What a tiny percentage of PA's in the US voted in the AAPA election

[CAAdmission]

2 hours ago, katieo said:

In my experience each generation has been hypocritically pessimistic about successive generations, even though the preceding generations were just as pessimistic. I don’t really believe people are getting worse over time. I think it’s just human nature. “Parents just don’t understand!”

May I inquire as to your age, to gauge the level of your experience? There are a lot of crusty old guys on here with a lot of accumulated experience.

[Reality Check 2]

Growing up in my career with AAPA - I dutifully paid dues at first and had employers who covered them. I didn't understand many if any of the issues in my younger years and felt detached as though AAPA only represented things happening somewhere else to someone else. 

I had to let all my memberships expire this past year. My employer doesn't cover them and the ones I wanted to support totaled to over $750 in dues. I couldn't do it out of my personal budget.

I still felt AAPA was detached from my experience and not quite on board with my thoughts or desires. That has changed to an extent with OTP.

I work federal now and whatever AAPA does really won't affect me much - federal rules usurp all state issues. 

This is the twilight of my career - 26 yrs in and in a setting where I have a federal retirement and benefits. I operate extremely autonomously and have great support from my docs and admin. I feel insulated.

I also feel exhausted after years of proving myself in multiple settings and fighting to be given credit for what PAs CAN DO and DO daily and fight the NP creep of doctorates and pay disparity.  It has taken this long to find a job where I am paid equally and well and given the ability to practice to my best limits and expectations. 

So, I couldn't vote because my membership lapsed. Do I regret it? Somewhat. 

Going to work and fighting for my patients occupies most of my time now and I enjoy it - doing the right thing.

I still support OTP and basically live it where I am. Will do what I can to support others.  I wish AAPA and NCCPA would get on board with each other and we had national licensing.

[camoman1234]

16 minutes ago, CJAdmission said:

May I inquire as to your age, to gauge the level of your experience? There are a lot of crusty old guys on here with a lot of accumulated experience.

With all due respect, just cause you might be "crusty" doesn't mean you know what you are talking about. Now I will give you this, experience goes a long way, but when you are speaking of a different time frame or generation it is really hard to understand that unless you have lived through it. Speaking of my father (born in 1945), do I have any idea what he went through, etc...no, but I can listen to his experiences and learn from them, but they do not always apply to my life as I was born in a different era. So by asking someones age (to me) means nothing as we cannot all appreciate one another's life unless we just listen and discuss these "hot topics" in a civil manner. @CJAdmission I mostly agree with all your posting and appreciate your experiences that you give us "young guys/girls", but I do not think "experience" is the golden key. 

[camoman1234]

14 minutes ago, Reality Check 2 said:

Growing up in my career with AAPA - I dutifully paid dues at first and had employers who covered them. I didn't understand many if any of the issues in my younger years and felt detached as though AAPA only represented things happening somewhere else to someone else. 

I had to let all my memberships expire this past year. My employer doesn't cover them and the ones I wanted to support totaled to over $750 in dues. I couldn't do it out of my personal budget.

I still felt AAPA was detached from my experience and not quite on board with my thoughts or desires. That has changed to an extent with OTP.

I work federal now and whatever AAPA does really won't affect me much - federal rules usurp all state issues. 

This is the twilight of my career - 26 yrs in and in a setting where I have a federal retirement and benefits. I operate extremely autonomously and have great support from my docs and admin. I feel insulated.

I also feel exhausted after years of proving myself in multiple settings and fighting to be given credit for what PAs CAN DO and DO daily and fight the NP creep of doctorates and pay disparity.  It has taken this long to find a job where I am paid equally and well and given the ability to practice to my best limits and expectations. 

So, I couldn't vote because my membership lapsed. Do I regret it? Somewhat. 

Going to work and fighting for my patients occupies most of my time now and I enjoy it - doing the right thing.

I still support OTP and basically live it where I am. Will do what I can to support others.  I wish AAPA and NCCPA would get on board with each other and we had national licensing.

Do you support your state chapters? That might be a more cost effective investment into YOUR state as well as the newer generation of PAs that will carry on your duties and so on. I believe in supporting the up and coming generation as I do in my own church cause if you do not support them then what do you think happens to that church or PAs....? Money still talks today...

[sas5814]

^^ This circles back to something I speak of often.  None of this materially affects me because I'll be retired in a few years and I have a well paid well respected position. BUT I owe a lot to this profession and want the folks coming up behind me to enjoy all the issues currently being worked on so I stay plugged in. I am a member of a few societies, give money from time to time to different specific causes, and generally spread the word and invite folks to plug in about their profession.

Many, maybe most, PAs are busy in their day to day lives and don't pay much attention to issues in the profession and certainly don't give time and money....until something that happens that bites them and then they want to know what happened and who is going to fix it.

[ohiovolffemtp]

We sure spiraled off topic on this one.

I began this thread remarking on how few of the PA's in this country voted in the election that put folks in the leadership of our 1 national organization - folks who are much more willing to push for the advancement of our scope of practice than those there before.

We can cite history, detour into political arguments, talk about generational differences, or anything else.  Still, change will only come with changes to state and federal laws and rules.  Making that change will require influencing the law and rule makers.  That will require time, effort, and money.

As Dave said, now is the time to start making those changes.  There's lots of work to be done.  How about each of us pick a piece, whether it's through AAPA, state organizations, PAFT, pushing on NCCPA, direct contact with legislators, or contributing time or money and contributing to making change?

[sas5814]

My rendering of this threads path....

