jesscbv Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Not sure if I'm allowed to post in the "Professional PA" section, as I'm a pre PA student, but I just read something that made me cringe a little bit: In the June 2011 Men's Health magazine there's an article about skin cancer and the concern that many patients who find concerning moles are not able to see care providers in a timely manner due to a shortage of dermatologists. (Sorry, the article doesn't appear to be available online for me to provide a link.) The article mentioned that mid level providers such as PAs and NPs are being employed by dermatologists in hopes of shrinking wait times for patients to get into the office. However the article says something along the lines of "But these care providers are not as well trained as physicians and are more likely to miss something that might be cancer." (I'm paraphrasing.) I think this is an example of the public receiving misinformation about PAs. PAs are highly trained professionals, and should not be thought of as "Not as good as the 'real thing', etc." The article did mention that perhaps the solution to these long wait times to get into the Doctors' office is by putting primary care physicians through more training to better recognize signs of skin cancer. I agree that a focus on primary care is key in prevention and allowing more accessible health care, but I am disappointed in this article's representation of the role of PAs. Thoughts? Concerns? I am thinking of writing to the magazine. Maybe the AAPA as well. It would be nice if they (Men's Health) could run something about the benefit of seeing PA's and accurately explain the profession. I wanted to know what some of you thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesscbv Posted June 2, 2011 Author Share Posted June 2, 2011 To add to that, I'm betting that there are no studies that compare the number of dermatological physicians' and derm PAs' false negative diagnosis. I can't imagine upon what grounds Men's Health is basing their claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 To add to that, I'm betting that there are no studies that compare the number of dermatological physicians' and derm PAs' false negative diagnosis. I can't imagine upon what grounds Men's Health is basing their claim. Great point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulgatus Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 No one takes that magazine seriously anyway =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesscbv Posted June 2, 2011 Author Share Posted June 2, 2011 No one takes that magazine seriously anyway =P Yes, I know, it's not an esteemed medical journal. ;-) Nobody in the MEDICAL field will likely take it seriously. My issue is that there are hundreds of thousands of readers who may take it as fact. Many people don't even know what a PA IS or what a PA DOES. It's just one article, in one magazine, and it may seem trivial. People [the general public] get information from media [magazines, the news, day time shows like "Dr. Oz" etc] and it's difficult for people who aren't in the medical field to know what to believe. Am I wrong to think that part of advocating for the profession is gently correcting a magazine when they misinterpret for the public the role of a PA? How else are people supposed to understand the role of a PA unless we tell them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriarMedic Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 To OP: find the link on here about when medical correspondent from good morning america (I think?) badmouthed to PA profession...the PA world had a great response to that...this is reminiscent to a degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myironlung Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 i know you were paraphrasing but i wonder what "not as well trained as physicians" means. I am assuming it means education and not years of experience on the job. Call me crazy but I think I'm stating the obvious that us PA's don't go through as much training as physicians during school (4 years med school,residency and fellowship vs. 1 year didactic and 1.5 years rotating in various fields). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesscbv Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Here's the exact quote from the article: One stopgap measure has been to bring on more nonphysician clinicians- either physician assistants or nurse practitioners- to see patients. In Dr. Resneck's study, 23 percent of dermatologists contacted said they employed an "extender" who could perform scans and check out changing moles earlier than the doctor could. But not much earlier: The mean wait time to see one of these extenders was 28 days. Not only is that improvement marginal but, as Dr. Coldiron and Dr. Resneck both caution, these clinicians are not adequate replacements for dermatologists. "They are not as well trained," Dr. Coldiron says. "They could miss something during the scan." Issues I have: 1) PAs are not a "replacement" for a MD. While they do enjoy autonomy in their work, they are not competition for doctors. They work as a team with the patients' best interests in mind. 2) The article does not explain what "not as well trained" means. It leads the reader to believe PAs have inadequate training. 3) The article leads the reader to believe that a PA could "miss" something, while an MD could not. The statements made are opinion-based, vague, and misleading. In MY opinion... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxbowiexx Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Your opinion is definitely valued. I think we do need to actively advocate our profession to truly reflects what we do. I mean, if we do not try to correct these misinformation, then who would. You should contact Men's Health Magazine and let them have it....lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Bunnell MSHS PA-C Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 I forwarded this to the Society of Dermatology PAs. Sounds like a good opportunity to speak out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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