When I first decided to go to PA school, I worried about being taken seriously as a clinician. I was concerned that my physician and nursing colleagues might think, “Oh, she is just a PA” when I made diagnostic and treatment decisions. I feared my patients would ask, “When do I get to see a real doctor?” Then, during PA school, I had skilled teachers, dedicated mentors, and caring classmates who helped dispel those worries. Now, in practice, I get to work with committed PAs whose clinical expertise is respected and with physicians who value the care we provide. I am proud to be a PA and even prouder of our profession. I still, occasionally, have to explain why I am not “continuing on to become a doctor,” but it happens less frequently as patients become more educated about the important role we play in the health care system.
As PAs, we are part of a team, and I believe with all my heart that our patients get better care as a result of this collaboration. However, sometimes because of the licensing, prescribing, and billing requirements for PAs, our contributions are attributed to our supervising physicians; we may not get the credit we deserve for the work we do.
One of the areas where PAs are not receiving credit is women's health care. I know PAs are caring for women every day. We may not identify ourselves as OB/GYN PAs because we may work in pediatrics or family practice or internal medicine or emergency departments. However, we take care of women of all ages, races, sexual orientations, and gender identities. We prescribe contraceptives, hormone therapy, osteoporosis treatments, incontinence therapy, antihypertensives, antihyperglycemics, antidepressants, and thyroid treatments for our female patients. We provide prenatal care and perform Pap smears, colposcopies, breast exams, and other cancer screenings. We answer questions about vitamins and alternative therapies from women patients, family members, and friends. We educate ourselves about how health disparities affect our female patients and consider how diseases present and progress differently in women.
So that we may be counted for the work we do with and on behalf of our patients, I am asking our readers to take a moment to answer a few brief survey questions. Please click here to help us identify procedures performed by PAs and the types of prescriptions written by PAs for female patients. We hope to use this information to improve the content of JAAPA and be certain we are meeting the needs of our readers.
Amy Klingler practices primary care at the Salmon River Clinic in Stanley, Idaho.