Name change via AAPA...

[Cideous]

AAPA name change final presentations now scheduled for November.....What happens if Covid is still raging, which it will be, do we wait yet another year?  The world is moving on from conferences to virtual meetings, why can't AAPA????????

We desperately need some resolution on this subject before NP's lap us for a second time.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Agreed. While I haven’t been as impatient as others, it will run out in November. 

1 hour ago, Cideous said:

AAPA name change final presentations now scheduled for November.....What happens if Covid is still raging, which it will be, do we wait yet another year?  The world is moving on from conferences to virtual meetings, why can't AAPA????????

We desperately need some resolution on this subject before NP's lap us for a second time.

 

[iconic]

I am disappointed in PA leadership 

[VeryOldPA]

The November meeting is a virtual meeting

[HMtoPA]

Anyone know what the final contenders are? IIRC from the survey, all of the options were pretty bad...

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

8 hours ago, iconic said:

I am disappointed in PA leadership 

Well that is taking it far. It’s better than it’s been in decades. When I was in school they ignored surveys about the name change. They are light years headed in the right direction. No organization is perfect, as long as they are doing better.

[Cideous]

and yet...here we are...with the same name........considering "Associate".   I would LOL if it didn't make me want to cry.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Cideous

[KMD16]

Let’s all start going by the name Physician Associate NOT Assistant :) And Independent practitioners!

[SamthePA]

Im a physician assistant. The people who have issue with this have self esteem issues. There’s nothing wrong with our name. 
 

 

[Pac30]

1 hour ago, SamthePA said:

Im a physician assistant. The people who have issue with this have self esteem issues. There’s nothing wrong with our name. 
 

 

What field are you in? The name might make sense if you're in surgery, but outside of that, it just doesn't fit anymore. 

Good luck with the responses, you called out about 75% of the board. 

[Hope2PA]

1 hour ago, SamthePA said:

Im a physician assistant. The people who have issue with this have self esteem issues. There’s nothing wrong with our name. 
 

 

There is nothing wrong with the name if you either are near retirement, don’t give a damn about the future of those in the profession or are one of those who do not look beyond your individual circumstances. This is a large country and in many places PAs are struggling in a fight for jobs against NP.. The lawmakers who pass bills for more independence do not see how or why an Assistant should be granted more freedom, they do not care or know the education. IT IS NOT a self esteem issue, it is a survival issue. 
Additionally, just saying Physician Associate Is little better in fight for independence or OTP. It still suggests MUST be tied to physicians to practice. 

[kang1208]

3 hours ago, SamthePA said:

Im a physician assistant. The people who have issue with this have self esteem issues. There’s nothing wrong with our name. 
 

 

Disagree. 

1) Assuming people have self-esteem issues- self esteem is a personal perception and it is not something you can claim/judge. 

2) We do NOT function as an "assistant" to physician (except in surgery). 

3) It is because of the word "assistant" in our title, we are dying as a profession due to legislative red tapes and losing jobs to NPs all over the country (see AAPA huddle discussion if you are a member and you will see this is true). The fact that this is not happening in your town does NOT mean it does not happen everywhere else in the US. 

Edited July 19, 2020 by kang1208

[Hope2PA]

29 minutes ago, kang1208 said:

2) We do NOT function as an "assistant" to physician (except in surgery). 

 

I agree with all other parts of your comment Lang, but Even a “ surgery” PA should drop the assistant. I’m not as familiar with surgery, but I do not think surgical techs or first assist RN’s are called “assistants”, they probably wounding allow that to be in title. Plus, don’t surgery PA’s see patients in office or in hospital more independent, they actually would be PA’s that the title Associate fits better with.. 

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

4 hours ago, SamthePA said:

Im a physician assistant. The people who have issue with this have self esteem issues. There’s nothing wrong with our name. 
 

 

Actually, I would say that someone who is okay with being called an assistant when they do not assist anyone is the person with self esteem issues. What I have is pride in my work. You see yourself as an assistant, I see myself as a practitioner of medicine in my own right.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

On 7/17/2020 at 11:52 PM, Cideous said:

and yet...here we are...with the same name........considering "Associate".   I would LOL if it didn't make me want to cry.

See though, nothing has been proposed yet. There are plenty of people who want it, but even Dave Mittman, the AAPA president, wants physician out of our name entirely. The only people who have definitively stated that want physician associate are members, and it’s not an unpopular opinion, unfortunately. So to be democratic, it has to be included in any discussion on title change. We can’t railroad every idea that isn’t exactly in line with what you and I want (likely the same thing), because that’s how we got to where we are.

[thinkertdm]

I am also a physician assistant.  The name would indicate one who “assists a physician”, much like a “door knocker” knocks on a door, or a “stop light” is a light that means stop”.  In our profession, clarity in thought and speech are the tools we use. 
Using a label incorrectly confers confusion and a sense that we don’t really know what we are talking about, which we absolutely do.  
We don’t call an ekg tracing the “heart sheet”, and we shouldn’t be referred to as anyone’s “assistant “.  
 

So, it’s not about esteem issues.  It’s about showing that we have the tools to treat patients appropriately, which we can’t do when we are bearing a title that is not appropriate in itself.

So if the mechanic who fixes my car introduces himself as the “shop gofer”, I wouldn’t say, eh, it’s ok, it’s just esteem issues.  I would say “ok, go fer the real mechanic”.  

