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Title Change and our 3 "pillars"


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1 hour ago, VeryOldPA said:

According to AAPA leadership because the delegates are “ fiduciaries” they must vote in favor of what is in the best interest of the AAPA not what the majority of their constituents want.  

True. I could, however, make a long argument that voting the will of the members is going to keep their membership and, therefore, be in the interests of the AAPA. There's a few other twists that could be taken on the path to HOD members voting their conscience.

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I agree.  That is a valid argument.  I get the impression however that AAPA leadership is is concerned that if the delegates listen to their constituents a title change will not pass.

 

Personally I think leadeship didn’t provide much leadership on this issue. I understand that the BOD wanted o be hands off but Some guidance could have been given. Speaker Reynolds’ finally stepped up but that should have happened a longtime ago

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As much as I wanted to move past "Physician's _______", it's beginning to look more and more like Physician Associate or Physician Assistant are the only things with a real shot this May. I wish the AAPA did more to inform members/spread the word on this issue the past few months, but they didn't. I wish Medical Practitioner was an option, but it isn't. Getting past "Assistant" is more of a victory than nothing though, so let's go Physician Associate! lol

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I will never call myself an "associate".  It's wrong in description, wrong in effect and is quite frankly bullshit to appease narrow minded dinosaurs that can't imagine a world without PA.  The study was done, PA lost....big time and still legacies don't care. I will spend the rest of my career fighting against it and shaming those who support it.

 

We are NOT physicians and we are NOT associates. 

 

We went from shooting ourselves in the foot to inserting a hand grenade between our butt checks.  Yea us.

 

BOOM.

Edited by Cideous
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Marketing and perception matters in everything!  The research results stated PA, in any form, was not best for the profession and MCP is to those that really matter. How can HOD and leaders just decide to chose the worse option(s). Your HOD and AAPA leaders may know medicine, but do they recall the ethics? By ignoring the marketing professionals they are  choosing to provide sub par or negligent  care for the health and well-being of the profession.  

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2 hours ago, Hope2PA said:

Marketing and perception matters in everything!  The research results stated PA, in any form, was not best for the profession and MCP is to those that really matter. How can HOD and leaders just decide to chose the worse option(s). Your HOD and AAPA leaders may know medicine, but do they recall the ethics? By ignoring the marketing professionals they are  choosing to provide sub par or negligent  care for the health and well-being of the profession.  

because for some strange reason the HOD and delegates (and even the PA's surveyed in my state) think the PA is worth holding onto and that Associate is better then MCP - IN SPITE OF THE REPORT ADDRESSING THIS

So the PA supported what the report concluded - the only one that likes PAssociate more is the PA's.

 

How short sighted can we be as a profession?  Where is the leadership?  Where is the visionary?  

We have the likes of EBM directly laying out what we should do and "Assistants" can't get them selves out of their little box.... seriously nuts.... 

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Ohio polled it's members and had 49% vote for Physician Associate, 40% vote for Physician Assistant, and 11% vote for Medical Care Practitioner.

I just can't see MCP overcoming that big of a difference in the next month...This feels like really believing in a primary candidate but endorsing the milquetoast compromise candidate to have a better chance at defeating the worst case scenario.

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Sadly MCP doesn't seem to have a chance. The profession doesn't have the stomach for big change. Polling is a great tool but you are often polling people who don't know much about the broader issues that provoked the issue in the first place so the answers you get are more emotional or "knee-jerk" than thoughtful. I'm not busting on anyone it is just the way of things. It's a paradox....

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3 hours ago, ventana said:

We have the likes of EBM directly laying out what we should do and "Assistants" can't get them selves out of their little box.... seriously nuts.... 

This is overstating the evidence, I'm afraid.  We're not talking about a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial here, we're talking expert opinion.  Some highly trained guys asked a bunch of questions in a voluntary survey, got a bunch of answers, and are now providing their opinion on which is best overall, using their own values.

Remember, "All models are wrong, but some are useful."

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1 hour ago, sas5814 said:

Sadly MCP doesn't seem to have a chance. The profession doesn't have the stomach for big change. Polling is a great tool but you are often polling people who don't know much about the broader issues that provoked the issue in the first place so the answers you get are more emotional or "knee-jerk" than thoughtful. I'm not busting on anyone it is just the way of things. It's a paradox....

Well that's it then.  I trust Scott's take on this.  If MCP is dead and we stay "assistants" or become "associates", we as a profession are doomed to what waits for us.  NP's are killing us and we just handed them our only real weapon to fight back...a proper name change.  