[ALC0313]

This is my 10th year as a PA and my first time voting in AAPA elections. I've been a member off and on over the years, mostly using it for the CME's. Until last year I was completely unaware of the issues our profession is facing. I had been existing in a happy bubble thinking I hit the job lottery by becoming a PA (I still think that). I always felt I had good job security, fair pay, and enjoyed great relationships with my SP's with plenty of autonomy and support.

Then I got an email from AAPA asking me to participate in a survey about OTP. I have to admit that I was extremely hesitant about it when I first read the proposals. I had the attitude that if it isn't broken, why fix it? I had no idea how broken things were. I started doing research, found this forum and other resources, and had my eyes opened to the long list of issues we are facing as a profession.

Since then I've faced some problems in my current practice which has led me to start looking at the job market in my area- I found it to be far more saturated than it was 10 years ago and w/ job postings geared mostly towards NP's. My happy bubble has burst but at least I wasn't completely blindsided.

We talk a lot on this forum about a title change and educating the public about our profession, but I think there are still a lot of PA's that need educating too. I was one of them until recently.

[CAAdmission]

1 hour ago, camoman1234 said:

So by asking someones age (to me) means nothing as we cannot all appreciate one another's life unless we just listen and discuss these "hot topics" in a civil manner. @CJAdmission I mostly agree with all your posting and appreciate your experiences that you give us "young guys/girls", but I do not think "experience" is the golden key. 

Nothing uncivil about it. Just trying to judge how someone's worldview was shaped. By most available measures, I was fairly bright when I was in PA school, but I was a complete fool compared to now.

If someone posts here based on their "experience" but they have never:

• Paid taxes
• Made a car payment
• Moved from parents' home
• Dealt with hospital administrators
• Laid hands on a patient
• Paid rent/mortgage, etc, etc, etc.

I need to premedicate with an extra grain of salt.

[camoman1234]

49 minutes ago, CJAdmission said:

Nothing uncivil about it. Just trying to judge how someone's worldview was shaped. By most available measures, I was fairly bright when I was in PA school, but I was a complete fool compared to now.

If someone posts here based on their "experience" but they have never:

• Paid taxes
• Made a car payment
• Moved from parents' home
• Dealt with hospital administrators
• Laid hands on a patient
• Paid rent/mortgage, etc, etc, etc.

I need to premedicate with an extra grain of salt.

Hey I completely agree man! I wasn't even thinking of those things which does make a huge difference in your outlook of life/experiences. Good call! 

[CAAdmission]

1 minute ago, mcclane said:

You are so busy keeping this forum a safe space for your political views that you don't realize the cancerous black hole it appears to be to your average visitor. Who gets into PA school and never comes back.

So enlighten us with your own political views instead of whining. In other words, man up, you condesceding oaf!

What other "bars" are you comparing this to, sport? The Huddle (with its censorship)? Maybe you should go check out SDN sometime if you want to see what toxic really is. 

If someplace else is better for you and your delicate sensitivities, be our guest to leave. But please realize, life is a contact sport.

[Boatswain2PA]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up for me.  Soooo...

Disinfranchisement to McClane:  I don't like this bar, so I'm a victim!  I need to go back to my college bar with it's safe-space.

Disinfranchisment to blacks in Democrat controlled South:  They hung my uncle from the tree in his front yard, burned a cross in my front yard, passed laws making it illegal for me to own a firearm, and then passed laws laws that made it actually difficult for me to vote.

I just don't see the equivalency there, but good on you if you do!

29 minutes ago, mcclane said:

 

[rev ronin]

1 hour ago, Boatswain2PA said:

Disinfranchisment to blacks in Democrat controlled South: 

I'm afraid your examples are only taking us farther afield than Mcclane's.  He's said his peace, it seems, so let's not ratchet up the rhetoric further, please.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

6 minutes ago, rev ronin said:

I'm afraid your examples are only taking us farther afield than Mcclane's.  He's said his peace, it seems, so let's not ratchet up the rhetoric further, please.

Thank you. I vote the thread be closed

[rev ronin]

7 minutes ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

Thank you. I vote the thread be closed

Since I've commented in it, I won't do it, but wouldn't be opposed to another moderator doing so.  I'd also be fine with people refocusing the discussion and continuing,

[CAdamsPAC]

3 hours ago, mcclane said:

You are... not getting it. Let me put this in a different way. I have two bars near my house. At one bar, the same five idiots are always arguing politics with everyone who walks in the door. You make up two of those idiots. And the news is playing way too loud on all the TVs. At the other bar, there is a distinct lack of you five idiots (you're two of them) always arguing politics with everyone who walks in the door. And the TV plays football. Guess which bar is more successful? And guess which bar is more likely to successfully discuss issues relating to the PA profession?

You are so busy keeping this forum a safe space for your political views that you don't realize the cancerous black hole it appears to be to your average visitor. Who gets into PA school and never comes back.

Why restrict yourself to these two bars? Also,who are you to decide who is an idiot?What gives you the right or authority to decide what others speak about and the validity of their conversation? I do not enjoy liver and onions , while others truly enjoy them; that doesn't make them any lesser beings or me any greater being. Not being agreed with or holding a contrary position doesn't make me a victim or martyr. IMHO you have too much ego and not enough respect for other people's opinion.

[CAdamsPAC]

1 hour ago, rev ronin said:

Since I've commented in it, I won't do it, but wouldn't be opposed to another moderator doing so.  I'd also be fine with people refocusing the discussion and continuing,

Conflicting views, disagreement and meandering commentary of people exchanging their validly held positions.............let's shut them down. I've witnessed this as pretty much a common behavior in our profession, walk away shut the door to unpleasantries.