jmj11 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 The local regional paper today had the major front page story about "midlevels filling the gap." It wasn't negative, except for the term "Midlevel." But here is the problem. The medical director interviewed (and I just met him myself for the first time a few weeks ago) said that his system had 18 Nurse Practitioners and 17 PAs. Yet, in the article, except for a couple of tangential mentioning, we are invisible. Now my point here is not to criticize but the much broader question, Why, Why, Why are we always a footnote? When I saw the paper in the paper box (I don't subscribe) I knew I had to buy one. However, I prepared myself with very low expectations and I was not disappointed. So if the system has almost equal PAs and NPs why is 99% of the article devoted to NPs? What are we doing wrong? Do we have "I'm a Wallflower" imprinted on our foreheads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 7, 2015 Moderator Share Posted September 7, 2015 we're just there to extend the capabilities of physicians, remember.....Ughhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Look in that column on the left. We are the only profession where it says "works under the direction of a physician." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLRP3 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 It is a marketing issue, no one knows what we are, but everyone knows what an NP is. Unfortunately as a profession we often define ourselves by what we are not, instead of what we are. It makes for uninspiring writing and confusing reading... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas5814 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 The local regional paper today had the major front page story about "midlevels filling the gap." It wasn't negative, except for the term "Midlevel." But here is the problem. The medical director interviewed (and I just met him myself for the first time a few weeks ago) said that his system had 18 Nurse Practitioners and 17 PAs. Yet, in the article, except for a couple of tangential mentioning, we are invisible. Now my point here is not to criticize but the much broader question, Why, Why, Why are we always a footnote? When I saw the paper in the paper box (I don't subscribe) I knew I had to buy one. However, I prepared myself with very low expectations and I was not disappointed. So if the system has almost equal PAs and NPs why is 99% of the article devoted to NPs? What are we doing wrong? Do we have "I'm a Wallflower" imprinted on our foreheads? I think as a profession we have done a poor job of marketing ourselves to the public...or maybe just not as good a job as the NPs. I don't know if it a function of numbers, money, or apathy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 It's our title, our mental thought process that we are only assistants and work at the behest of a physician, we take orders, we do not think independently, a physician hangs over our shoulder at all times, and our degrees are probably from a paper mill that only cost us a few dollars, (the frame costs more). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlottew Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 The title plays a (big) role in perceptions. My own mother, when I expressed some anxiety about the approaching end of my training period at work (critical care), said "Why are you so worried? After all you're only the ASSISTANT to the physician.". Grrr, I think my blood actually boiled. I know others of that generation (> 70 yo) who want to see only the doctor, not the PA because they perceive the PA is not expert enough (outpatient setting). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBanner Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 I think it is both the title and collective apathy about marketing our profession. We have been around MUCH longer than NPs; it's our fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddoc Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Bruce: Actually, we both started at the same time. The first NP program was at the University of Colorado and started in 1965. Nevertheless, I agree that our poor marketing, unfortunate name and poorly understood supervision requirement make it extremely unlikely that we will overcome this in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACdan Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Bruce: Actually, we both started at the same time. The first NP program was at the University of Colorado and started in 1965. Nevertheless, I agree that our poor marketing, unfortunate name and poorly understood supervision requirement make it extremely unlikely that we will overcome this in the near future. Didn't Dr. Stead first propose utilizing nurses for advanced training, but was rebuffed by the nursing associations of the time, who failed to accredit them? He (or his secretary, if I recall correctly) then thought of using returning Navy Corpsmen instead. Then the nursing organizations lifted his pilot program from Duke, and established it themselves in Colorado. NPs are essentially copycat PAs. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBanner Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Bruce: Actually, we both started at the same time. The first NP program was at the University of Colorado and started in 1965. Nevertheless, I agree that our poor marketing, unfortunate name and poorly understood supervision requirement make it extremely unlikely that we will overcome this in the near future. I read the source wrong. According to the AANP website, it was 1985 "under an apple tree"....but that was when the AANP was formed, not when they started. And as an aside, this is much more bothersome to me now than it ever was when I was training. I think after you've been working for a while the title issue starts to get under your skin a bit. I have great autonomy at my job, but it's more the public perception thing and ludicrous insurance issues. I'm starting to understand why some of the veteran PAs here feel so strongly about title and scope. Phrases that are getting old: "He's just a PA. I need to see a REAL doctor." "When are you going to be a real doctor?" "I dont know who I saw, I think it was just a PA". "He's a doctor's assistant, dear." "We need a physician's signature on that. It cant be a midlevel." