80 new PA programs scheduled to open by mid 2016

[JoelleK]

mary fran - i can identify ... I've been working for the conglomerate, err monopoly that runs much of SW PA for 10 years while a dear friend who has been a PA for over 25 years moved from SWPA to NEPA a few years ago and has noted much of what you stated regarding wages. While I do understand that the great influx of new PAs will undoubtedly drive salaries lower, my point was one that you and Andersen have picked up on which was merely that I didn't think it was right to lump everyone into one category as being potentially sub-par because they are coming from one of these new programs. I personally had a hard time getting into school because my GPA from the mid 1990s when i was in school the first time around wasn't up to today's standards...even though I had a 4.0 post bacc for my last 20 something credits since 2009. I did, however, have over 10,000 hours health care experience with about 40% of that being direct hands on with patients but was overlooked because my CASPA scores were low. Those scores mean nothing because I am excelling in my program and am being taught by wonderful mentors and clinicians. I'm all for giving more credence to HCE as an admission's criterion as I think it lends itself to more of the reality that we will all face once we graduate. I honestly feel sorry for some of my classmates who only have shadowing experience and maybe 6 months to a year's worth of HCE - some not at all. They have no idea...they often ask those of us that do have experience what our thoughts and experiences were/are. Thank you for your input. I enjoy browsing the professional posts and have learned quite a bit from reading what you all are throwing down :-)

[JoelleK]

Also...one other thing...it is my understanding that ARC-PA has stopped all increases for seats at current programs so while the university may encourage it, the program won't be allowed to increase. My program has only 18 seats per class. They won't be allowed to increase for at least 5 years (unless I am understanding it wrong). We had over 540 applicants this year for 18 slots. Physasst - you make a lot of sense even if it may be an unpopular sentiment. :-)

 

 

EDITED: While for some it might be 5 years before being able to increase seats, it will be based upon no infractions for a certain amount of time: either 5 years for programs in continuing accreditation or 2 years after provisional accreditation has been completed. I think I have it right this time... :-)

[burnpac]

Maryfran, we can't necessarily control the number of schools being opened. We have an accreditation process, and if schools meet that process and feel that there will be enough demand for the degree, than they can pass the accreditation and open a program.

 

We don't have centralized workforce planning (although the new mandated by ACA, GAO Health Workforce Commission is a step in that direction) and because of that, we cannot directly control the number of graduates entering our profession. Medicine tried that and created a huge problem. Market dynamics will dictate the salary and number of providers. For the foreseeable future, demand is going to be constant....

 

Will there be pockets of saturation? Will there be cities or areas that have depressed salaries because of oversaturation? Sure. Those folks will have to move then. Re-locate. Other areas will not. We are discussing an EM PA residency (AGAIN) because the latest workforce modeling is predicting a need of 40 EM providers in the very near future, and more down the road.

 

PA graduates will adapt. Salaries will be depressed in some areas, and people can either choose to live there for less money, or move elsewhere. Eventually, we will reach a saturation point, and the market will start to correct. We can't artificially inflate salaries by limiting access to the profession. There are unintended consequences to such an action.

 

The AMA vis a vis the Flexner report closed a ton of medical schools. Which is why there are only roughly 6,000 more medical students enrolled today, then there were in 1910 when the report was published....SO what was the result? Now there is a push and a call to increase medical school enrollment by 30% by 2018. Which they are doing. Of course, it won't result in any more physicians at all because the number of residencies is fixed by CMS and there is little chance of expanding them now. So, these new medical school students will only displace IMG's for residency positions, but the overall number of BE/BC physicians won't change.

 

Many economists would say that physicians earn entirely too much money, through artificially inflated salary demands secondary to a restricted access to the profession. Physicians in the US earn far more than their peers elsewhere. For example, there was a paper in Health Affairs in 2011 that looked at this, and found that Orthopedic surgeons here were paid 70% more by public payors, and 120% more by private payors than they were in other countries for hip replacements.

 

Bottom line is salaries are going to come down over the next so many years. Heck it's already started, hospitals just saw their reimbursement under CMS cut by 24 billion under the fiscal cliff deal. Do you think that won't impact PAs and physicians employed by hospitals?

 

I know that what I just typed won't be popular, but competition for jobs is a good thing. At least in my opinion.

