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Name Change - Letter from Jenna Dorn, AAPA EVP and CEO


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They don't. See the 2008 Swedish study on the brains of homosexual and heterosexual counterparts. There's no medication to change brain anatomy, that I know of.

 

As for dealing with the name, I don't even care anymore. I don't need anyone to do it for me, but if they do then great. I introduce myself to my Spanish speaking patients with 'Mucho Gusto, yo estoy Associado de Medico de Doctor *blank*'. I mean, truly, we are medical associates, so thus my approach.

 

 

Agreed.............ditto...

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I don't add the de doctor blank.

yo estoy associado medico.

associado medico is our official aapa name in spanish. apparently it's ok in spanish but not in our own native english....

 

That is because it doesn't mean the same thing in Spanish, which is typical of many languages. We had the same debate at the House when this was passed and is was explained by our Hispanic and bilingual PA friends to that effect. I will contact my friends at PALH and try to get the original resolution's rationale and justification to better understand the arguments / nuances.

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Sorry to bust your bubble Steve but I was a Chief Delegate at that HOD and voted for this as it means just what it says, associate physician. that was the only interpretation in Spanish unless you prefer physician technician or some other ratty name. This issue will bring much heat and much debate in the HOD and double talk and stalling by AAPA past presidents who were tutored by Staff leaders to tow the line , will not end this. Ultimately, this issue may be the swan song for the AAPA who loses members every year, who has major declining finances and a bunch of internal problems known by a hundred leaders . this is not the time or the place to air dirty laundry but we will all get an opportunity at the HOD and at the Saturday meeting at 5 PM on Title Change chaired by two time past president Glen Combs. I'll be in your face at that meeting----promise.

Bob

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Sorry to bust your bubble Steve but I was a Chief Delegate at that HOD and voted for this as it means just what it says, associate physician. that was the only interpretation in Spanish unless you prefer physician technician or some other ratty name. This issue will bring much heat and much debate in the HOD and double talk and stalling by AAPA past presidents who were tutored by Staff leaders to tow the line , will not end this. Ultimately, this issue may be the swan song for the AAPA who loses members every year, who has major declining finances and a bunch of internal problems known by a hundred leaders . this is not the time or the place to air dirty laundry but we will all get an opportunity at the HOD and at the Saturday meeting at 5 PM on Title Change chaired by two time past president Glen Combs. I'll be in your face at that meeting----promise.

Bob

 

 

Steve and Robert,

The officially recognized title for the Spanish interpretation of physician assistant was adopted 1998 in Salt Lake City. I can remember quite plainly Robert Smith, Mary ann Ramos and several other notable Hispanic PAs that stated the only interpretation that Hispanic speaking patients would understand fully would have been Associado Medico, meaning Associate Doctor because there is no Spanish word for physician other than medico. I also remember them saying if the use the term Asistente Médico, assistant doctor, it would be too confusing to their patients, and yes, Hispanic patients would have recognize that title as being the same as a medical assistant. I remember quite well that we all agree in the HOD that it would be best for the patient if our Spanish heritage/speaking PAs use the term associate doctor.

 

That's all water under the bridge, and we shouldn't be using this to argue with one another on this forum. But what I will say is that maybe we should take a less than from our Spanish speaking colleagues and try to come up with a title that is less confusing to our patients and are physician colleagues. To often when a physician introduces another physician in their practice to a patient they tell that patient the physician is there " associate". Would a new title of physician associate be confusing to our patients? Are we not going to get the same questions asked as we do with title physician assistant? When physicians are in groups and introducing each other they do that by using the term this is my associate Dr. Smith. As our Spanish speaking PAs are known as associate doctors, might we think of calling ourselves Associate Physicians?

I agree with you Robert, this will be a passionate debate and I hope we can keep the" temperature" and tempers at comfortable levels so we can accomplish a goal of addressing our professional title in a professional manner. Really looking forward to seeing you again. 2 weeks to go.

