I, like many PA students and currently practicing members in the profession, closely follow news associated with said profession. The PA profession, still being relatively young, is a tight-knit one, and whenever an issue arises within the field, it is widely talked about on the PA blogs and news sites. Upon logging onto my Facebook page this morning, my news feed displayed the news from one of the PA blog pages I follow, and a very interesting article was linked, which I enclose below. It speaks of the suggestion that a change of title be employed, and that "Physician Assistant" be changed to "Physician Associate," to clear up any ambiguities there are within the general public about what we actually do, and what responsibilities we have.
I, for one, am 100% in favor of the seemingly simple name change, that has the potential to drastically change how people outside of the medical profession see us. Even though I haven't even started school yet, I have lost count of the hundreds of times that I have had to explain exactly what PAs do, often because the word "assistant" throws many people off; most people assume that Physician Assistants are on the same level as Medical Assistants, which couldn't be further from the truth. The word "assistant" really isn't quite accurate anymore, seeing as how PAs have a very distinct set of responsibilities and duties when it comes to patient care. Since we are trained under the medical model, the same model that doctors are educated under, we can perform many of the duties as doctors, such as physical exams, ordering/interpreting tests, prescribing medications, and assisting in surgery. Medical assistants, on the other hand, take vitals and ready the patient for the PA/Dr. to perform their duties.
When I explain to others that PAs have such a wide scope of duties, many question my decision to attend PA school, and not go for medical school. Again, this one silly word causes many of the people that know me to assume that I am settling for an "assistant" job, rather than "suck it up" and become a Dr. But it is purely a lifestyle choice, one that allows me to have the kind of life that I want, and treat my patients in a way that I envision medical care to be.
Even though a name change, if it is to happen, is far from occurring, I have hopes that it would cut down the confusion and more accurately reflect the rich history and wonderful scope of the profession I have chosen to dedicate my life to.
For the full article, click the link:
http://physician-assistant.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=219643
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Hi, my name is Katie, and I'm a Physician Assistant (Associate?)
I, like many PA students and currently practicing members in the profession, closely follow news associated with said profession. The PA profession, still being relatively young, is a tight-knit one, and whenever an issue arises within the field, it is widely talked about on the PA blogs and news sites. Upon logging onto my Facebook page this morning, my news feed displayed the news from one of the PA blog pages I follow, and a very interesting article was linked, which I enclose below. It speaks of the suggestion that a change of title be employed, and that "Physician Assistant" be changed to "Physician Associate," to clear up any ambiguities there are within the general public about what we actually do, and what responsibilities we have.
I, for one, am 100% in favor of the seemingly simple name change, that has the potential to drastically change how people outside of the medical profession see us. Even though I haven't even started school yet, I have lost count of the hundreds of times that I have had to explain exactly what PAs do, often because the word "assistant" throws many people off; most people assume that Physician Assistants are on the same level as Medical Assistants, which couldn't be further from the truth. The word "assistant" really isn't quite accurate anymore, seeing as how PAs have a very distinct set of responsibilities and duties when it comes to patient care. Since we are trained under the medical model, the same model that doctors are educated under, we can perform many of the duties as doctors, such as physical exams, ordering/interpreting tests, prescribing medications, and assisting in surgery. Medical assistants, on the other hand, take vitals and ready the patient for the PA/Dr. to perform their duties.
When I explain to others that PAs have such a wide scope of duties, many question my decision to attend PA school, and not go for medical school. Again, this one silly word causes many of the people that know me to assume that I am settling for an "assistant" job, rather than "suck it up" and become a Dr. But it is purely a lifestyle choice, one that allows me to have the kind of life that I want, and treat my patients in a way that I envision medical care to be.
Even though a name change, if it is to happen, is far from occurring, I have hopes that it would cut down the confusion and more accurately reflect the rich history and wonderful scope of the profession I have chosen to dedicate my life to.
For the full article, click the link:
http://physician-assistant.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=219643
I, for one, am 100% in favor of the seemingly simple name change, that has the potential to drastically change how people outside of the medical profession see us. Even though I haven't even started school yet, I have lost count of the hundreds of times that I have had to explain exactly what PAs do, often because the word "assistant" throws many people off; most people assume that Physician Assistants are on the same level as Medical Assistants, which couldn't be further from the truth. The word "assistant" really isn't quite accurate anymore, seeing as how PAs have a very distinct set of responsibilities and duties when it comes to patient care. Since we are trained under the medical model, the same model that doctors are educated under, we can perform many of the duties as doctors, such as physical exams, ordering/interpreting tests, prescribing medications, and assisting in surgery. Medical assistants, on the other hand, take vitals and ready the patient for the PA/Dr. to perform their duties.
When I explain to others that PAs have such a wide scope of duties, many question my decision to attend PA school, and not go for medical school. Again, this one silly word causes many of the people that know me to assume that I am settling for an "assistant" job, rather than "suck it up" and become a Dr. But it is purely a lifestyle choice, one that allows me to have the kind of life that I want, and treat my patients in a way that I envision medical care to be.
Even though a name change, if it is to happen, is far from occurring, I have hopes that it would cut down the confusion and more accurately reflect the rich history and wonderful scope of the profession I have chosen to dedicate my life to.
For the full article, click the link:
http://physician-assistant.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=219643
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