On May 24'th, 2021, the AAPA made an "earth-shattering" announcement when they proclaimed that "the AAPA House of Delegates (HOD) passed a resolution affirming “physician associate” as the official title for the PA profession."
For many, like myself, who took the AAPA name change survey in 2019, we breathed an instant sigh of relief. This certainly would mean the death of the AAPA/WPPs survey approved title "Medical Care Practitioner" and, even worse, "Praxician!"
For others, like my colleague Jane, a 27-year seasoned PA veteran, the news didn't seem to shatter her earth at all. I could tell when she looked up at me and said, "Oh, I didn't know the name change was a thing?"
But for those of you who are Pre-PAs running on the CASPA hamster wheel, the AAPA threw a wrench in your gears.
Wanting to come across as knowledgeable and not wanting to offend anyone (especially the PA school ADCOMs), you may be wondering how to address the PA profession on your CASPA personal statement.
How to Address the PA Profession on Your CASPA Personal Statement
In the press release, the AAPA made it clear that "It is inappropriate for PAs to hold themselves out as “physician associates” at this time until legislative and regulatory changes are made to incorporate the new title."
For this reason, I suggest you continue to write “physician assistant (PA)” on your CASPA personal statement.
Can PAs start calling themselves “physician associates” now? Here is the AAPA's most up-to-date guidance!
Be Prepared to Express Your Feelings on the Physician Assistant/Associate Name Change
Although you will continue to use physician assistant (PA) in your communications with PA schools, colleagues, and the PA school admissions committee, I recommend you do your homework regarding the physician assistant/physician associate name change.
I can guarantee that along with other hot topics (such as optimal team practice), you will be asked questions regarding the PA name change come interview time.
It's time to ditch the one-line canned response that focuses on the term "assistant" versus "associate" and be prepared to deep dive with some cold hard facts that show you have done your homework and you are interested in the future of the PA profession.
The PA Doctor authored an excellent article earlier this year weighing in on the PA name change. Here are some thoughts from that article (and this one) that you should consider:
- The WPP estimates that the total cost of the change from physician assistant to physician associate will be $21 million over 5 years.
- There is more than meets the eye with the PA name change. PAs are the only major healthcare provider without a terminal doctorate. How could this be addressed in the coming years?
- Physician associate is hardly a new idea - the Yale PA program has continued to train “physician associates” since its inception in 1971.
- AAPA Survey respondents were split between Medical Care Practitioner and Physician Associate. Respondents inside the profession, i.e., PAs and PA students, chose Physician Associate while “employers, physicians, and patients” preferred Medical Care Practitioner. WPP suggested the acronym MCP. What do you think?
- Apparently, WPP considered the similarity between the Physician Associate acronym (PA) and the current Physician Assistant acronym (also PA) to be a bad thing? Really? What do you think?
- How does the name change fit in with the above-mentioned optimal team practice? How about full practice authority (FPA)?
- How does the name physician associate relate to PAs around the world?
These are just some of the things the recent name change should get you thinking about.
Assistant, for now, Associates forever?
Although, for now, I advise you to keep the "assistant" in the PA on your CASPA application essay, you must understand this name change is the first domino in a chain of events that is likely to rock the PA profession in the coming years.
If you understand this, you understand the PA profession, and this is what the PA school ADCOMs want to see most in your PA school application (and during your interview).
- Stephen Pasquini PA-C
View all posts in this series
- How to Write the Perfect Physician Assistant School Application Essay
- The Physician Assistant Essay and Personal Statement Collaborative
- Do You Recognize These 7 Common Mistakes in Your Personal Statement?
- 7 Essays in 7 Days: PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 1, “A PA Changed My Life”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 2, “I Want to Move Towards the Forefront of Patient Care”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 3, “She Smiled, Said “Gracias!” and Gave me a Big Hug”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 4, “I Have Gained so Much Experience by Working With Patients”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 5, “Then Reach, my Son, and Lift Your People up With You”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 6, “That First Day in Surgery was the First Day of the Rest of my Life”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 7, “I Want to Take People From Dying to Living, I Want to Get Them Down From the Cliff.”
- Physician Assistant Personal Statement Workshop: “To say I was an accident-prone child is an understatement”
- 9 Simple Steps to Avoid Silly Spelling and Grammar Goofs in Your PA School Personel Statement
- 5 Tips to Get you Started on Your Personal Essay (and why you should do it now)
- How to Write Your Physician Assistant Personal Statement The Book!
- How to Write “Physician Assistant” The Definitive PA Grammar Guide
- 101 PA School Admissions Essays: The Book!
- 5 Things I’ve Learned Going Into My Fourth Physician Assistant Application Cycle
- 7 Tips for Addressing Shortcomings in Your PA School Personal Statement
- The #1 Mistake PRE-PAs Make on Their Personal Statement
- The Ultimate PA School Personal Statement Starter Kit
- The Ultimate Guide to CASPA Character and Space Limits
- 10 Questions Every PA School Personal Statement Must Answer
- 5 PA School Essays That Got These Pre-PAs Accepted Into PA School
- 7 Questions to Ask Yourself While Writing Your PA School Personal Statement
- 101 PA School Applicants Answer: What’s Your Greatest Strength?
- 12 Secrets to Writing an Irresistible PA School Personal Statement
- 7 Rules You Must Follow While Writing Your PA School Essay
- You Have 625 Words and 2.5 Minutes to Get Into PA School: Use Them Wisely
- What’s Your #1 Personal Statement Struggle?
