Explanations to Patients who do not know what a PA is.

[dineenz]

Hello everyone,

I am doing a presentation to my class about the the topic of a name change to physician associate. In the presentation i was hoping to gather a couple personal stories from a few Practicing PAs who needed to explain what a PA was to a new patient, how the patient reacted, how you had to deal with the situation, why you think a name change would or would not avoid this problem in the future...etc etc ..

 

They don't need to be long or specific just some general stories. (I saw a post on this forum somewhere with similar responses but i cant seem to find it)

 

Thanks for any response

[Iman]

I had one time a patient telling me: "don't want the doc assistant, plz no offense but need to see the doc here" ... how nice is that !!!

[ventana]

search previous threads - lots there

 

my answer on what a PA is (something like this)

 

"my school was 6 semesters instead of the doctors school that is 8 then instead of going into residency I got a job on graduation and learned on the job" something like this

 

 

As for funny stories

 

in ER a few years ago - partial distal traumatic amputation of 5th digit on a child - parents demanded doc evaluate the patient as soon as I introduced myself, I tried to explain my profession, they were not interested. Got te doc and he came in, did an eval, got wide eyes at looking at the wound and open distal tuft fracture and literally turned to me and started asking questions. Ended up telling the patients he had not done one of these since residency..... went on to say(great doc!) that I had done many, invovled me in the discussion, explained PA's, explained that my skills in this region far exceeded his and the choice would be a transfer to a hospital 60 miles away to have a resident physician do it (and he explained this might be an intern) or stay here and have me do it.

 

They relented and had me do it - (they didn't want to drive that far..)

 

Came out perfect, follow up with the local general ortho 2 days later and looked great, 2 weeks later sutures out, no infection, well healed.

 

But the story gets better - they were a cousin (or somehow related) to a nurse in the ER so through her they gave a huge thank you and said they were just turned off by my title when I introduced myself and figured a partial amputation would need a real doctor, not some assistant or someone learning

[marvi1kd]

Wow that's powerful stuff Ventana! Great Story!

[EHOLDENPA-C]

yup, I love it when someone demands to see "a real doctor", waits 3 hrs, and then the doc says " I'm not really all that good at this. the pa should do it. I asked him to do this very procedure on my own child...."

[jmj11]

Here is an idea in a picture.

 

[EMEDPA]

You also might want to post your question at http://www.clinician1.com

you will need to register just like here.

[mkrumm]

Obligatory:

[futurePAS]

Here is an idea in a picture.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1013[/ATTACH]

 

 

I am laughing so hard at this!

[EMEDPA]

A friend asked me to post this response for him:

 

In our society when someone hears the word assistant they do not expect, nor do they usually see a full professional. If you believe they do, you are sadly mistaken. In our society an assistant level person collects data to help the professional they assist make a diagnosis or treatment, e.g., PT Assistant, Veterinary Assistant, Chiropractic Assistant, Medical Assistant, Nursing Assistant, OT Assistant, Opthalmic Assistant, etc. In NO CASE can the assistant do what the professional they assist does. NONE, except the PA. The others do not diagnose, treat or prescribe and they commonly all have a community college or trade school education. So the first thing that a patient does when they encounter a physician's assistant (what they hear) is totally mis-judge you, your training, your abilities, what you know and how you can help them. No professional seeing a patient should start out that misunderstood.You then get to (in my PA mind) border on committing fraud. Why? Because again, all other assistants will collect information for someone else. By saying you assist, you infer that someone else will be finishing the treatment or diagnosis. The assistant word by its definition infers that. To not have a physician see and finish the encounter is fraud based on all other professions that are assistants. We hardly if ever have the physician finish our encounters because we are NOT assistants. How many patients felt that they were improperly treated? How many never return? I can tell you most do not understand why we are called assistant.

We are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It will never fit and will always dis-inspire us as individuals and decrease patients confidence in us and our profession until we change this poor name. As good as we are, why be chained with this significant and chronic problem? There has never been a better time to change it.

Dave Mittman, PA, DFAAPA

Vice-President, PAs For Tomorrow

[mackjacks]

This does not answer your question but it is related. I recently heard of a Pathologist Assistant for the first time and was surprised to find out that they need a master's degree and make $70,000+ yearly. In my head I was picturing a trade school degree and cleaning the lab. Then I realized that's probably how people unfamiliar with the Physician Assistant profession feel when they first hear of it.

