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What do you want PAFT to focus on in the next 3 years?


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well I would direct the members to this thread where the people arent even sure what a PA is or what do they do. 

 

http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/index.php?/topic/17268-video-asking-strangers-what-a-physician-assistant-is/

first things first we need to get the name changed and then work on some public education about PAs and focus more on standardizing residencies for every field and gaining more autonomy plus more reimbursement for our services. 

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... because a solicitation for ideas for a three-year action plan needs updates every 15 minutes?

where exactly did I ask for updates every minute? 

 

members would appreciate timely updates and some interaction from them...maybe you didnt comprehend that line properly. 

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Guest Paula

Plus I am a delegate at large for PAFT and was voted back in.  I have posted  things that are happening in the PA world and have asked all of you to get involved in your state chapters, AAPA, PAFT, etc. for whatever issues have come up, asked you to contact your legislators to vote for certain issues that effect PA (is it effect or affect)? I have encouraged you all to join PAFT and to volunteer to help us.  We cannot do it alone.  There is strength in numbers. 

 

Obviously no one knows I'm a PAFT board member. 

 

Cat is now out of the bag. 

 

I'm thrilled Eric is our president elect and our new president will be sending PAFT members her presidents letter soon, in May. If you have not paid your dues you will not get a letter. 

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Guest Paula

I sent the board a link to this thread and we will all be following it. please keep the suggestions coming!

 

Was I on the email?  I log in frequently anyway but didn't get a link to the thread. 

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Plus I am a delegate at large for PAFT and was voted back in. I have posted things that are happening in the PA world and have asked all of you to get involved in your state chapters, AAPA, PAFT, etc. for whatever issues have come up, asked you to contact your legislators to vote for certain issues that effect PA (is it effect or affect)? I have encouraged you all to join PAFT and to volunteer to help us. We cannot do it alone. There is strength in numbers.

 

Obviously no one knows I'm a PAFT board member.

 

Cat is now out of the bag.

 

I'm thrilled Eric is our president elect and our new president will be sending PAFT members her presidents letter soon, in May. If you have not paid your dues you will not get a letter.

It's affect. Affect is to cause a change and effect is the result of a change.

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Congratulations! I would ask that you please include PA students in the various campaigns and recognize us as voting members. We are energized and ready for change! 

apparently there are 2 open student seats on the board because no one ran for either of these positions in the last election....if interested PM the current president and she could likely name you to one of these open seats.

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^^^^ yes, we need 2 students.  You can also PM me and I will alert Nichole Bateman-Satterwhite, our new president.

 

How about you RURALMED?  

Hey there Paula - I have the information from both of the connections here.  Will keep their information - we absolutely need active students!

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I wonder if we are going to get updates or some interaction from the PAFT members here.

 

@henryd - I am the incoming President for PAFT and am so glad to have EDEMPA as my side kick.  I haven't been a routine browser/poster on PAForum but will change that.  I'm on a number of other online blog sites and forums - it's hard to keep up with them all.  PAFT has been active in a number of ways that have been surprisingly effective and I intend to continue those efforts through the coming  year.  I'll do my best to post PAFT ongoings on PAForum as we go through the year - I'll enlist EDEMPA to help me with that effort!  Advocacy is a huge necessity for all PAs if we are to anchor ourselves and direct our own course over the coming years.  No single organization can do it alone.  I have great vision for PAFT but if our present function in these early developing years is to be the busy bee in the bonnet of those that misrepresent PAs or denigrate our profession (among many other things that PAFT has been involved in), we will continue to do that.  PAFT is also outwardly positive for our profession and if Dave Mittman has taught me nothing else, it's that we have to stop being fearful of self promotion of our profession and how good we are.  PAs must stop being afraid of pushback from our own leadership that has been afraid to rock the boat over the past many years.  That sentiment, by the way, is changing at the mothership - finally.  If we don't start using positive words and honest descriptions of what PAs are and what we do, we can expect another 50 years of relative obscurity and clear misunderstanding of our profession.  We simply can't afford that anymore.  It's clear that the physician community won't be the benefactors of professional promotion for us - why would they - they have their own looming issues.  We must do these things for ourselves, on our own behalves and we can no longer worry that "they won't like us" - whoever they are (docs, administrators, etc).  We know patients like us.  That's clearly obvious as the majority of us are well loved by our patients.  We just have to continue to be great clinicians and be more professionally progressive on our own behalf.  Wallflower, politely smiling, hoping that the powers that be notice what a great job we do has never been sufficient.  No one else can do this for us. 

