Changing the professional title of Physician Assistants (***POLL***)

[lkth487]

IMO clinical officer sounds like house officer, i.e. Resident.   

The general public doesn't know what "house officer" is so it probably doesn't matter.  But when I think of clinical officer I think "is that like hospital security?"

[lkth487]

My opinion doesn't matter here but I personally the sound of "medical practitioner".  I think it's accurate and it's similar sounding to NP for the HR types. 

[loveforbooks]

Is there an active move to change the name? I really want that name changed. 

[loveforbooks]

When I tell people PA, they think of Medical Assistant.

[sas5814]

26 minutes ago, loveforbooks said:

Is there an active move to change the name? I really want that name changed. 

It has been a conversation for years and there is some discussion and hopefully some action started at the AAPA HOD next week.

[corpsman89]

2 hours ago, lkth487 said:

My opinion doesn't matter here but I personally the sound of "medical practitioner".  I think it's accurate and it's similar sounding to NP for the HR types. 

Yup, Exactly. 

I know a lot of people say they don't like MP because it sounds like NP, but to be honest this is a good thing! HR types, the public, and most importantly uniformed legislators will hear the name Medical Practitioner and almost subconsciously think: MP>NP. At the very least most people will finally think MP=NP, which is a lot better than Practitioner >>>> Assistant. 

We need to swallow our pride and realize that a name like Medical practitioner not only sounds good, but it describes what we do perfectly, and it just makes sense. We practice medicine in the medical model, and we are practitioners just like NPs. 

Besides, we wont call our selves by an acronym any more, we will be proud of our title and call our selves Medical Practitioners. 

[EMEDPA]

29 minutes ago, corpsman89 said:

Yup, Exactly. 

I know a lot of people say they don't like MP because it sounds like NP, but to be honest this is a good thing! HR types, the public, and most importantly uniformed legislators will hear the name Medical Practitioner and almost subconsciously think: MP>NP. At the very least most people will finally think MP=NP, which is a lot better than Practitioner >>>> Assistant. 

We need to swallow our pride and realize that a name like Medical practitioner not only sounds good, but it describes what we do perfectly, and it just makes sense. We practice medicine in the medical model, and we are practitioners just like NPs. 

Besides, we wont call our selves by an acronym any more, we will be proud of our title and call our selves Medical Practitioners. 

I can get on board with this.

[DarcyJ]

46 minutes ago, corpsman89 said:

Yup, Exactly. 

I know a lot of people say they don't like MP because it sounds like NP, but to be honest this is a good thing! HR types, the public, and most importantly uniformed legislators will hear the name Medical Practitioner and almost subconsciously think: MP>NP. At the very least most people will finally think MP=NP, which is a lot better than Practitioner >>>> Assistant. 

We need to swallow our pride and realize that a name like Medical practitioner not only sounds good, but it describes what we do perfectly, and it just makes sense. We practice medicine in the medical model, and we are practitioners just like NPs. 

Besides, we wont call our selves by an acronym any more, we will be proud of our title and call our selves Medical Practitioners. 

Solid argument. 

[EMEDPA]

3 hours ago, fish4PA said:

Add General Practitioner to the poll 

historically, GPs are physicians who did only an internship but no residency. They met the min requirement for licensure in their state and dropped out of residency or did not pursue specialty training. I know a lot of these folks.

[PACJD]

1 hour ago, corpsman89 said:

Yup, Exactly. 

I know a lot of people say they don't like MP because it sounds like NP, but to be honest this is a good thing! HR types, the public, and most importantly uniformed legislators will hear the name Medical Practitioner and almost subconsciously think: MP>NP. At the very least most people will finally think MP=NP, which is a lot better than Practitioner >>>> Assistant. 

We need to swallow our pride and realize that a name like Medical practitioner not only sounds good, but it describes what we do perfectly, and it just makes sense. We practice medicine in the medical model, and we are practitioners just like NPs. 

Besides, we wont call our selves by an acronym any more, we will be proud of our title and call our selves Medical Practitioners. 

Definitely agree.

 

3 hours ago, sas5814 said:

It has been a conversation for years and there is some discussion and hopefully some action started at the AAPA HOD next week.

Hopefully some action will finally take place. I read the proposal, seems like a lot of thought was put into it. Now I am not at all involved in the legislative side of the profession, but what will it take from active PAs to help push this along. I know it will take time and more of our leadership and legal teams working to make this happen but what can the general working PAs do to help assure that it does happen soon?

I work in a fairly large hospital in NY with hundreds of PAs and we had a quarterly meeting discussing various topics and this issue came up. What is required for such a big improvement towards our profession by the other 90% of PAs that are not involved with the politics of the profession? Money?  I can say that almost all PAs in my hospital support this move, many willing to offer financial resources, but only a percentage knew about the proposal. 

