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Anyone completed the CAQ for Orthopedics?  What source material did you use to prep or did you just take it cold?  Have worked in Orthopedics for 13 years (spine/pain management 2 years, 6 years adult joint reconstruction and  general ortho/sports medicine 5 years) and I am entertaining the idea of taking the exam. 

Any guidance is appreciated!

 

 

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Anyone completed the CAQ for Orthopedics?  What source material did you use to prep or did you just take it cold?  Have worked in Orthopedics for 13 years (spine/pain management 2 years, 6 years adult joint reconstruction and  general ortho/sports medicine 5 years) and I am entertaining the idea of taking the exam. 
Any guidance is appreciated!
 
 
CAQ is a complete waste of time and money.

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With all your experience do you really think passing that test would be helpful in any way? I'm considering it but I only have 3 years experience with no trauma/spine/hand/foot experience. Only sports/joints.
3 years isn't too bad. I think it's something the NCCPA wants to market and make money on. I see no benefit of having it, with rare exception of it truly being recognized, and almost unheard of that PAs get higher salary for having it. If anything, I think it is chasing the complete wrong direction. We are in a reality of NPs getting jobs over PAs and when PAs leave positions, NPs are hired in their place in increasing pockets. Institutions are finding out NPs are cheaper to insure and some docs are starting to ask for more money if they're to be a PA's supervising doc making it even more costly. Our energies need to be on breaking being tethered by supervising physician and OTP is part of this.... not to be cavalier but to be more competitive with NPs. This is real stuff. Our jobs are literally becoming impacted and even beginning to be threatened. It's real. CAQ will only muddy the waters with our profession and if insurance companies ever latch on to us needing CAQ, that will be a significant hardship the profession and make it even more easy for NPs over us and compound this problem.

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I'm speaking about the PA profession, not about ortho.  However, just because this problem might not be currently as prevalent in ortho, doesn't mean it isn't a real problem.  If ortho doesn't eventually see this trend of NPs becoming more prevalent in ortho over PAs, (like many pockets of general medicine and hospitalists are now seeing), means an increase in PA job saturation in those areas/ortho, which will drive down salaries and increase job competitiveness.

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On 11/8/2018 at 8:45 PM, Noreaster said:

3 years isn't too bad. I think it's something the NCCPA wants to market and make money on. I see no benefit of having it, with rare exception of it truly being recognized, and almost unheard of that PAs get higher salary for having it. If anything, I think it is chasing the complete wrong direction. We are in a reality of NPs getting jobs over PAs and when PAs leave positions, NPs are hired in their place in increasing pockets. Institutions are finding out NPs are cheaper to insure and some docs are starting to ask for more money if they're to be a PA's supervising doc making it even more costly. Our energies need to be on breaking being tethered by supervising physician and OTP is part of this.... not to be cavalier but to be more competitive with NPs. This is real stuff. Our jobs are literally becoming impacted and even beginning to be threatened. It's real. CAQ will only muddy the waters with our profession and if insurance companies ever latch on to us needing CAQ, that will be a significant hardship the profession and make it even more easy for NPs over us and compound this problem.

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Don't know much about the role of the CAQ in ortho. In EM it can be huge. I am now seeing it listed as a requirement on some of the better job ads. I took it the first day offered in 2011 and it helped me get a solo job at a higher rate of pay($10/hr higher than those without) with procedural sedation privileges that I would not have gotten otherwise. The hospital considers me an EM specialist, so I get all the same rights as an EM doc. they have PAs there without the caq who have to call the crna for sedations, etc. It recently got me another solo per diem job without an interview. I am the only CAQ holder in my state, so it really makes me stand out. I was the first and for a while the only PA in my entire state covering a community hospital ED solo.

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Interesting... It really holds no weight in my area at all in Orthopedics that I'm aware of. In fact in my practice we did have a PA who was CAQ, and that PA did not have any extra privileges whatsoever, not higher salary, and, in fact, was not considered in any higher esteem, whatsoever, and was actually, and ironically, less trusted by the docs. Absolutely no offense in the slightest but I'm not glad to learn CAQ does anyone any good. Overall I do not think it's a good thing to add to the already muddied waters of our profession. It is not hard to envision insurance companies getting on board and not allowing reimbursement unless a person is CAQ. It is also more testing and, consequently, more money in the pockets of the organization that has generated this for their own gains, and also an organization that I also have come to distrust.

 

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fair enough. I agree that experience >>>> caq, but in a competitive market with DNPs and family medicine docs wanting to work in small ERs, any little advantage helps. I think we will see caq required for solo jobs in the near future and eventually residency/fellowship AND caq required. I know of two jobs currently requiring CAQ+ residency or 10 years of "high level experience" and passage of the caq within 1 year of hire.

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fair enough. I agree that experience >>>> caq, but in a competitive market with DNPs and family medicine docs wanting to work in small ERs, any little advantage helps. I think we will see caq required for solo jobs in the near future and eventually residency/fellowship AND caq required. I know of two jobs currently requiring CAQ+ residency or 10 years of "high level experience" and passage of the caq within 1 year of hire.
Are those jobs for ER? Solo jobs? I feel, in the long run, CAQ will hurt us and partly because of NPs.. they are one and done and literally are on the rise over us in growing pockets/areas/hospital campuses. We need OTP to make things even playing field with NPs, get rid of all states (and institutions and insurances) requiring to maintain the "C" after initial board pass, and simplify things vs make things more difficult/more hoops to jump through and face the potential backlash of insurances and institutions requiring it only making reimbursement more difficult...ALL of which makes it easier for NPs and more attractive to hire. People who are in administration don't even really know the difference but often think, "hey, if there's a credential then it must be good so, let's add it to the list" and, once a rule is in place because someone thought it was a good idea it's hard to get rid of.

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2 minutes ago, Noreaster said:

Are those jobs for ER? Solo jobs?

Yup. If I was graduating PA school today, I would do a residency, take the caq, and get a doctorate. Yes, it's degree creep, but if that is what it takes to stay competitive it is what it is. I know lots of new grad PAs who can not get jobs in their specialty of choice that are going to new grad Nps who have never worked as RNs....Fortunately there is not a lot of that in em, ortho, and surgery....yet....although one of the best em jobs in my city is NP only, due to chart countersignature requirements for PAs...

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On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 3:05 PM, EMEDPA said:

I know lots of new grad PAs who can not get jobs in their specialty of choice that are going to new grad Nps who have never worked as RNs....Fortunately there is not a lot of that in em, ortho, and surgery....yet....although one of the best em jobs in my city is NP only, due to chart countersignature requirements for PAs...

This is what I'm talking about.  There's numerous reasons NPs are increasingly getting jobs over us... cheaper to insure, no needed supervising physician, some SPs are demanding $$ to be in the role.  I think the answer is OTP and moving away from the link/need of an SP.  We could have all the credentials in the world and training and pass numerous tests but, at the end of the day, the NPs win with these increasing reasons.  

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4 minutes ago, Noreaster said:

This is what I'm talking about.  There's numerous reasons NPs are increasingly getting jobs over us... cheaper to insure, no needed supervising physician, some SPs are demanding $$ to be in the role.  I think the answer is OTP and moving away from the link/need of an SP.  We could have all the credentials in the world and training and pass numerous tests but, at the end of the day, the NPs win with these increasing reasons.  

I agreed OTP is important in terms of making us more attractive to hire. I also think CAQ are important to help mitigate NPs specializing as well (I.e ERNP, ACNP, psych NP). 

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