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Progress on Title-Change Investigation


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Just saw this announcement from the AAPA. It looks like they are making progress on the title-change investigation by appointing a dozen PAs to an advisory council to serve as a resource for the firm that will be doing the investigation. The language makes it unclear if the specific firm has been chosen yet, but progress is progress, and results are expected at the 2019 HOD meeting so I'm sure they are making moves toward selecting a specific firm if they haven't already.  

It would be nice to know the specific thoughts of each of the PAs chosen to sit on the Title Change Investigation Advisory Council though. 

Either way, it's just nice to see steady movement on this topic. 

https://www.aapa.org/news-central/2018/09/pa-title-change-investigation-advances-selection-advisory-council-members/

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Next year at the AAPA HOD the information will be presented from the title change study. Some decision will likely be made at that point. Assuming a title is recommended and passed by the HOD then each state has to do the work to make the title change. In a sense it would be a simple thing. A simple amendment to the existing statute that says everywhere physician assistant appears it should be amended to read >name<. It is a simple thing and nobody should care what we choose to call ourselves but in politics...who knows.

 

Now...arguably..... we could simply say "from now on we are called >name<" without changing the language in each state's enabling legislation but I don't think that will get much traction.

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I know name change has been discussed multiple times in the past with no real progress made. When I first entered practice 10 years ago there were talks of name change, with nothing to show for it.

However, I do truly believe the time has come and its on its way. The difference between the past attempts and now is that there is actual movement and a legitimate plan in place, like the establishment of this advisory council. 

We can't truly know until it actually happens, but in my mind I think in about 3 years we will no longer have to dread having the "assistant" in our profession. 

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Certified Medical Practitioner, MP-C would be my ideal outcome.

"Hi, I'm Medical Practitioner John Smith, what brings you in today?" or "Hi, I'm Certified Medical Practitioner John Smith, what brings you in today?"

What we do and at what level. Not an assistant. Not a wanna-be physician. Not introducing yourself as an abbreviation.

As SoCal said "Please Lord let us have this one thing".

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In a sense it would be a simple thing. A simple amendment to the existing statute that says everywhere physician assistant appears it should be amended to read >name<. it is a simple thing and nobody should care what we choose to call ourselves but in politics...who knows.>  

Now...arguably..... we could simply say "from now on we are called >name

 

I and some older posters (some who are no longer active on this board) have suggested this numerous times before whenever the whole title change was brought up. Many of those who were against title change or at least "cautious" of title change stated it would be a much larger task than simply stating "from here on out Physician Assistant will now be blah blah blah." they were made up of AAPA members and IIRC an ex AAPA President. They made it sound like changing the title would "open up and jeopardize ALL progress that PAs made in practice laws" I always thought it was nonsense on their part. If we can in fact just amend the books to simply swap titles then that would confirm those guys were full of $#!+.

 

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It really is a simple thing in the greatest sense and has been done with word changes on other issues in the past. It is simply an amendment to existing language. These kinds of things are usually "oh by the way" amendments stuck in a larger unrelated piece of legislation.

Now having said that there is no predicting who will oppose what. The physicians in particular are liable to oppose anything that seems to elevate our status in any way. Politics and reality rarely reflect each other.

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1 hour ago, sas5814 said:

It really is a simple thing in the greatest sense and has been done with word changes on other issues in the past. It is simply an amendment to existing language. These kinds of things are usually "oh by the way" amendments stuck in a larger unrelated piece of legislation.

 Now having said that there is no predicting who will oppose what. The physicians in particular are liable to oppose anything that seems to elevate our status in any way. Politics and reality rarely reflect each other.

I think Physicians would protest Medical Practitioner far less than Physician Associate since they've already stated they didn't like Physician Associate in the past and some practices are named "Emergency Physician Associates of South Jersey" for example. 

Priority 1: Get rid of "Assistant" because we aren't assistants.

Priority 2: Get rid of "Physician" because we aren't physicians.

Hopefully the council doesn't get too caught up in keeping the AAPAs initials the same. I've never liked using initials unless most laypeople immediately recognize the abbreviation anyways.

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While a lot of people have stated some preference for something that keeps the initials I doubt (one man's opinion) that will really be a big factor in the decision.

I think the best comments I have seen state we need a title that is unique to us and isn't describing us in relation to any other profession.

Where this will land I can't even guess. AAPA has formed a committee of well respected and experienced PA leaders and the money has been allocated for the consulting firm. I'm looking forward to hearing the outcome.

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How one’s potential customers react is probably the bigger deal, at least for the first several years.

I think GMAC became Ally Bank. In the process, they lost connection with their past, which for them might have been a good thing. For the millions of patients who see a PA, it’s something that probably needs to be addressed in any transition. We would like to retain 50 years of service to our patients.


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15 hours ago, UGoLong said:

How one’s potential customers react is probably the bigger deal, at least for the first several years.

I think GMAC became Ally Bank. In the process, they lost connection with their past, which for them might have been a good thing. For the millions of patients who see a PA, it’s something that probably needs to be addressed in any transition. We would like to retain 50 years of service to our patients.


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I think it's important not to be too short-sighted. I would hope "the first several years" would be a tiny itsy-bitsy sliver of time in the existence of this profession. This title change could be felt for centuries for all we know.

I think a more apt comparison is Steward/Stewardess to Flight Attendant. Did people suddenly view them differently? Did they lose a connection with their past? It wouldn't appear so. People adjusted pretty quickly. Patients will too.

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I think title change is important not only to better describe what we do to our patients and to the public, but it gives us a moment to really publicize ourselves and our profession. 

Just imagine. An entire profession changing their title. Obviously this would be major if we changed our title to something quite different like Medical Practitioner. It would spark very big discussions, not only among other health care workers, patients, but also among legislative members. It gives us an opportunity to get out a big PR campaign explaining to the public why we are NOT assistants. 

 

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On 9/25/2018 at 9:05 AM, GapLustrum said:

I think Physicians would protest Medical Practitioner far less than Physician Associate since they've already stated they didn't like Physician Associate in the past and some practices are named "Emergency Physician Associates of South Jersey" for example. 

Priority 1: Get rid of "Assistant" because we aren't assistants.

Priority 2: Get rid of "Physician" because we aren't physicians.

Hopefully the council doesn't get too caught up in keeping the AAPAs initials the same. I've never liked using initials unless most laypeople immediately recognize the abbreviation anyways.

 

I agree.

 

One of the arugement for Physician Associate is it has the word “Physician.”

I am okay getting rid of that word.

I think Medical Practitioner is a powerful name, because right away patient would know you practice medicine. We really don’t need a fancy name.

I don’t think the Nurse Practitioner organization will like it because the name change might emphasize the fact that they practice nursing.

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