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Bad PA press. List here for PAFT to respond


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http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/13/will-your-doc-become-extinct-under-obamacare/?intcmp=features ... It is absolutely astounding that a physician could make such an egregious error. Truly unreal. I am really hoping someone on here with some pull can tell this guy to pull his head out of his a$$.

they are already on it.

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http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/13/will-your-doc-become-extinct-under-obamacare/?intcmp=features ... It is absolutely astounding that a physician could make such an egregious error. Truly unreal. I am really hoping someone on here with some pull can tell this guy to pull his head out of his a$$.

 

An ophthamologist who uses the term "optometry" to describe his field? And does anyone know a single PA who works in ophtho? I'm sure at least one is out there, but out of all the fields this guy picks to make his point, he goes with one that has little to no penetration by us?

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An ophthamologist who uses the term "optometry" to describe his field? And does anyone know a single PA who works in ophtho? I'm sure at least one is out there, but out of all the fields this guy picks to make his point, he goes with one that has little to no penetration by us?

 

I think you took his comment out of context. This article was structured very poorly. In that section he was referring to PA's but then flipped into a one sentence example of optometry, which I believe he was trying to express his displeasure within his specialty that optometrists are now starting to get laws passed that allow them to do some things that only ophthalmologists did in the past. I have met a few PAs throughout my years who have worked in ophthalmology, but as you said, there is not very many PAs to do work in that specialty.

The main focus of this poorly written article was to slam Obamacare, he just happened to single out PAs. I'm not sure what he meant by “PAs diagnose and treat patients beyond their current jurisdiction"? I think the public should be more worried about how he inferred your physician was going to be replaced by a computer.

I usually take with a grain of salt, articles written by physicians whose names I generally have a hard time pronouncing, are most often foreign trained, and are prone to have an attitude towards PAs.

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An ophthamologist who uses the term "optometry" to describe his field? And does anyone know a single PA who works in ophtho? I'm sure at least one is out there, but out of all the fields this guy picks to make his point, he goes with one that has little to no penetration by us?

 

 

I've asked our Ophthalmologists here about PA's in ophtho, and why we don't see any PA's there? I've had at least two respond to that question with the statement that they already had PAs in ophtho......they just called them optometrists.

 

So that has been heard before....

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This information to PAFT already, but just look yourself up on Health Grades, the fastest growing source for patients to find out about their provider. If you are a non surgical PA it I'll say you are only qualified to treat flu and colds. It also calls you a "Physicians Assistant" (no ' ) and it will not let you update or correct your profile but it will allow physicians and NPs to do so (at least in my experimentation) on the site. I've contacted them but I suggest you do too, unless you are happy with they represent you.

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This information to PAFT already, but just look yourself up on Health Grades, the fastest growing source for patients to find out about their provider. If you are a non surgical PA it I'll say you are only qualified to treat flu and colds. It also calls you a "Physicians Assistant" (no ' ) and it will not let you update or correct your profile but it will allow physicians and NPs to do so (at least in my experimentation) on the site. I've contacted them but I suggest you do too, unless you are happy with they represent you.

 

It also states under "Common conditions treated by Physicians Assistants" "Cold&Flu" That's it! Despite the plethora of ailments U see daily....Wth?

 

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

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An ophthamologist who uses the term "optometry" to describe his field? And does anyone know a single PA who works in ophtho? I'm sure at least one is out there, but out of all the fields this guy picks to make his point, he goes with one that has little to no penetration by us?

 

Did anyone notice the doctor couldn't spell ophthalmology right? It is not an easy word to spell. The first h is often missed but also the first l is often forgotten. It's not easy to pronounce for that matter.

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It also states under "Common conditions treated by Physicians Assistants" "Cold&Flu" That's it! Despite the plethora of ailments U see daily....Wth?

 

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

 

I just made an account for myself and started updating my profile. Their site is cumbersome to use, but I listed many things I do under my profile. I also sent a nice note to correct their spelling of Physicians Assistant to Physician Assistant and to correct their description of what we do. I wrote out a description of what PAs do and will see if they respond to me. Paula

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I just made an account for myself and started updating my profile. Their site is cumbersome to use, but I listed many things I do under my profile. I also sent a nice note to correct their spelling of Physicians Assistant to Physician Assistant and to correct their description of what we do. I wrote out a description of what PAs do and will see if they respond to me. Paula

 

Word up Paula!

 

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

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I just made an account for myself and started updating my profile. Their site is cumbersome to use, but I listed many things I do under my profile. I also sent a nice note to correct their spelling of Physicians Assistant to Physician Assistant and to correct their description of what we do. I wrote out a description of what PAs do and will see if they respond to me. Paula

 

Now that is strange as it would not let me edit my own listing (pop up said that this listing could not be edited) but I could at least start to edit physicians (get to the edit page).