[SedRate]

5 minutes ago, thinkertdm said:

So if the mechanic who fixes my car introduces himself as the “shop gofer”, I wouldn’t say, eh, it’s ok, it’s just esteem issues.  I would say “ok, go fer the real mechanic”.  

This. Like many others, I have had to battle this unnecessary and seemingly outdated "gofer"/assistant confounding factor when treating patients. PAs may have been assistants when the field was first born but that's not the case in modern day medicine. It's time to modernize and shave off the assistant.

[Cideous]

34 minutes ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

See though, nothing has been proposed yet. There are plenty of people who want it, but even Dave Mittman, the AAPA president, wants physician out of our name entirely. The only people who have definitively stated that want physician associate are members, and it’s not an unpopular opinion, unfortunately. So to be democratic, it has to be included in any discussion on title change. We can’t railroad every idea that isn’t exactly in line with what you and I want (likely the same thing), because that’s how we got to where we are.

I'm curious how many of those pro physician associate members are over 40.  I would guess the vast majority if not all.  They won't have to live with the consequences of a name mistake for very long.  It's the 20's and 30's something PA's who are going to be scraping for jobs without a radical transformation of this field legislatively and in our name.  We don't have another year to wait.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

21 minutes ago, Cideous said:

I'm curious how many of those pro physician associate members are over 40.  I would guess the vast majority if not all.  They won't have to live with the consequences of a name mistake for very long.  It's the 20's and 30's something PA's who are going to be scraping for jobs without a radical transformation of this field legislatively and in our name.  We don't have another year to wait.

Well, you can’t really blame the AAPA for coronavirus. They had to build a virtual meeting from scratch. 6 months extension seems appropriate to build a meeting to accommodate a few thousand people, rework hundreds of lectures, finding a time that fits the schedule of so many.

 

but agree, those pro-associate are likely much older

[rev ronin]

1 hour ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

Well, you can’t really blame the AAPA for coronavirus. They had to build a virtual meeting from scratch. 6 months extension seems appropriate to build a meeting to accommodate a few thousand people, rework hundreds of lectures, finding a time that fits the schedule of so many.

A few thousand? for the HOD?  Are we talking about the same set of folks here?

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

1 hour ago, rev ronin said:

A few thousand? for the HOD?  Are we talking about the same set of folks here?

I thought it was more than just the HOD. Could be wrong

[HMtoPA]

At one time I was pro-associate, as it preserved the PA acronym, but now it seems like too incremental a change. I like the idea of a clean-sheet, ground-up rebranding, but was unimpressed with clinicist and especially praxician. In a way, I guess any new name would sound ridiculous, until it doesn’t. I think we’re in a tough spot here, and I don’t have any better ideas than any that I’ve seen so far - but I’m glad to see actual movement on this issue finally. 

[MSPAC2]

The thought of changing our name to praxician still makes me cringe. 

 

[iconic]

1 hour ago, MSPAC2 said:

The thought of changing our name to praxician still makes me cringe. 

 

The thought that they paid that firm to investigate that term with a fancy British accent..

Edited July 20, 2020 by iconic

[Boatswain2PA]

16 hours ago, Pac30 said:

What field are you in? The name might make sense if you're in surgery, but outside of that, it just doesn't fit anymore.

I disagree.

I do EM, and I'm pretty dang good at it.  But few weeks ago I saw my boss drop a central line.  I am competent on putting in femoral lines, but he put in a subclavian line in about 1/10 the time it would take me.  Why?  Because he did a 4 year EM residency and he has put in many hundreds, if not thousands of them.  I've put in a couple dozen.  

I would take a board certified EM, FP, Peds, Rads, Neuro....or whatever specialty you want...to take care of my truly sick wife/kids/grandkids than any PA.  

These boards are full of people who want a name change and autonomy of practice.  I see their point, especially as the NPs take over more and more of medicine, but that doesn't mean they are right.

14 hours ago, kang1208 said:

2) We do NOT function as an "assistant" to physician (except in surgery). 

In MOST specialties the PA and NP does function as the "assistant" or force multiplier to the specialist/physician.   Certainly less so in FP and somewhat in IM and EM, but I don't believe the neuro, cards, GI, uro, etc PA/NPs are functioning independently.

 

13 hours ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

There are plenty of people who want it, but even Dave Mittman, the AAPA president, wants physician out of our name entirely.

What title does Dave want? 

I'm all for a name-change....as long as it's accurate and not more confusing to our patients (many of whom don't know the have four chambers in their heart).  Physician Associate?  Okay, that's probably more accurate than Assistant.  The others I've heard are either confusing or, in my opinion, seek to be dishonest by placing us on parity with much higher-trained physicians.

 

6 hours ago, HMtoPA said:

I like the idea of a clean-sheet, ground-up rebranding, but was unimpressed with clinicist and especially praxician. In a way, I guess any new name would sound ridiculous, until it doesn’t. I think we’re in a tough spot here, and I don’t have any better ideas than any that I’ve seen so far - but I’m glad to see actual movement on this issue finally. 

Me too...as long as the movement is in a helpful direction.  

I'll send a hundred bucks to anyone who comes up with a GOOD new name that doesn't confuse our patients, encourages our brain-dead legislators that we have three times the training of NPs, shows we are able to practice medicine safely, yet we are not to the level of physicians.

Praxitioner?  Really?  No....just.....no.....



 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Boatswain2PA