[PACali]

 

My reason against Physician Associate: 

1. Physician Associate does not tell people we practice medicine. 

2. Physician Associate will end up become Physician's associate in general public. 

3. It has the word "physician," it will confuse the patient. 

4. Hard to translate that into a different language. It will end up being "physician's associate" 

5. Some people think the name is unique, I disagree. Everyone who works with a physician technically can be their associates. 

6. We still sound like an assistant, secretary. 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2018 by PACali

[sas5814]

30 minutes ago, NJPL1213 said:

Definitely agree.

 

Hopefully some action will finally take place. I read the proposal, seems like a lot of thought was put into it. Now I am not at all involved in the legislative side of the profession, but what will it take from active PAs to help push this along. I know it will take time and more of our leadership and legal teams working to make this happen but what can the general working PAs do to help assure that it does happen soon?

I work in a fairly large hospital in NY with hundreds of PAs and we had a quarterly meeting discussing various topics and this issue came up. What is required for such a big improvement towards our profession by the other 90% of PAs that are not involved with the politics of the profession? Money?  I can say that almost all PAs in my hospital support this move, many willing to offer financial resources, but only a percentage knew about the proposal. 

It takes every PA with an opinion calling and writing their state delegates to the HOD and expressing an opinion. Your state society is there to represent your interests and they can't do that if they don't know what they are.

Look on your state society web site. There will likely be an email address for every board member and every HOD delegate. Let them know how you feel.

[thinkertdm]

I like "super power house practioner EXTREME!" That's how I feel most days.

[Guest ERCat]

Definitely no on any general term that could lump us in with NPs... for example in a lot of ERs on the west coast, NPs and PAs are collectively known as APPs. Definitely don’t want to be in the same boat as an NP.

[corpsman89]

1 minute ago, ERCat said:

Definitely no on any general term that could lump us in with NPs... for example in a lot of ERs on the west coast, NPs and PAs are collectively known as APPs. Definitely don’t want to be in the same boat as an NP.

Well I want to be in the same boat, because ours is sinking. 

[EMEDPA]

APP and APC are used to describe both Nps and PAs. At a prior job we were both called affiliated clinicians. Medical practitioner is unique enough to not lump us in with NPs or raise the ire of the docs. I imagine the NPs will have a problem with it because it sounds too much like NP, but oh well. I think at this point I can live with that. I understand the desire to keep the PA initials, but we need to get rid of both physician and assistant to make everyone happy. If someone has a better answer than MP I think the study being commissioned this week by the AAPA (I Hope) will discover it.

[Cideous]

12 hours ago, camoman1234 said:

 I would eat you alive if I were your CP/colleague and you talked to me like you do on here. It is much easier over a forum than in person. 

Relax and read my post again.  I was and am commenting on the state of our name.  If we do not take bold action soon, we will cease to exist as a profession.  Maybe that is not an issue for you, but it is for the thousands of new PA's entering the field and fighting for jobs with NP's.  So please , "Lighten up Francis".....  

 

Edited May 17, 2018 by Cideous

[PACali]

2 hours ago, corpsman89 said:

Well I want to be in the same boat, because ours is sinking. 

LOL I don't even think we are on a boat. 

2 hours ago, ERCat said:

Definitely no on any general term that could lump us in with NPs... for example in a lot of ERs on the west coast, NPs and PAs are collectively known as APPs. Definitely don’t want to be in the same boat as an NP.

I think we should stop thinking NP is inferior to PA. Us VS them. 

I just realized here in California, many prestigious public universities with an attached medical school and a hospital system all have NP programs. UCLA, UC San Diego,  UC Irvine , UC San Francisco and UC Davis.  Only UC Davis has a PA program. NPs are all employed in these hospital systems. While some people still making fun of DNP,  UC Irvine (this is a great school by the way for someone who is not familiar with California university system) just start their DNP program this year http://www.nursing.uci.edu/np-notification.asp 

We need to catch up. We don't have time. The boat is sinking fast.

[PACali]

2 hours ago, EMEDPA said:

APP and APC are used to describe both Nps and PAs. At a prior job we were both called affiliated clinicians. Medical practitioner is unique enough to not lump us in with NPs or raise the ire of the docs. I imagine the NPs will have a problem with it because it sounds too much like NP, but oh well. I think at this point I can live with that. I understand the desire to keep the PA initials, but we need to get rid of both physician and assistant to make everyone happy. If someone has a better answer than MP I think the study being commissioned this week by the AAPA (I Hope) will discover it.

Another one I thought about was "Medical Practice Clinician", but I think it is too wordy. 

[camoman1234]

9 hours ago, Cideous said:

Relax and read my post again.  I was and am commenting on the state of our name.  If we do not take bold action soon, we will cease to exist as a profession.  Maybe that is not an issue for you, but it is for the thousands of new PA's entering the field and fighting for jobs with NP's.  So please , "Lighten up Francis".....  

