Juliet: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” OK, a show of hands. Who would prefer we change the name of our profession? Should it be physician assistant or physician associate? Or something else entirely? The Case for Physician Assistant Patients are already confused by what we do. […]
The PA Life Blog
The Future of Physician Assistant Education: Stop Stealing Dreams
Have you heard of Seth Godin’s free education manifesto Stop Stealing Dreams? In this manifesto, he discusses the history of education in America. How it was tailored to create “cogs in an industrial machine” rather than the much-needed linchpin’s necessary to drive future innovations. “School has become an industrialized system, working on a huge scale, […]
To be a Great Physician Assistant Focus on Patients not Numbers
ast night, was a late night in the clinic. It was also a very long day. If you looked at my “numbers” you may wonder why. But nothing bothers me more than converting patients into numbers. It goes against everything I signed up for when I chose to become a physician assistant. In order to do […]
Physician Assistant vs. Nurse Practitioner vs. Medical Doctor
Medical Profession Comparison Chart: Medical Assistant vs. Nurse vs. Nurse Practitioner vs. Physician Assistant vs. Family Practice Physician (updated ) *Programs vary, and the following represents averages for each vocation. Category Medical Assistant (MA) Nurse (RN, BSN) Nurse Practitioner (NP) Physician Assistant (PA) Physician (MD) Prerequisite Education None None Bachelor’s Degree in nursing and clinical […]
What it Means to be a Physician Assistant: My Journey to PA-C
For lots of people, medicine is a calling. Is it your calling? In college, all I could think about was providing healthcare to those in need. I am not sure where this desire came from, but I aspired to it from an early age. I remember the excitement I would have when I had the […]
Why Religion and Health Care Shouldn’t Mix–A Contraceptive Conundrum
A good portion of what I do as a family practice Physician Assistant involves counseling women and men about birth control. I have also gone to public schools and counseled junior high school students about puberty and sex. One thing is for certain… the answer to solving America’s health care problems is definitely not placing […]