I would STRONGLY advise anyone considering the PA field to not.  Either go to medical school or NP school.  Those school loans are not going to pay for themselves when we run out of jobs.  It's not just a new grad issue finding jobs anymore.  I have been turned down for multiple jobs for one reason and one reason only.....I was not an NP and I have 26 years of experience.  "Supervision requirements of physician ASSISTANTS" is the explanation I have received each time I was turned down.

My advice?  If you have a PA job....keep it, even if it sucks.  Trying to find something better is becoming almost impossible.

I've been screaming for a name change to Practitioner for over 15 years and now and when we FINALLY have the evidence to back up what I and others knew was right....our own profession kills it, and with it, any chance for meaningful legislative victories bringing us up to par with NP's.  It's quite frankly tragic, and to all the young PA's out there in school or recently graduated who will now deal with the consequences of our short sightedness, I can only say one thing......I am truly sorry.  Sorry that you are left to reap the poor choices my generation of PA's has wrought on you.

Good luck to us all.

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Worse than that Cid... it's 50/50 if we stay assistants or not.

The battle continues but its an uphill push and I'm going to keep at it until there is no more to be done.

I just read a long post about the upcoming HOD and how difficult it is going to be and how the speaker controls who speaks and only "new" information and how everyone needs to buy a book on parlimentary procedure so they know how to act etc etc.

I have seen parlimentary procedure used as a bludgeon too many times to not hear the sub-text. It will be a meeting of delay, suppression of speech some people don't want to hear, and deal making membership will never be aware of.

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3 hours ago, sas5814 said:

Sadly MCP doesn't seem to have a chance. The profession doesn't have the stomach for big change. Polling is a great tool but you are often polling people who don't know much about the broader issues that provoked the issue in the first place so the answers you get are more emotional or "knee-jerk" than thoughtful. I'm not busting on anyone it is just the way of things. It's a paradox....

 

 

yeah coming to that conclusion as well

 

As for polling versus EBM - I think it is closer then you think - there is no EBM in the business world. There is experts that weight in on the subject and are usually correct

 

I don't see AAPA or HOD (as pointed out) having the stomach for this MCP title - we have no vision in for the long run, not the stomach to push hard changes.

 

I was waiting for DMSc at Nebraska but I seriously wonder about an NP degree....

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well.... there is a group out of Tennessee who wanted to break off the doctoral PAs and, essentially, start another profession. I, and PAFT, have opposed that as strongly as possible. Sadly I have to now at least consider it.

Imagine if you will a new profession free of the NCCPA which has the drive and the will to lobby for its future without fear. It would be a massive undertaking but might be worth thinking about.

I always like to be thinking through "what if".

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3 minutes ago, PACali said:

I don't know how keeping Assistant can even be an option?

Associate? okay I get it, some people love that. 

Stay in Assistant, I don't understand. 

Understand that by being part of any online professional community--us, Huddle, Clinician1, any of the Facebook groups--is something that a vanishingly small number of any PAs actually do.  So in addition to the "Old guard" you have those who are simply "too busy" to prioritize understanding issues, listening to others, or engaging in conversation.  Those few who even care aren't agreed, unfortunately.

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22 hours ago, TheFatMan said:

Does anyone have an email template I could use to send to my delegates regarding title change? Thank you in advance.

Just drop them a short note telling them what you think. It doesn't have to be special. They are (mostly) just people.

Dear HOD Delegate. It is critical to the future of the profession that we successfully change the title of the profession to (insert). I hope you will keep my thoughts in mind as you discuss this issue and vote on it in the upcoming HOD. If we don't have a positive result on title change I'll be ending my membership and encouraging others to do the same. 

Respectfully

The Fat Man

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1 minute ago, sas5814 said:

Just drop them a short note telling them what you think. It doesn't have to be special. They are (mostly) just people.

Dear HOD Delegate. It is critical to the future of the profession that we successfully change the title of the profession to (insert). I hope you will keep my thoughts in mind as you discuss this issue and vote on it in the upcoming HOD. If we don't have a positive result on title change I'll be ending my membership and encouraging others to do the same. 

Respectfully

The Fat Man

@sas5814 Is PAFT doing anything about it? I know they are pro-title change. I think PAFT should be make anther official statement about pro-title change, just to get some more attention and awareness. We got less than a month left. If we failed again, we will probably have to wait another 10 years. That is if we still exist...

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We are aggravating everyone we possibly can. We have members who are in the HOD and, with them, we have to be a bit careful about what they say and do because it violates the HOD rules to have outside conversations or "deals".

I have been on a tear for weeks about it and have created so much havoc pushing back in the Huddle I have been warned twice and had posts deleted. Apparently I play too rough.

We will have a newsletter out in the next few days, again, reminding everyone of what is at stake and asking them to contact their HOD members. 

It would be nice if everyone everywhere would do the same

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