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@henryd - I am the incoming President for PAFT and am so glad to have EDEMPA as my side kick.  I haven't been a routine browser/poster on PAForum but will change that.  I'm on a number of other online blog sites and forums - it's hard to keep up with them all.  PAFT has been active in a number of ways that have been surprisingly effective and I intend to continue those efforts through the coming  year.  I'll do my best to post PAFT ongoings on PAForum as we go through the year - I'll enlist EDEMPA to help me with that effort!  Advocacy is a huge necessity for all PAs if we are to anchor ourselves and direct our own course over the coming years.  No single organization can do it alone.  I have great vision for PAFT but if our present function in these early developing years is to be the busy bee in the bonnet of those that misrepresent PAs or denigrate our profession (among many other things that PAFT has been involved in), we will continue to do that.  PAFT is also outwardly positive for our profession and if Dave Mittman has taught me nothing else, it's that we have to stop being fearful of self promotion of our profession and how good we are.  PAs must stop being afraid of pushback from our own leadership that has been afraid to rock the boat over the past many years.  That sentiment, by the way, is changing at the mothership - finally.  If we don't start using positive words and honest descriptions of what PAs are and what we do, we can expect another 50 years of relative obscurity and clear misunderstanding of our profession.  We simply can't afford that anymore.  It's clear that the physician community won't be the benefactors of professional promotion for us - why would they - they have their own looming issues.  We must do these things for ourselves, on our own behalves and we can no longer worry that "they won't like us" - whoever they are (docs, administrators, etc).  We know patients like us.  That's clearly obvious as the majority of us are well loved by our patients.  We just have to continue to be great clinicians and be more professionally progressive on our own behalf.  Wallflower, politely smiling, hoping that the powers that be notice what a great job we do has never been sufficient.  No one else can do this for us. 

good to hear from you directly. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

II had the chance to come back in read this whole thread as I awaken at 3:30 this morning and came into the office. I have some questions.  I will start by saying that I'm in the dark these days about PAFT and I take responsibility for that. I am so busy as the owner of a growing practice that I go through cycles where I don't come to this forum for weeks. I have piles of e-mails every morning that I don't read because I don't have time. I don't remember ever seeing any from PAFT but maybe there were and I missed them. So I will start with the basics and I don't mean to offend anyone. I was a charter member and involved at the begining but then somehow I lost touch with them. I've searched for "the website" and can only find a FB page. So, honestly, PAFT maybe has done a huge amount of great work but how do I find out what that is/was?

 

Next question: Avaya24 . . . who are you?  I don't know who the sitting president is.  I know Eric and he is a great guy.

 

So my honest question, is it time to rejoin any of these groups?  Are things changing?  If I rejoin the AAPA, what do I get for my money?  In years past it was selling my information or turning it over to a lot of junk mail about credit cards and car rentals.  I want lobbying. I want advocating.  I want assistance when we face very important PA issues, like insurance companies not recognizing practices owned by PAs.  I don’t want to see NPs mentioned (positively) in every healthcare bill in Washington and PAs as a footnote.

 

I’m ready to rejoin PAFT if I can see what they have done. I’m not doubting what they have done, I’m just in the dark.

 

One thing, in closing, to add to the list of things I would like to see done is the taxonomy of Insurance companies and CMS.  Our specialty can ONLY be considered as “Physician Assistant.”  This has a huge impact on how we are rated and paid by insurance companies and it is too complex to talk about here. But my specialty isn’t “Physician Assistant.”  So to an insurance company a CV-surgical PA is exactly the same as a Urgent Care or Aesthetic PA.

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1. The word assistant should be changed. to anything....... that is the worst possible choice of words and I think a huge black eye to the image of the profession.

2. Online programs should not be allowed. People already think that we are medical assistants, then when they hear that you can get a degree online, even if it is at yale, it makes us look even worse.

I think that if these two things are addressed that many of the other problems we face will be a lot easier to tackle because we'll have a little more respect from the public and from legislation.

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The clinical doctorate is on the horizon. Don't let it called Doctorate of.....anything like Physician Assistant Studies. It's easier to get it straight from they beginning than going back to change the name of a degree. Contact the programs that are planning to create the clinical doctorate for PAs and see if PAFT can be of service to allow for a smooth implementation.

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I will ask again and forgive me if someone has already answered this, how do I find out what PAFT have done so far? I cannot find a web page for them. I find Physician Assistants of Tomorrow when I search by initials or full name (Google). I am searching form Spain, but that shouldn't make a difference.Is there a link?

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