 

Mike

 

Great Analysis Mike and right on the money. Just like economics drives academic institutions to open up training programs in a demand market, economics will hopefully drive graduates to where the jobs are. It is a self correcting mechanism. Even with 80 new programs, demand will continue to rise into the foreseeable future. Programs will stop training PAs when students stop paying tuition to attend them. This train left the station a long time ago. If we don't fill all the jobs that are and will become available, others will.

[Acromion]

I'm currently a student in my clinical year and I've noticed there is quite a bit of competition for quality clinical sites. Another PA program is opening in my state next year and my program director is concerned with the new students "stealing" rotations. I've talked to students in other saturated regions and their programs often send them to whatever far flung site that will take them, often hundreds of miles away, and they are often used as free medical assistants for unscrupulous doctors who have no interest in teaching. I've already had one rotation where I was mostly used to file charts and give vaccinations, and the doc barely acknowledged my existence. I complained to my advisor and she told me she was aware of the problem and to just to make the best of it, since there was no other site they could send me to. It seems like availability of clinical rotations is the true bottleneck limiting the amount PA's, not the number of schools.

[Acromion]

If we don't fill all the jobs that are and will become available, others will.

 

 

I think you are right about this. We need to grow as a profession in order to reach a critical mass of PA's, fully embedded in the American healthcare system. I'm sure there are plenty of competitive applicants that get turned down from PA schools each year and then go on to nursing, dental, or med school. We want to capture as much talent as possible to build up the PA "brain trust" so to speak.

 

But if we sacrifice quality in the process we will be shooting ourselves in the foot. Can ARC-PA accredit 80 new schools in the next 3 years and maintain the high standards that the public has come to expect from PA graduates? I just don't see how this is possible. I imagine that a lot of these schools are looking for the next cash cow to shore up their dwindling revenues. We already saw what happened to law schools. Nowadays a JD from a third tier school isn't worth the paper it's written on. It would be a crying shame if that happened to the PA profession.

[burnpac]

Acromion - I have no desire to lower standards to increase the raw number of PAs. We are going to have to trust the ARC-PA to holds programs feet to the fire, new and old. Having PAs students continually on rotation at our facility, I have to say that I see no problems in the quality of existing PA education. This is something that bears close scrutiny. We all have a vested interest in maintaining high standards in PA education.

[jdtpac]

Acromion - I have no desire to lower standards to increase the raw number of PAs. We are going to have to trust the ARC-PA to holds programs feet to the fire, new and old. Having PAs students continually on rotation at our facility, I have to say that I see no problems in the quality of existing PA education. This is something that bears close scrutiny. We all have a vested interest in maintaining high standards in PA education.

 

Steve,

Although I have to agree with you that we're going to have to trust that ARC-PA is going to hold sway over these programs and as you say “hold their feet to the fire”, I like Acromion ,and others, have some concerns about the watering down of the quality of the program. I speak from experience in this regard. I am one of only a few PAs who have attended and graduated from 2 different programs. The first was from an associate degree program and the other was George Washington University which is in a medical school. There was no comparison between these 2 programs. The quality of education I received at GW was far greater than that in the other program.

 

Now I know this was many years ago, however, as I review where the new programs have opened recently and some that are “in the pipeline” I am concerned that we are seeing fewer PA programs opening in medical school or affiliated with teaching institutions and more programs opening in smaller universities/liberal arts colleges where the PA program is their first and only health care program in the college.

 

Example: Elon University PA Program, North Carolina accredited 09/2012 this was taken from their website: Established in April 2011, Elon's School of Health Sciences will serve graduate students in the existing doctor of physical therapy (DPT) program along with students in the new physician assistant (PA) studies master's program, which will enroll its first class in January 2013.

 

West Liberty University PA Program, West Liberty, West Virginia accredited 09/2011 if you go to their website the PA program is NOT in the College of Science/Department of Health Sciences, but you will find it listed in Graduate Studies which the college has only 2 programs, a Masters of Arts in Education and the Masters of Science in Physician Assistant Studies.

 

ARC-PA is also doing a site visit next year at a liberal arts college that had a PA program from 1977-87 that was closed due to lack of support from the college that now wants to re-open the program. This program has website which is reporting they will be accepting applications in the near future for enrollment in their 2014 class. They were affiliated with a large teaching institution in the past, however they will not be affiliated with that same organization if and when ARC-PA gives them provisional accreditation.

 

I would imagine these are very good colleges but do I dare say they might have “jumped on the cash cow wagon” because of the demand for PA services.

