Why we all are PAs
What is it about being a PA that captured our imagination, helped us to find our professional “voice,” and snagged us almost immediately into thinking we wanted to take that journey? Here are just a few of what I believe are universal qualities in PAs. I believe they help to explain why we got started in the profession and why we've stayed.
Helping others is a major motivation behind wanting to become a PA. Certainly, there are many ways to help others, but I believe that PAs bring two special qualities to the professional table: compassion and empathy. These two characteristics together blend an awareness of another person's suffering with the ability to identify with and understand that person's situation. Compassion and empathy mean more than just caring for a patient. They mean also being willing to step out of our own shoes and into those of another. The connection that PAs have with our patients is not founded on the traditional doctor-patient hierarchy but is more of a collaborative relationship.
Medical curiosity is another driving force behind becoming a PA. Granted, curiosity was probably not the emotion you were feeling when you anxiously applied to PA school and even more anxiously took the certification or recertification examinations. Nonetheless, I believe PAs have a strong urge to know as much as they can about the field of medicine—what happens when people get sick and what needs to be done to get them well. Who isn't challenged by developing a plan of care or intrigued by learning about a new and more effective therapy? Who doesn't enjoy sitting around telling war stories about an unusual patient, an interesting finding, an amazing recovery?
Our diversity is one of the most interesting aspects of the physician assistant profession. We come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Some PA students are new college graduates. Other PA students are older and beginning a second career. Some PAs are men in their 20s; others are women in their 40s. Some of us have been emergency medical techs, nurses, lab techs, teachers, ministers, or working mothers. It's the range of our differences that, ironically, is one of our strengths. Thank goodness there is no such thing as a “typical” PA.
Being part of a respected health profession is one of the key motivators in becoming—and staying—a PA. By definition, PAs are always a part of a team—the physician-PA team. The PA profession is committed to practicing medicine with supervision, using the strengths of each team member in the clinical practice setting.3 Strong support and advocacy for PAs is the mission of our national organization, the AAPA, which promotes the professional and personal development of PAs while also promoting high-quality, cost-effective, accessible health care.4
The Eugene A. Stead, Jr. Center pays tribute to a man known as the “father of the PA profession.” It also houses the new headquarters of the North Carolina Academy of Physician Assistants and the Physician Assistant History Center (www.pahx.org/). Established in 2001, the Physician Assistant History Center is dedicated to the study, preservation, and presentation of the history of the PA profession. This repository of information was gleaned from many different people and places. Its development speaks to the importance of documenting our profession's past and should be a source of pride for all of us. This shared history is our heritage and is another reason, I believe, why so many PAs are still PAs.
Remembering our stories
Perhaps I have jogged your memory and now you remember what you felt when you learned about the PA profession. Perhaps I have reminded you that a similar bell went off in your head. For a faculty member of mine, the ringing of the bell and applying to PA school happened the same day. She told me the story of how she learned about PAs from a physician neighbor. Coincidentally, she lived near a PA program. She was so enthusiastic when her “bell” rang that she got in her car, drove to the PA program, went to the front desk, and said with a smile, “I want to be a PA. Where do I sign up?” JAAPA
Th author is the editor in chief of JAAPA.
REFERENCES
1. Torrieri M. In memoriam: Malcolm Beinfield, M.D., founder of first community-based PA surgical program. AAPA News. March 30, 2006:3.
2. Doscher C. North Carolina PAs enter new era. AAPA News. March 30, 2006:3.
3. American Academy of Physician Assistants. Issue Brief. The Physician-PA team. Available at: http://www.aapa.org/gandp/issuebrief/pateamb.pdf. Accessed May 3, 2006.
4. American Academy of Physician Assistants, Mission Statement. Available at: http://www.aapa.org/mission.html. Accessed May 3, 2006.