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk732 Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Anyone consider the fact one of the nursing sisters solicited the article in the first place so that the slant would be toward them? I think there are a couple of issues at hand...first is most PA's are too busy actually working to get involved with this sort of thing, and AAPA (and to some extent, CAPA up here) aren't utilizing their public affairs apparatus to their fullest extent. Secondly, the NP's have strong backing from associations and unions that are generously staffed with people with more than enough time on their hands to spread information/misinformation/disinformation in as many reams as they see fit. The public gets what a nurse is...unfortunately they've got this frigged up perception of their God/Goddess like qualities to sing, dance and do brain surgery better than brain surgeons do. In my province, a big deal was made about the NP's up here that are staffing these "Quick Care Clinics" (and some ED's), supposed WIC's that more often than not send a lot of folks to my ER because, while they're open, don't actually have an NP working in it or the patient didn't call in time to get on the same day appointment list (and has to wait til the next day to call in again and hope to get in in time). There are a boat load of PA's here, but the Ministry of Health has done nothing to advertise our presence save mentioning certain wait lists for surgeries and ER visits have dramatically decreased (as a direct result of hirings). I'm constantly spreading the word here, but it's kind of an uphill battle sometimes. Enough whining, so how about solutions? One, all of us start our own blogs and cultivate relationships in the journalistic field to have some articles get picked up, either in medical magazines, local rags, etc. Two, find out who your PAff reps are and either kick them in the junk, purple nurple them, or whatever you need to do until they do their jobs so we can do ours - CAPA as a for instance here in Canada encourages us to do a lot of our own advertising, in lieu of getting more involved and injecting articles into the news. The one time I made the paper (as a PA - I've been in the news before but in a different life) was when I was hired to do family med in a little town out in the sticks - I had to phone the health region and get them to have the rag retract and rewrite because someone didn't screen it ahead of time and the article said I was a doctor that just retired from the Armed Forces...Three, come up with something like CAPA did that I actually liked, which was give these little business cards with "You've been treated by a PA" on them, directing the patient to look up more information at the CAPA site and giving a quick blurb about PA's and their capabilities. There are I'm sure other ideas out there - only thing stopping us is our imaginations. I know a lot of us like coming here to vent and such, but we need to be more vocal on both sides of the border, instead of being the quiet professionals that we are, and actually let the public know what it is we do, don't do, how we're trained, etc ad nauseum. Spleen smaller now. SK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator LT_Oneal_PAC Posted September 12, 2015 Moderator Share Posted September 12, 2015 I think it is both the title and collective apathy about marketing our profession. We have been around MUCH longer than NPs; it's our fault. I agree with the first part, but we haven't been around much longer. We beat them by like a year or so in creation and nursing providers in the form of anesthesia and midwifery have been around for decades longer than us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk732 Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Put my money where my mouth is, started my own blog...now to start getting the word out more. For those interested, I went to bloggingbasics101.com and set up a page with iPage. Reasonably inexpensive, get your own domain and such. Hope some of you will also have at it ;-). SK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoRyou Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Ms. Joy Behar (who 'supposedly' is a professional comedian) opened her BIG mouth recently, and has pissed off the WHOLE medical community. http://accordingtokateri.com/…/15/an-open-letter-to-joy-be…/ Kateri, RN mentions PAs in a positive light. Earlier this year, Behar scoffed at people who have autoimmune diseases. https://celiac.org/blog/2015/01/22/listen-joy-behar/ Her retort is, ..."I was just stupid for mocking ..." Ironically her son-in-law is a PA. "My son-in-law is a physician assistant, one of my nieces is a nurse, so I mean I know they use stethoscopes, I just was not paying attention.” Source: EW.COM http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/16/view-joy-behar-michelle-collins-miss-colorado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 I read the quote about the son in law and the article I read had physician's assistant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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