 

These are just a few examples of the types of programs that have or will be opening. Existing programs are having a hard enough time getting qualified instructors and preceptors. If we are going to succeed as profession and secure the future, more than ever the new generation of PA programs are going to need the involvement of the practicing PAs to be preceptors, full or part-time faculty or on their advisory committee to ensure the quality of students is maintained at our current level.

[EMEDPA]

or will we see an influx of .... Anthropology majors

hey! you talkin to me?....:)

 

Emedpa

Former medical anthro major. more bio courses during undergrad than my bio major wife. >10,000 hrs hce at application.

anthro is actually a great pre-pa major because you get lots of electives to fulfill pa school prereqs....

[Doc Savage]

At least there will be plenty of careers for Education with 250+ PA programs.

[KCMA79]

I agree that some of the schools trying to start PA programs are questionable. Chapman Univ. in CA is one of the 80 proposed programs. No other health programs in their graduate school other than DPT. No medical school or hospital affiliation. Still refers to Physician's Assistants on their website.

[sartort]

Anyway, less than ten percent of students who apply to PA school get in. There has to be more than ten percent of the application pool that would make quality PAs.

 

Actually the recent numbers from CASPA shows 3.5 applicants per seat, not 10+.

 

http://www.paeaonline.org/index.php?ht=a/GetDocumentAction/i/144686

[JoelleK]

I speak from experience in this regard. I am one of only a few PAs who have attended and graduated from 2 different programs. The first was from an associate degree program and the other was George Washington University which is in a medical school. There was no comparison between these 2 programs. The quality of education I received at GW was far greater than that in the other program.

 

Now I know this was many years ago, however, as I review where the new programs have opened recently and some that are “in the pipeline” I am concerned that we are seeing fewer PA programs opening in medical school or affiliated with teaching institutions and more programs opening in smaller universities/liberal arts colleges where the PA program is their first and only health care program in the college.

 

West Liberty University PA Program, West Liberty, West Virginia accredited 09/2011 if you go to their website the PA program is NOT in the College of Science/Department of Health Sciences, but you will find it listed in Graduate Studies which the college has only 2 programs, a Masters of Arts in Education and the Masters of Science in Physician Assistant Studies.

 

Hi there,

I'm a student from WLU. And I'd like to speak to your notion about quality: Our program director has over 30 years of PA clinical experience in a variety of specialties, holds a doctorate and 2 masters degrees, was an independent corpsman back in the day, and has been a program director at other places and has been on site visits for the ARC-PA, our clinical coordinator has over 30 years PA clinical experience in multiple arenas - mostly ER/Trauma/Surgery/Corpsman, other PAs that are teaching also hold clinical positions. Our A&P was taught by a chiropractor doctor, our medical microbiology was taught by a PhD microbiologist, our ethics class was taught by the ethicist from one of the 2 level II trauma hospitals in the area, our clinical medicine series are taught by MD specialists in that area, our clinical pharmacology is taught by a Pharm D, etc...We have clinical experiences starting 2nd semester at the local hospitals (more of a shadowing experience but allowed to participate in small ways such as listening to abnormal/normal heart and lung sounds on patients). I'd put myself and any of my classmates and teachers against others from any school every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Blanket statements about something you do not have the full details on is misguided at best and potentially harmful at worst. The school, while only having the 2 graduate programs, has one of the top biology programs in the country. They have had a BSN nursing program and a top Dental Hygienist program for 50 years. I know, not medicine, but top science programs nonetheless.

 

You are comparing apples to oranges in your experience - an associate level vs. master's level? no comparison!!

 

Would you call a doctor from Harvard any more or less of a doctor or question his/her intelligence/ability than a doctor from the Univ of Pittsburgh or LECOM or Marshall University? Are they any less educated or ready to practice medicine? The same holds true for different PA programs. Those who aren't up to par will not pass the PANCE, those who are, will.

 

I don't think it is fair to critique something that you are not participating in...or you can join the ARC-PA committee and help to ensure the quality of the program? Those programs who are not up to par will lose their accreditation!

[jdtpac]

I speak from experience in this regard. I am one of only a few PAs who have attended and graduated from 2 different programs. The first was from an associate degree program and the other was George Washington University which is in a medical school. There was no comparison between these 2 programs. The quality of education I received at GW was far greater than that in the other program.