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JMJ: I started at the physician edit tab at the top of the page. When you get in you can start updating and eventually will get to a screen where you can list yourself as a PA. There are multiple lists on the left of the screen to add in what your do for procedures or what you do in your practice. It is not user friendly and I gave up on completing my whole profile. There is a tab way on the bottom to click and you can contact them and request they change the PA description, too. The more we all advocate for what we do, the better in my mind. As an advisory board member of PAFT I am responding to as many of these issues as I can. I am writing a professional (form) letter that we can use to send to entities who do not have the correct description of PAs, and hopefully streamline the process of responding. If anyone has more suggestions on how you would like us to respond, please list them here. Paula

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JMJ: I started at the physician edit tab at the top of the page. When you get in you can start updating and eventually will get to a screen where you can list yourself as a PA. There are multiple lists on the left of the screen to add in what your do for procedures or what you do in your practice. It is not user friendly and I gave up on completing my whole profile. There is a tab way on the bottom to click and you can contact them and request they change the PA description, too. The more we all advocate for what we do, the better in my mind. As an advisory board member of PAFT I am responding to as many of these issues as I can. I am writing a professional (form) letter that we can use to send to entities who do not have the correct description of PAs, and hopefully streamline the process of responding. If anyone has more suggestions on how you would like us to respond, please list them here. Paula
There is something uniquely wrong with my profile because when I do as you say and attempting to edit my own profile or to create a log in I get a message that I am not authorized to edit my own profile. Interesting that I can edit others. I think it is a software problem. It will not let me create an account.
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Below are excerpts of a recent USA Today article, which is linked to a news segment in NC (video included in link).  The NP clout is clear.

The surge in new patients covered by health insurance that will be sparked by the Affordable Care Act has led to predictions that there will be a shortage of 45,000 primary care physicians by 2025, about 20% less than the predicted demand, said David Auerbach, a policy researcher at the Rand Corp., a non-profit policy think tank that conducted the study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs.

The new health law promotes these models because they save money, and has provided up to $50 million in direct grants to support nurse-managed health centers. And there are pilot programs for Medicare and Medicaid patient-centered medical homes. The authors said states may need to "liberalize" scope-of-practice laws for nurse practitioners and physician assistants to fill those roles, as well as supply more nurses and aides.The American Association of Nurse Practitioners is launching a new advertising campaign to try to push for those opportunities, as well as to help people understand what nurse practitioners do.

 

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=305047

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An article on some recent bad press, but the comments are where it really gets good, particularly those of Dr. Hamlin :

Justin Hamlin, DO

12/23/13

Newsflash to midlevels: You ARE inferior. You aren't medically trained. That goes double for NPs. The whole concept of midlevels is an end run around the meaningful Flexner reforms, in order to pursue a fool's errand of pinching pennies on medical expertise by dumbing down the practitioner acuity. As Non-Kool-Aid Drinker MD points out, YOU did not go to medical school. YOU did not go to residency. I spend an inordinate amount of time in patient care, both inpatient and outpatient, fixing the dumb things that midlevels do. Sometimes, often, the damage is too much and cannot be completely reversed. And now NPs want to pretend to be doctors AND represent themselves as such by calling themselves DNPs. And PAs want to do the same by retconning physician assistant into physician associate. Even our petulant child in chief has gotten into the act by ignorantly appointing a nurse to be Surgeon General of the Army. Want to be a doctor? GO TO MEDICAL SCHOOL!

 

Original article is here:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/nursing/Nursing/43556

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The president-elect of PAFT(Dave Mittman) is quoted in the article.

 

excellent response by Dr. Sorsby:

"I, too, am disappointed with the fact that the AAFP, my academy, chose to ask this question, and to publicize it as it has been publicized. I trained PAs in the Army, I introduced NPs to a rural county. My patients in that rural county--and they all remained my patients--loved their "doctor-nurse" (many never quite understood the concept!)--not least because having two NPs tripled my reach and meant that they had a primary care practitioner in their town, where they could reach her, when they needed a PCP. Having NPs let me practice where I should, at the upper reaches of my ability. And, what shouldn't need saying: I've worked with PAs and NPs more skilled than some physicians. We would be better served to find ways for all medical personnel to do what they are trained and capable of doing, and to stop all medical personnel from doing what they are not capable of, regardless of their purported qualifications.."

 

all providers, whether they be PA/NP/MD/DO have skill levels along a continuum. this has very little to do with the initials after their names and more to do with their exposure to pts. A pa with years of experience runs circles around many residents. just this morning I had a 2nd yr fp resident ask me how to treat a child with OM. she just did a yr of inpt adult medicine rotations and had no clue how to treat this most simple of pediatric illnesses. 18 months from now she will be a "residency trained family medicine physician". hopefully she learns a bit more before then....

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