 

The state of my name has to do with my extracurricular activities not being soft or scared/hiding from a simple name change. Looking at legal issues which I guess you are not too worried about. I do not want to represent myself as someone or something else in the clinic, I take that serious. I use "PA" and that is it. I agree we are getting beat out by NPs, but we will see what the next few months look like with the AAPA. I hope we are all spending as much time emailing with our legislators as we do on this forum, I know I do. 

BTW I don't get your "Francis" joke so it does not work for me, just sounds stupid. We have not had TV for close to a decade and might watch a movie once per year, something we just don't care about nor do.    

Edited May 17, 2018 by camoman1234

[camoman1234]

17 hours ago, NJPL1213 said:

Definitely agree.

 

Hopefully some action will finally take place. I read the proposal, seems like a lot of thought was put into it. Now I am not at all involved in the legislative side of the profession, but what will it take from active PAs to help push this along. I know it will take time and more of our leadership and legal teams working to make this happen but what can the general working PAs do to help assure that it does happen soon?

I work in a fairly large hospital in NY with hundreds of PAs and we had a quarterly meeting discussing various topics and this issue came up. What is required for such a big improvement towards our profession by the other 90% of PAs that are not involved with the politics of the profession? Money?  I can say that almost all PAs in my hospital support this move, many willing to offer financial resources, but only a percentage knew about the proposal. 

Email and call your local/state legislators as well as support via $$$ your state chapter so they can lobby at the state level. Thank you for wanting to be involved! WE need more PAs like you willing to get involved to help move our profession in the right direction, NOT stuck in the dinosaur age.  

[EMEDPA]

2 hours ago, camoman1234 said:

 

BTW I don't get your "Francis" joke so it does not work for me, just sounds stupid. We have not had TV for close to a decade and might watch a movie once per year, something we just don't care about nor do.    

it's a line from the classic 80s film Stripes with Bill Murray. You need to see it some day. required viewing for anyone with a sense of humor.

[corpsman89]

Well, I can't say I am surprised, but I am a bit disappointed that Physician Associate is starting to take the lead. 

To me it's an improvement, no doubt; but it's such a weak improvement.

-We would go through so much money, and so much hard work just to swap out a coupe letters in the name. 

-We still would have physician in our name, but we are NOT physicians,  Continuing to have physician is our name implies that we do not have our own unique path, and we are tied to physicians. 

-I fear that this will be such a small change that no one will notice, (probably the intention of people who are for Physician Associate), and the benefits of increased media coverage, people talking about it, and an overall discussion about WHO and WHAT we are will not occur with such a weak change. 

----------------

The way I see it, we might as well go big or go home. 

[DarcyJ]

3 hours ago, corpsman89 said:

Well, I can't say I am surprised, but I am a bit disappointed that Physician Associate is starting to take the lead. 

To me it's an improvement, no doubt; but it's such a weak improvement.

-We would go through so much money, and so much hard work just to swap out a coupe letters in the name. 

-We still would have physician in our name, but we are NOT physicians,  Continuing to have physician is our name implies that we do not have our own unique path, and we are tied to physicians. 

-I fear that this will be such a small change that no one will notice, (probably the intention of people who are for Physician Associate), and the benefits of increased media coverage, people talking about it, and an overall discussion about WHO and WHAT we are will not occur with such a weak change. 

----------------

The way I see it, we might as well go big or go home. 

Good points I hadn't considered. Thanks. 

[Dichotomy]

20 hours ago, PACali said:

LOL I don't even think we are on a boat. 

I think we should stop thinking NP is inferior to PA. Us VS them. 

I just realized here in California, many prestigious public universities with an attached medical school and a hospital system all have NP programs. UCLA, UC San Diego,  UC Irvine , UC San Francisco and UC Davis.  Only UC Davis has a PA program. NPs are all employed in these hospital systems. While some people still making fun of DNP,  UC Irvine (this is a great school by the way for someone who is not familiar with California university system) just start their DNP program this year http://www.nursing.uci.edu/np-notification.asp 

We need to catch up. We don't have time. The boat is sinking fast.

PAcali, 

I don't think the argument here is that of US vs Them. My direct partner at work is a NP and we get along just fine. I personally have equal respect for NPs, it is an achievement worth rewarding after all. The reality is that while PA/NP do the same things,... etc, we definitely have different training and background. Those of us who work directly with NP can testify of this to a certain extend. What we are trying to achieve here is to be recognized by our true identity, not as "an assistant" (very misleading)  but rather  as practitioner (which makes perfect sense), in this case Medical Practitioner. I sort of look at it as the MD/DO deal: Equal respect (... should be anyways), sort of different/modified pathways to the equal doctorate degree, but each practicing the same medicine.