An Open Letter To: MULTIPLE EM GROUPS
Posted on 20th Feb 2022 04:35:03 in Other
Tagged as: pa, belittled, em residency, scott stegall, pa fellowship, emergency departments,
PAs for Tomorrow (PAFT) conveys our displeasure regarding the “Joint Statement Regarding Post-Graduate Training of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants” released September 3, 2020, by multiple emergency medicine (EM) organizations. Their statement condemns physician assistant (PA) colleagues that have chosen to treat our nation’s patients by completing specialized post-graduate training in EM through residency or fellowship programs. To attempt to diminish the value of a PA’s endeavor to further his or her training is exceptionally short-sighted and entirely unnecessary.
PAFT wholeheartedly agrees with a portion of their statement, “all who provide care in the Emergency Department setting must be appropriately trained.: The focus of a PA EM residency or fellowship is exactly that—to train PAs to a heightened level of skill and clinical ability. PAs have served in emergency departments (EDs) nationwide for the past 50 years. With ever-increasing ED patient volumes, it is paramount that PAs be encouraged to seek additional training by our physician colleagues, not belittled for it.
PAFT reminds the undersigned that PAs have striven for decades to maintain and promote a healthy and productive relationship with our physician colleagues. PAs have never attempted to deny or minimize the importance of physician-led health care teams. From our research, a majority of PA EM post-graduate training programs do, in fact, have physicians on the faculty and are actively involved in the training of PAs. For instance, web pages for John Hopkins EM PA Residency, Missouri School of Medicine EM PA Fellowship, and Eastern Virginia Medical School EM PA Fellowship programs all list a physician on their faculty list. So, to infer that PA EMresidencies/fellowships are void of physician instruction or influence is simply incorrect.
PAFT encourages all PAs who wish to pursue EM specialized post-graduate training to continue to do so and dismiss the anti-PA rhetoric that is unfounded and entirely unnecessary. PAFT will continue to stand beside our PA colleagues to promote our profession and contribute to meeting the Nation’s medical needs.
Sincerely,
Board of Directors, PAs for Tomorrow
Dr. Scott Stegall, Past-President
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