 

Now I know this was many years ago, however, as I review where the new programs have opened recently and some that are “in the pipeline” I am concerned that we are seeing fewer PA programs opening in medical school or affiliated with teaching institutions and more programs opening in smaller universities/liberal arts colleges where the PA program is their first and only health care program in the college.

 

West Liberty University PA Program, West Liberty, West Virginia accredited 09/2011 if you go to their website the PA program is NOT in the College of Science/Department of Health Sciences, but you will find it listed in Graduate Studies which the college has only 2 programs, a Masters of Arts in Education and the Masters of Science in Physician Assistant Studies.

 

Hi there,

I'm a student from WLU. And I'd like to speak to your notion about quality: Our program director has over 30 years of PA clinical experience in a variety of specialties, holds a doctorate and 2 masters degrees, was an independent corpsman back in the day, and has been a program director at other places and has been on site visits for the ARC-PA, our clinical coordinator has over 30 years PA clinical experience in multiple arenas - mostly ER/Trauma/Surgery/Corpsman, other PAs that are teaching also hold clinical positions. Our A&P was taught by a chiropractor doctor, our medical microbiology was taught by a PhD microbiologist, our ethics class was taught by the ethicist from one of the 2 level II trauma hospitals in the area, our clinical medicine series are taught by MD specialists in that area, our clinical pharmacology is taught by a Pharm D, etc...We have clinical experiences starting 2nd semester at the local hospitals (more of a shadowing experience but allowed to participate in small ways such as listening to abnormal/normal heart and lung sounds on patients). I'd put myself and any of my classmates and teachers against others from any school every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Blanket statements about something you do not have the full details on is misguided at best and potentially harmful at worst. The school, while only having the 2 graduate programs, has one of the top biology programs in the country. They have had a BSN nursing program and a top Dental Hygienist program for 50 years. I know, not medicine, but top science programs nonetheless.

 

You are comparing apples to oranges in your experience - an associate level vs. master's level? no comparison!!

 

Would you call a doctor from Harvard any more or less of a doctor or question his/her intelligence/ability than a doctor from the Univ of Pittsburgh or LECOM or Marshall University? Are they any less educated or ready to practice medicine? The same holds true for different PA programs. Those who aren't up to par will not pass the PANCE, those who are, will.

 

I don't think it is fair to critique something that you are not participating in...or you can join the ARC-PA committee and help to ensure the quality of the program? Those programs who are not up to par will lose their accreditation!

 

Slowdown young Grasshopper! I never once said anything about the quality of your program. Your program has not been around long enough to have been able to demonstrate quality. We will have to wait to see how your first few classes of graduates do on their PANCE and then we can start talking about the QUALITY of education provided at your University. I was just using your University as an example of several universities who has done the same thing. I wish you well and hope all programs are successful.

 

If you would have read the last paragraph I was stating that in order for us to ensure that the quality of the students remain as high as it is today that we all will need to be more involved in the training of the new generation of PAs. I said this because the new generation of PA programs are not in the traditional institutions that they were in when this profession was being established over 30 years ago. Today, my peers are apathetic and did not get involved as preceptor conducive to the rate of rapid growth of the PA program. We are also concerned there are not enough qualify instructor. I can say this because as President-Elect of my state association we are currently facing this issue because will have 3 new programs opening within the next 2 years. Two programs are within 30 miles of each other and one program is within 10 miles of a program that's been in existence since 1974 and is currently struggling to find clinical sites. My statement was to make my colleagues aware of the types of institutions where the new generation of PA programs are being established and to make my colleagues aware of their obligation to be ever more involved in the education and training of the new generation PA than they have been in the past.

Time will tell if PAs can be adequately trained in the smaller universities and how many of these programs will survive.

 

Please do not go to your program Director and state that someone on the forum was questioning the quality of your program.

[CAdamsPAC]

Ca-Ching, Ca-Ching, Ca-Ching!!!!!!!!!!!

[jdobbs]

Too many schools=employment ssaturation

employment saturation=lower wages

Lower wages=lower quality applicants

Lower quality applicants=drop in pance sscores

low pance=school gets shut ddown

 

I think there are negative feedback safety measures in place

[KCMA79]

 

You are comparing apples to oranges in your experience - an associate level vs. master's level? no comparison!!

 

How does the PA education in an associate level program differ from a master's level program? When you graduate what skills, knowledge will you have that a graduate of an associate program won't? Or did I not understand what you meant?

[rcdavis]

How does the PA education in an associate level program differ from a master's level program? When you graduate what skills, knowledge will you have that a graduate of an associate program won't? Or did I not understand what you meant?