- 31 (NEW) CASPA PA School Personal Statement Examples
- How to Prepare for Your PA School Interview Day Essay
- Should You Write Physician Associate or Physician Assistant on Your PA School Essay?
- Meet the World’s Sexiest PA School Applicants
- PA School Reapplicants: How to Rewrite Your PA School Essay for Guaranteed Success
- How to Write a Personal Statement Intro that Readers Want to Read
- PA School Reapplicant Personal Statement Checklist
- How to Deal with Bad News in Your Personal Statement
- Inside Out: How to use Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling to Improve your PA Personal Statement
- Ratatouille: A Pixar Recipe for PA School Personal Statement Success
- Personal Statement Panel Review (Replay)
- Mind Mapping: A Tool for Personal Statements, Supplemental Essays, and Interviews
- Start at the End: Advice for your PA School Personal Statement
- Elevate Your Personal Statement: Using Bloom’s Taxonomy for Impactful Writing
William Cornelison, PA says
The name physician associate is not the best choice for our name change for at least the following reasons:
1. It does not describe who we are. A physician associate is someone who relates with physicians. This is a relational term, not a descriptive term. I am first and foremost a medical provider. I may work with physicians, but I also work with many other professions in the medical community. My identity is not tied to a physician as this name suggests.
2. Any profession that defines itself by another profession will be seen as a secondary position to the public. Name a major independent profession that defines itself by another profession. Our profession needs to move towards the realm of independent practitioner. We are losing jobs daily because we are not independent practitioners.
3. Similarly the name continues to tie us to the hip to physicians. The profession has matured and needs stand on its own merits. We should not depend on another profession even in our name. Physician associate continues to have a paternalistic nature as our current name.
A better choice would be medical practitioner or clinical practitioner. Both names are descriptive and communicate who we are and what we do. We could think a little outside the box and further describe ourselves depending on our specialty, such as Clinical Practitioner of Internal Medicine, or Clinical Practitioner of Neurology, etc. We could even have our competency exams in each discipline instead of the one exam fits all. Our national organization could be Association of Clinical Practitioners, or if the PAs at large chose medical practitioner, we could be Association of Medical Practitioners.
Either of these names would be descriptive of who we are and what we do, far more than physician associate. Over the years one questions from patients that have caused me grief is “what is a PA?” Or are you like a nurse? Both medical practitioner and clinical practitioner are terms clearly communicate our function, and are phrases that are familiar to the public We are medically trained and are we are providers. The name physician associate does not go far enough in describing who we are and is not worth the millions that will cost to change our name. Physician associate keeps us in some of the same dilemmas that we find ourselves in today. I don’t wish or want to chose that for the generations that are yet to come. We can do better.
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Hi William! You certainly nailed it! It seems that as long as the word “physician” is in our title, we will be forever chasing our tails which is why I understand your reasoning for wanting to escape this completely.
But a name change will always come with problems. The PA acronym is now recognizable to most patients (and has a positive association), and rebranding away from this acronym may only serve to further confuse matters. This is why I am not a big fan of medical practitioner or clinical practitioner as a name. Besides the fact that it seems oftly generic there are other considerations – I thought the PA doctor covered this beautifully in this article: https://thepadoctor.com/medical-care-practitioner/
From that article:
Can you imagine the conversations should PAs change their title to Medical Care Practitioner? Can you imagine the questions every front desk person would have to answer?
“We have a 2:00 appointment with Mr. Jones, our MCP.”
“What’s an MCP? Is that like an NP?”
“No, it stands for Medical Care Practitioner.”
“What is a Medical Care Practitioner?”
“Oh, they used to be called PAs or Physician Assistants.”
“Aren’t they all medical care practitioners?”
“Yes, I suppose they are…”
Or maybe it would go something like this:
“We have a few appointments available today. Whom would you like to see? Dr. Smith, the NP or the Medical Care Practitioner?”
“Well, I have no idea what that last one is, so I would rather just see the doctor.”
The AMA just wrote an interesting article titled “PA rebrand as “physician associates” will deepen patient confusion” => https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/scope-practice/pa-rebrand-physician-associates-will-deepen-patient-confusion.
In the article, they state that “The AMA will “actively advocate that the stand-alone title ‘physician’ be used only to refer to doctors of allopathic medicine (MDs) and doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs), and not be used in ways that have the potential to mislead patients about the level of training and credentials of nonphysician health care worker.”
Stephen
Hung Nguyen, DMSc, PA says
I always wished for two things when I was a younger PA in clinical practice. The first thing is the profession’s name needed to change to “associate” from “assistant” to reflect who we are and what we do. Second, the PA needed to advance their academic level to the doctorate. When I went to the PA school in the early 1980s, my program name was the physician associate program. When I graduated, I became a physician assistant. Was that a switched and baited situation?
It’s a step in the right direction for the profession to obtain the associate name and doctorate level, and now it’s time!
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Thanks, Hung, for your thoughtful comment. I did not know that our name was originally “associate” and then changed to “assistant” until I wrote and researched this blog post. That must have been a bit of a shock when it happened at the time, and it makes sense why these would be the go-to name for our profession again moving forward.
I have had mixed feelings about a name change, but coming to a consensus that everyone can be happy with moving forward will be good for our profession.
Thanks again!
Stephen Pasquini PA-C