CAAdmission Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 If folks want to change the name of the profession, and are willing to do the heavy lifting, all the more power to you. Putting public relations and marketing efforts on hold for the years it will take to accomplish this in fifty states and additional jurisdictions? Not a really intelligent or reasonable idea in my opinion at this point of our professional evolution. "Public relations and marketing efforts"? Really? Please elaborate. I have never seen a TV commercial about our profession. I have never seen a full-page newspaper ad congratulating us on PA Day/Week. As far as I am concerned, the name change - which is long overdue - perhaps presents our only chance to get into the public spotlight. The AAPA will not get us there, whether out of timidity or lack of funds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnpac Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 "Public relations and marketing efforts"? Really? Please elaborate. I have never seen a TV commercial about our profession. I have never seen a full-page newspaper ad congratulating us on PA Day/Week. As far as I am concerned, the name change - which is long overdue - perhaps presents our only chance to get into the public spotlight. The AAPA will not get us there, whether out of timidity or lack of funds. Happy to. The marketing strategy of the AAPA has focused on HC industry, legislators and the folks that hire PAs. Over the past five years we have held media days in New York with a variety publishers, and met with a steady stream of reporters for the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, WSJ, and a host of other national publications to give them back ground and to get on their radar. This was especially effective during HCR. We have published full page ads in the legislative trade journals on the Hill. We continually do live radio and television where ever we can. The AAPA is an active participant at every policy table effecting PAs. Now we could spend $140,000 on a one day full page ad in the New York Times, or $3,000,000 for 30 seconds on the Superbowl, but I don't think that this is a particularly effective way to education the public about the profession. It may make PAs feel better about themselves, but given the size of our organization compared to organized medicine and nursing, and our limited financial resources, I think that the AAPA has done an excellent job educating the folks that matter about the profession. The reason that we have been so successful as a profession in the past decade can be directly attributed to these efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAAdmission Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Respectfully, if 85% of patients I see don't know what a PA is after all these years we are not getting our message out to "folks that matter." We like to think of how small and intimate a profession we are, but we are well on track to outnumber DOs in the next 5-10 years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted November 3, 2011 Moderator Share Posted November 3, 2011 I'm well versed in the English language. And I again ask the question, how will changing assistant to associate change patient's ignorance as what a PA is and what is their role in the health care system? It was a question aimed squarely at the intent of HopefulPA's post. That was precisely the point. honestly I think it will help also I think it is a step in the right direction for coming out from underneath the very protective, but not always beneficial cover of the AMA and Doc's in general. Is a little thing that might over time have a large shift in the attitude and culture that we all face every day when interacting with doc's and other staff - I am not an assistant, I am a provider and the name should not make people think I am less then I am Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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