 

Yeah... That sorta set me off too..jkidder: Please, do tell...

[maryfran123]

Yeah... That sorta set me off too..jkidder: Please, do tell...

 

RC: me=popcorn watching where this leads!!!

I bet LESH is watching from the shadows as well!;)

[JoelleK]

Easy there mentors :-) ... In terms of associates and masters...no comparison...my intent was to repeat what the person who wrote the comment stated...I was in no way implying one is greater than or less than in anyway so I apologize if it came off that way. Comparing apples to oranges meaning I don't think you can compare those 2 in the same way the comparison was being made to current programs vs. new programs as the level of education/skills coming out of them. I can't speak of an associate program's level as I have never attended one but if it meets ARC-PA standards then it is obviously giving the education that is being given at a bachelor's or master's level program so I would say there is no difference (which is what I was hoping my comment about med schools was making but apparently didn't come across that way).

 

JDTpac - thank you for clarifying...my intent was to just show that we all do not know the circumstances around each of these programs. We have many professionals in our community and surrounding areas willing to precept and teach us. They are excited! Perhaps I was too quick to jump the gun as well, as not all of the new/pipeline schools may be in an area that is willing to bestow upon them the great education that I am being afforded in my surrounding community. Maybe my blanket statement should also not have been one :-). I am from an area that does struggle with clinical sites SWPA but some of those reasons are not lack of places but lack of willingness to teach the next group of recruits (as you mentioned above).

 

I apologize for unnecessarily ruffling any feathers that I may have...no ill will intended whatsoever. Just trying to stick up for myself, my classmates, and our great teachers/community. As a new program, I would like to see it succeed and threads like this I believe will do more harm than good with blanket statements...perhaps even the ones I made myself. And no worries, JDT, no need to talk to my director about it...he's a member of the forum and will likely read this at some point :-)

[physasst]

How does the PA education in an associate level program differ from a master's level program? When you graduate what skills, knowledge will you have that a graduate of an associate program won't? Or did I not understand what you meant?

 

 

Yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that too. While I have a doctorate, 2 Master's, and a B.S.. I started practice as a graduate of an Associates program.

 

Methinks you might want to be careful with that line of thinking. Many of us older PAs were passing board exams, setting a high clinical example, fighting for clinical privileges, getting prescriptive rights, loosening supervisory restrictions, establishing the profession with physicians, and basically MAKING THE PROFESSION what it is today all with only Associates degrees.

 

Remember that the PA profession is still competency based. We are NOT a degree based profession (although SADLY, we are moving in that direction, which IMO is the WRONG direction) and we do not state that a PA graduate from a certificate, associates, bachelors, or masters program is different clinically from any other PA graduate. We all take the SAME PANCE/PANRE exam regardless of what initials we have behind our name.

 

I enjoyed my AS PA program, and it was hardly "easy". Additionally, I graduated with only 16k in student loans. Not many MS graduates can say that.

 

2 years is 2 years is 2 years. AS= prerequisites prior to the program and then 2 years PA school. BS= 2 years general studies/prereqs, and then 2 years PA school. MS= undergraduate degree and then 2 years PA school......

 

The degree awarded is meaningless. I've never ONCE in all my years as a PA had a physician ever ask me what degree I had as a PA....not once. They don't care. But, I'd be interested in your reply....

[JoelleK]

Physasst, et al. I never once said that AS program differs in standards from a BS or MS. I'm well aware that regardless of where we graduate from, as long as it is accredited, we all take the same pance. One of my very best friends has been a PA for over 25 years and I've sat and talked and watched him as he and others fought for everything that you noted above. I am not slamming or demeaning anyone with any letters as we all wear the same letters as clinicians when we pass the PANCE/PANRE. I'm not a young kid who is just coming into the workforce game ...this is a second career for me and I take it very seriously which is why I was standing up for my program. Again, no ill will intended whatsoever. I agree with everything you said above...If I could have gotten away with only 16K in loans I would have. That option was not one for me.

[robidf]

>10,000 hrs hce at application

 

This is more of what I was getting at...I could care less if someone majored in Drama and Theatre as long as they have sufficient healthcare experience to make a solid foundation for the mass of medical knowledge they will be gaining in PA school.

