Who to vote for in AAPA elections

[ventana]

Who is progressive and going to go after OTP and severing the ties to MD/DO on the elections??

 

I only want to vote for people that are committed to and fired up to make change happen.....

 

[kidpresentable]

Glad to see this topic. I’m out for blood after the title change fiasco

[iconic]

Forgive me if I am wrong, but is it not now up to individual state chapters to go after title change as well the OTP? AAPA has had pretty progressive leadership, but they can't overcome the apathy of state chapters, NCCPA, and PAs at large 

Edited April 23, 2023 by iconic

[mgriffiths]

6 hours ago, iconic said:

Forgive me if I am wrong, but is it not now up to individual state chapters to go after title change as well the OTP? AAPA has had pretty progressive leadership, but they can't overcome the apathy of state chapters, NCCPA, and PAs at large 

I think they're referencing the fact that AAPA spent a massive sum of our money to have a research company find what the best option for title change would be, even going so far as to actually ask the user base of PAs...only then to ignore both our voice and the recommendation from the research company.

[rev ronin]

So the good/bad news is the AAPA granted students the right to vote in the HOD.

This is good, in that they are not tied down to the old model like so many of the good old boys in AAPA leadership are.

This is bad, in that they are more likely to want to focus on DEI and climate change matters than anything that directly affects the PA profession.

The solution? Allow retired PAs to vote and hold office, too. At least, that's one of the proposals on the table for the upcoming HOD.

[sas5814]

The further bad is they are greatly influenced by PA educators who have been the most vocal opponents to autonomy and title change (generally). 

Not individual educators per se but the "orgs".

 

Get ready to see the end of the profession.

[CAAdmission]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:54 AM, rev ronin said:

So the good/bad news is the AAPA granted students the right to vote in the HOD.

When did that come about? The last HOD?

[sas5814]

1 hour ago, CAAdmission said:

When did that come about? The last HOD?

the same HOD that voted on title change. Its all a smear of feces to me so the dates get a little fuzzy.....

[rev ronin]

2 hours ago, CAAdmission said:

When did that come about? The last HOD?

Correct.  The title change was 2021, Students was 2022.

[ventana]

7 hours ago, sas5814 said:

The further bad is they are greatly influenced by PA educators who have been the most vocal opponents to autonomy and title change (generally). 

Not individual educators per se but the "orgs".

 

Get ready to see the end of the profession.

one of my local Program directors has jumped ship! 

they are now a very vocal supporter of OTP and such

and they are a powerhouse in the PA education realm

 

Maybe just maybe.......

[SedRate]

26 minutes ago, ventana said:

one of my local Program directors has jumped ship! 

they are now a very vocal supporter of OTP and such

and they are a powerhouse in the PA education realm

 

Maybe just maybe.......

Glad to see more energy being put into this! I, too, know of a few PA educators who are proponents of OTP and have been instrumental in getting OTP passed in a state recently. 

[sas5814]

49 minutes ago, ventana said:

one of my local Program directors has jumped ship! 

they are now a very vocal supporter of OTP and such

and they are a powerhouse in the PA education realm

 

Maybe just maybe.......

That is great to hear! I talked to a few educators who understood the need for change but the "orgs" were complaining about the hassle and cost of changing titles and stated, outright, we don't train PAs to be independent so they shouldn't be.

[SedRate]

36 minutes ago, sas5814 said:

and stated, outright, we don't train PAs to be independent so they shouldn't be

Is this a new mentality? During my PA training over 10 years ago, I was taught to take a good history, do a good exam, and if the work-up/treatment was beyond my scope, request a consult or refer. I don't recall hearing the words "independent" or "dependent."

[TeddyRucpin]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:54 AM, rev ronin said:

So the good/bad news is the AAPA granted students the right to vote in the HOD.

This is good, in that they are not tied down to the old model like so many of the good old boys in AAPA leadership are.

This is bad, in that they are more likely to want to focus on DEI and climate change matters than anything that directly affects the PA profession.

The solution? Allow retired PAs to vote and hold office, too. At least, that's one of the proposals on the table for the upcoming HOD.

As a student, I really try to stay up to date on legislation, OTP, etc. I'm most likely in the minority. Personally, I want post-grad training and practice in a state that has collaboration/graduated independent practice/minimal restrictions. Talking to colleagues now getting jobs, you can really see how non-progressive states make it a pain even for your initial licensure post-PANCE. Maximum PA-physician ratios, no schedule II meds, etc are all negatives. It's appearing more and more the south/southeastern US have antiquated practice laws while many states have moved/are moving forward. This year alone we have Montana, Arizona, and Colorado; potentially Iowa, North Carolina (outlier of the south), and NY to follow. NY, IMO, is key as we need a large state, both in population and number of PAs, to do this. NY has the most PAs of any state.

However, there is definitely truth that many people, students especially, are not familiar with collaboration, OTP, and similar. 

Separately, what percentage of eligible AAPA members regularly vote in elections?

