Ever get into an online discussion and regret it?

[sas5814]

I lurk in Reddit and occasionally make a comment or 3. Yesterday was an uber crappy day at work and I stumbled into a conversation among FP docs about their orgs forcing them to take on a NP. No real mention of PAs until late in the conversation until 1 doc said something about getting a PA along with "he's not as bad but you better read everything he does."

I was tired and had about half a scotch in me and I came in hot. Needless to say it devolved into the crap fest you might imagine. I cannot even describe it. Claims every physician is always better than every non physician at everything. I said if I had a gunshot wound I'd take an experienced and residency trained ER PA over a FP doc all day. That got 2 basic responses...there is no such thing as a PA residency and "I'm tired of FP docs trying to provide care in rural areas always getting **** on!" Neither of those things were true or relevant. Of course there was the "arrogance like yours gets people killed."

In any case after getting a zillion downvotes I just logged off and thought...why? There really isn't a rational discussion to be had. 

What I learned is our continued efforts to make progress hoping to not anger the physicians is, and always has been, a fools errand. Our failures and the NPs successes demonstrate that clearly.

We have to look after us. We don't really have any friends politically. Just enemies we are keeping close.

[rev ronin]

4 hours ago, sas5814 said:

Claims every physician is always better than every non physician at everything.

Just goes to show you how divorced from reality some people are. So, your 40+ year psychiatrist is going to be better at sewing on someone than I am? Or giving a joint injection? Or the orthopedist is going to make manual changes to BiPAP settings? Or the radiologist is going to sit with the dying better than I am?

Reddit is a place where local communities basically get to make their own rules according to their own beliefs. Lots of communities are toxic, many are insular, and then there's occasional oases of things you can't get anywhere else like r/detrans.

[sas5814]

Honestly I find a lot of interesting things there and find myself interested in groups and subjects I may not have even considered before. Wading into a cesspool of angry FP docs and residents was just foolish.

[means]

Just remember, a lot of those people absolutely hate their lives. They find solace in going onto an anonymous thread and directing their anger towards anything they can to help themselves sleep that night. 

[SedRate]

4 hours ago, sas5814 said:

I just logged off and thought...why? There really isn't a rational discussion to be had. 

Yep. I learned this back in early 2000s when people started getting comfortable behind a keyboard anonymously. Every now and then I choose to engage and usually I regret it. You're not alone. 

4 hours ago, sas5814 said:

What I learned is our continued efforts to make progress hoping to not anger the physicians is, and always has been, a fools errand. Our failures and the NPs successes demonstrate that clearly.

We have to look after us. We don't really have any friends politically. Just enemies we are keeping close.

Yep. What about the saying, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"? Perhaps we can use this to our advantage. NPs have done their thing, we just need to find our niche. Which leads to my next point... -->

46 minutes ago, rev ronin said:

Just goes to show you how divorced from reality some people are. So, your 40+ year psychiatrist is going to be better at sewing on someone than I am? Or giving a joint injection? Or the orthopedist is going to make manual changes to BiPAP settings? Or the radiologist is going to sit with the dying better than I am?

This. This is where PAs are valuable. We need to lean into this jack of all trades, flexible, tunedness into the human condition, and well-trained generalist niche and carve it out. I think a mandatory residency or an extended clinical year would achieve this. And then I think independent practice thereafter would give ourselves the necessary marketability/employability and skin in the game to remain relevant.

[rev ronin]

35 minutes ago, SedRate said:

This. This is where PAs are valuable. We need to lean into this jack of all trades, flexible, tunedness into the human condition, and well-trained generalist niche and carve it out. I think a mandatory residency or an extended clinical year would achieve this. And then I think independent practice thereafter would give ourselves the necessary marketability/employability and skin in the game to remain relevant.

Well, to be fair, I was speaking to my own personal experiences, but I did say something of the sort on Wikipedia the other day: Since we're never assigned credential-based prestige, we either 1) get treated like replaceable parts, or 2) learn unique, niche skills that make us more valuable than that.  I just happen to be really good at some things most MDs and DOs don't want to do. If I would give one generic bit of advice to a new PA, that might be it:

Find something that physicians generally don't like to do, that you DO like to do, and get very good at it.

[CAAdmission]

9 hours ago, sas5814 said:

There really isn't a rational discussion to be had. 

Yeah, the internet is not a place to go to find a rational conversation. I don't get into discussions with internet jerks thinking I will likely change their mind. It's just my hope to demonstrate to other reasonable people who stumble across a conversation that it is possible to hold a well-reasoned alternative viewpoint. While doing so, it is generally possible to make ranting illogical lunatics look like ranting illogical lunatics. 

[ohiovolffemtp]

As has been said before (maybe by me )

Arguing with someone on the internet is a lot like wrestling with a pig in mud: you won't win and the pig will enjoy it.

Edited April 13, 2023 by ohiovolffemtp

[thinkertdm]

Two comments: this PA reads consults and records and some of the things I read from mds would scare you.  Can’t even elaborate more than that.  I mean scare as in afraid and fearful. Two, I learned a long time ago that online discussions rarely build up.  I don’t have a Facebook or the twitter.  I’d rather argue with my puppy over who’s boss.  
Care comes from someone who does, not someone with initials who doesn’t.

[sas5814]

Yea...trying to inject some useful discussion in a room full of angry people was foolish.

[CAAdmission]

3 hours ago, sas5814 said:

Yea...trying to inject some useful discussion in a room full of angry people was foolish.

Sometimes it's fun to kick the beehive, especially when the bees are smug, self-righteous narcissists.