[SocialMedicine]

Too many schools=employment ssaturation

employment saturation=lower wages

Lower wages=lower quality applicants

Lower quality applicants=drop in pance sscores

low pance=school gets shut ddown

 

I think there are negative feedback safety measures in place

 

 

 

 

i would rather not wait the decade for these negative feedback mechanisms to take place. An entire generation will have a negative professional experience.

 

And you do not have to be a sophisticated, motivated, and accomplished PA to pass the PANCE. I see plenty of people in practice now that are not so impressive. Just spoke with an ED PA, as I am on call this week, who sounded GOOD SCHOOLS help produce GOOD PA's and the PANCE performance can certainly help suggest if a school is good ... but medicine is MUCH MORE than a multiple choice test. And being able to interact with patients, clinicians and get a quality patient outcome takes a type of pedigree that does much more than helps someone pass a test.

[Just Steve]

There is a fine dance to strike a balance between promoting the PA profession and controlling the growth so that it stays sustainable. Rapid inundation may create a glut, strangling ourselves like an explosion of invasive weeds. Controlled growth is more like profession landscaping. While it may not be natural, it is sustainable, organized, and appreciated by a wider audience.

 

I am of the opinion that the continued influx of students who lack previous health care experience will force the PA profession to change their education model. In previous years, the vast majority of PAs graduated PA school with thousands of hours of "direct hands on experience "on top of what they learned in school. They could quickly integrate into a variety of settings and were accustomed to improvising, adapting, and overcoming. Now, students are proving themselves academically adept at passing tests after studying for a prolonged period of time focused on a very stringent, narrow column of information. (blueprint exams set forth by the NCCPA). I personally believe the development of CAQ exams and the rapid rise in residency programs are a direct correlation to the declining amount of previous HCE that students have.

 

Schools will need bodies to fill seats. While there are many qualified people being turned away from PA schools, the precedence has been set that students lacking HCE are able to pass the PANCE and pay the tuition rates. With the Masters program going mandatory, PA programs will continue to cater to the direct track student who goes from high school, straight to undergrad, straight to grad school. The non traditional student who actually works in medicine at an allied health level for a few years will have even a longer road to get into PA school, having to "check the box" of achieving an undergrad degree, which will discourage them from choosing a path that was originally set up especially for them. By the time they may want to expand their medical career, they have landed a spouse, a couple of curtain climbers, and a mortgage.

 

PA will no longer represent "practically anything" when it comes to their integration into medicine. We will succumb to a similar fate of the nurse practitioner, narrowed in our scope of practice to a field that will require a return to school (residency program) should we want to sample a different path as an advanced practice provider. We will do this to ourselves by fooling ourselves that high PANCE scores are a direct correlation to clinical competence. (we do this as PANCE score is a quantifiable, clinical ability is not). Employers and insurance companies (the core root of compensation) have already proven their disbelief that a "simple 2 year program" is good enough to be fully credited with the scope of practice that PAs actually perform. It was less than 20 years ago before Medicare finally agreed to reimburse PAs who practiced outside of rural health, a single dime. And even then, the rate is only 80% of what a physician gets.

 

I vote that we approve the additional schools..but make a mandatory entrance requirement of a minimum of 2000 hours of direct health care. Not scribing, not volunteering, not shadowing, not phlebotomy...but actually taking patient's chief complaint, a brief history, a differential diagnosis list of some sort, and have an idea of what an appropriate treatment plan is. Start IVs, draw blood, run point of care labs, give shots, make splints, apply simple casts...list goes on. By applying this base entrance requirement, it will ensure that the clinical ability of a graduating PA will be at a level that will highlight the benefit of hiring PAs to be far superior to other options. I realize it's a pipe dream. I know Big Medical Business such as Kaiser, Providence, Adventist et al will never lobby to congress, demanding that PAs be reimbursed at a rate equal to physicians. Nor will they highlight the fact that the clinical requirements for PA is higher than that of NP, and in essence, are more qualified to work in an unsupervised role.

 

80 more schools by 2016...I wonder how many of those programs will actively send recruiters to military bases to speak at Separation Briefings as Sailors, Airmen, Soldiers prepare to depart active duty. How many of those programs will put out brochures in the EMS area of the local ERs to encourage paramedics to come apply?

 

Your guess is as good as mine...I am thankful I live in the Northwest where the PA culture is doing pretty well overall. I just need it to stay friendly for new grads with my particular background just for a few more months until I graduate so I can land a job. Let me get my foot in the door before we slam the hatch shut on our own appendages.

[rcdavis]

Well said...