Edited April 25, 2023 by TeddyRucpin

[CAAdmission]

17 minutes ago, TeddyRucpin said:

Separately, what percentage of eligible AAPA members regularly vote in elections?

Someone else will have an accurate number, but it is depressingly small. 

[SedRate]

16 minutes ago, TeddyRucpin said:

there is definitely truth that many people, students especially, are not familiar with collaboration, OTP, and similar.

Definitely. OTP was never mentioned in my training over 10 years ago. I didn't learn about it until after I graduated and got more involved on this forum.

[iconic]

18 minutes ago, SedRate said:

Definitely. OTP was never mentioned in my training over 10 years ago. I didn't learn about it until after I graduated and got more involved on this forum.

It was passed by AAPA in 2017, so wasn't a thing 10 years ago. However, OTP was definitely talked about back when I went to school - it sounded like a lot of mumbo jumbo back then and I am not sure that we as a profession are still clear on what OTP is

Edited April 25, 2023 by iconic

[CAAdmission]

There was no such term as "OTP" back when I was in school. 

But one thing was drilled into us - that we would/might frequently find ourselves in situations where no supervising physician would be available for consultation. Thus, we needed to learn everything as if it all depended solely upon us. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by CAAdmission

[ventana]

22 hours ago, sas5814 said:

 we don't train PAs to be independent so they shouldn't be.

WHAT?

So we are supposed to ask the Doc everything??  I don't understand how you can work in medicine and not be independent honestly.  We all know what we know, and don't know.... the rest is politics 

[SedRate]

6 hours ago, iconic said:

It was passed by AAPA in 2017, so wasn't a thing 10 years ago. However, OTP was definitely talked about back when I went to school - it sounded like a lot of mumbo jumbo back then and I am not sure that we as a profession are still clear on what OTP is

That's my point though in response to another poster's comment about people still not familiar with OTP: that the term and formal concept of OTP is a fairly new development and thus still not well-known throughout all PA circles yet. Independence was discussed in terms of functioning independently and consulting as needed, but like you said it sounded like mumbojumbo to me because I never thought of PAs as dependent or independent. So even if I did hear about the politics of it all and the possible repurcussions of being dependent, it wouldn't have really meant anything to me back then as I always felt responsible for the care I provided. Hell, it wasn't really up until a handful of years ago when NPs started becoming independent and getting preferential treatment for hiring and the politics of their independence that I started to care about OTP. 

And I definitely agree that we still don't really know what OTP is, which is likely a large part in why we're struggling to get anywhere fast with it. 

[SedRate]

6 hours ago, CAAdmission said:

But one thing was drilled into us - that we would might frequently find ourselves in situations where no supervising physician would be available for consultation. Thus, we needed to learn everything as if it all depended solely upon us. 

Exactly. Too bad politicians and the powers that be don't understand that or see it that way. 

[sas5814]

On 4/25/2023 at 8:32 AM, TeddyRucpin said:

I'm most likely in the minority. Personally, I want post-grad training and practice in a state that has collaboration/graduated independent practice/minimal restrictions.

Teddy this isn't an totally uncommon feeling. The thing is if there is autonomy, and it looks like its all graduated autonomy, nothing stops you from finding a position that gives you all the support and supervision you want. If the rules mandate supervision then I can't be autonomous after 33 years (when I was really autonomous all the time from the Army/combat deployments to rural health in under served areas to the north slope of Alaska to my current VA position where nobody knows who my collaborating physician is because I don't have one).

The greater issue is remaining viable in the market place and we can't trying to compete with independent NPs for many many reasons I have discussed hundreds of times. Nothing else matters if we get pushed out of the market place.

Interestingly one of my oldest nemisis (whom I won't name) that was in the "everything is fine" club while I was shouting down the roof finally came around to agreeing we are getting bumped out by NPs. Too bad he was 10 years too late seeing it but some people have to get hit by a train before they admit there are tracks.

Edited April 26, 2023 by sas5814
spelling

[ohiovolffemtp]

Sadly, I recall the 1st class on the 1st day of my PA school where the program director told the class that if we wanted to practice medicine we should leave right then and go to medical school.  She was of the "we assist the physician" mentality and bragged about things like she found out a patient was a smoker on doing pre-op physicals.

As Scott said, it was "interesting" to see his old nemesis from the AAPA Huddle now talking about the need to act.

[CAAdmission]

6 hours ago, ohiovolffemtp said:

Sadly, I recall the 1st class on the 1st day of my PA school where the program director told the class that if we wanted to practice medicine we should leave right then and go to medical school.  She was of the "we assist the physician" mentality and bragged about things like she found out a patient was a smoker on doing pre-op physicals.

She gets a double.

[rev ronin]

On 4/24/2023 at 1:28 PM, Hemmingway said:

... we don't train PAs to be independent so they shouldn't be.

The heck we don't.  I was trained to use UpToDate and have a ddx and workup and/or treatment plan before I ever talked to a preceptor. Now, replace preceptor with "consultant" and how is that not independent practice?