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Also posted on C1

I been noticing a recurring theme on this blog is that individuals do not know how to contact their state/specialty organization representatives to the AAPA House of Delegates. It is fairly simple to get the names of all the delegates from the Academy's website, if you are a member. Here are the steps:

#1) login

#2) click on" About"

#3) click on" Governance"

#4) click on highlighted" House Of Delegates"

#5) click on House of Delegates materials/resolutions and you will get a downloaded zip file with Excel sheet that has all the delegates names and e-mail addresses.

It is quite simple. Good luck.

 

BTW, in the future can we please start using the term professional title rather than" name". My name is John my title is Physician Assistant. First of all, the resolutions are about our title and not our name. And second of all, it sounds more professional and if we are going to lobby legislators I think is the more appropriate term for us to use.

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I am sure that as professionals we will keep the temperatures down and we will be respectful of the rules concerning proper procedure. Actually, we are all old hands at this and the fact that this is an emotionally charged issue does not mean that we need to thump on a podium or shout from a microphone. We are coming together, both sides prepared, except that the delegates have not all seen the 100 leaders statent and seen the names of those that brought this profession from grassroots to where we stand today. Thanks for the suggestions which are taken in the spirit that they were given.

Warmly,

bob

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The officially recognized title for the Spanish interpretation of physician assistant was adopted 1998 in Salt Lake City. I can remember quite plainly Robert Smith, Mary ann Ramos and several other notable Hispanic PAs that stated the only interpretation that Hispanic speaking patients would understand fully would have been Associado Medico, meaning Associate Doctor because there is no Spanish word for physician other than medico. I also remember them saying if the use the term Asistente Médico, assistant doctor, it would be too confusing to their patients, and yes, Hispanic patients would have recognize that title as being the same as a medical assistant. I remember quite well that we all agree in the HOD that it would be best for the patient if our Spanish heritage/speaking PAs use the term associate doctor.

 

I went back and researched 98-C-12-CC and it was a very nuanced analysis and rationale, as I remember the work of the committee and the debate in SLC.

 

I was at the '98 House as a freshman member of the Professional Practice Council as well as a California Delegate. Movement on this issue began at the San Antonio House, and PAs of Latino Heritage (now PAs for Latino Health) (PALH) developed a committee to look at this issue, called the "Como se Dice" subcommittee of PALH. This was pre digital House, so I paraphrased from the hard copy to try to give anyone interested more background on our policy history.

 

The committee was composed of several Spanish-speaking professionals and a linguist from all regions of the US, and Puerto Rico. They completed a nationwide survey, contacted linguists, and polled several Spanish-speaking supervising physicians. They looked at two potential titles. "Medico Associado", and "Associado Medico." The first was initial the first choice and thought to be more descriptive as to what the PA profession is, and what PAs do. It was felt that this title would be more globally understood. However, culturally, using the term "Medico" first, was potentially felt to be confusing to Spanish-speaking only folks and, PAs would be confused with actual physicians. With the word "Associado" following "Medico", the term could be perceived as "attending doctor" in a health facility or hospital, as an associate of the primary doctor, or even as a business partner.

 

Ultimately, the title of "Associado Medico" was felt to be more conservative in defining the PA's role, but it was felt that this terminology could be readily understood by Spanish-speaking patients, that we are professional, medical providers or partners in medicine. Furthermore, the committee opined that a physician would never announce or refer to him or herself as an "Associado Medico" in Spanish.

 

The argument was made to just use the term "Physician Assistant." However, in many languages, there is no direct translation as in the Spanish example. When discussing with a non-English speaking person what is a PA, one cannot simply use a name that doesn't give the patient some reference point to begin to understand what they are being told.

 

The more global issue was the reason for doing this to the PALH, and that was to promote the PA profession and role in foreign languages and in other countries. PALH had the best interests of the profession in mind, as well as cultural sensitivity and understanding as their motivation, and the adopted Spanish title of the profession meets those goals.

 

House history is always interesting, and I hope that this clarifies the road traveled.

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