anything when these things were published. It drove me crazy to see bizarre things in the press about us and no one holding them accountable. I'm glad to see the AAPA taking these things seriously now and forums like this, where we can unite for one cause, has changed the culture. But I agree with Timon, that this is not settled yet. They need to communicate the truth to as many people they mis-informed. These little things do ad up. We did a study at my practice (which I mentioned here a few weeks ago) that, while showing an over all high satisfaction level, did show some initial hesitancy about patients seeing me because of 1) they weren't sure if PAs could write prescriptions and 2) the patient wasn't sure if insurance would pay for a visit to a non-MD, non-NP. So bad information does hurt and hurts us financially. Can you submit the results of your study to PAFT? We'd be interested in seeing it no matter how small or large it was. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedicinePower Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 I got an email back from them today saying "we will forward your email to the correct department". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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