[EMEDPA]

. Then I realized that's probably how people unfamiliar with the Physician Assistant profession feel when they first hear of it.

many physicians feel this way about us...they think we do well baby checks and hospital discharges only(and that with DIRECT SUPERVISION).

[Guest JMPA]

A friend asked me to post this response for him:

 

In our society when someone hears the word assistant they do not expect, nor do they usually see a full professional. If you believe they do, you are sadly mistaken. In our society an assistant level person collects data to help the professional they assist make a diagnosis or treatment, e.g., PT Assistant, Veterinary Assistant, Chiropractic Assistant, Medical Assistant, Nursing Assistant, OT Assistant, Opthalmic Assistant, etc. In NO CASE can the assistant do what the professional they assist does. NONE, except the PA. The others do not diagnose, treat or prescribe and they commonly all have a community college or trade school education. So the first thing that a patient does when they encounter a physician's assistant (what they hear) is totally mis-judge you, your training, your abilities, what you know and how you can help them. No professional seeing a patient should start out that misunderstood.You then get to (in my PA mind) border on committing fraud. Why? Because again, all other assistants will collect information for someone else. By saying you assist, you infer that someone else will be finishing the treatment or diagnosis. The assistant word by its definition infers that. To not have a physician see and finish the encounter is fraud based on all other professions that are assistants. We hardly if ever have the physician finish our encounters because we are NOT assistants. How many patients felt that they were improperly treated? How many never return? I can tell you most do not understand why we are called assistant.

We are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It will never fit and will always dis-inspire us as individuals and decrease patients confidence in us and our profession until we change this poor name. As good as we are, why be chained with this significant and chronic problem? There has never been a better time to change it.

Dave Mittman, PA, DFAAPA

Vice-President, PAs For Tomorrow

Excellent view point. I do believe that fraud is being committed by the improper usage of our title. For this reason alone is more than enough to warant name change and associate is very appropriate.

[mrsmojorisin]

A friend asked me to post this response for him:

 

In our society when someone hears the word assistant they do not expect, nor do they usually see a full professional. If you believe they do, you are sadly mistaken. In our society an assistant level person collects data to help the professional they assist make a diagnosis or treatment, e.g., PT Assistant, Veterinary Assistant, Chiropractic Assistant, Medical Assistant, Nursing Assistant, OT Assistant, Opthalmic Assistant, etc. In NO CASE can the assistant do what the professional they assist does. NONE, except the PA. The others do not diagnose, treat or prescribe and they commonly all have a community college or trade school education. So the first thing that a patient does when they encounter a physician's assistant (what they hear) is totally mis-judge you, your training, your abilities, what you know and how you can help them. No professional seeing a patient should start out that misunderstood.You then get to (in my PA mind) border on committing fraud. Why? Because again, all other assistants will collect information for someone else. By saying you assist, you infer that someone else will be finishing the treatment or diagnosis. The assistant word by its definition infers that. To not have a physician see and finish the encounter is fraud based on all other professions that are assistants. We hardly if ever have the physician finish our encounters because we are NOT assistants. How many patients felt that they were improperly treated? How many never return? I can tell you most do not understand why we are called assistant.

We are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It will never fit and will always dis-inspire us as individuals and decrease patients confidence in us and our profession until we change this poor name. As good as we are, why be chained with this significant and chronic problem? There has never been a better time to change it.

Dave Mittman, PA, DFAAPA

Vice-President, PAs For Tomorrow

 

Excellent view point. I do believe that fraud is being committed by the improper usage of our title. For this reason alone is more than enough to warant name change and associate is very appropriate.

 

This is so sad but true. Getting a name change is gonna be an uphill battle but it must be done.

[Guest Paula]

many physicians feel this way about us...they think we do well baby checks and hospital discharges only(and that with DIRECT SUPERVISION).

 

I do lots of well baby and well child checks. All without supervision. So when I tell the MD I work with that child x has a heart murmur, new onset, and he says to me "good pickup" I can only think to myself...of course it was a good pickup, do you think I would miss it? I've been taking care of this child since birth and you've never seen child x.