"Physician Assistant Ain't It!"

I believe that the name change is past overdue. We have to have a professional name that reflect who we are and what we do. Are we really assistants? I don't think so.

Calling us assistants is confusing to patients. They sometimes don't want to see us because they think we are not real health care professionals and think that we are just "assistants." They confuse us with medical assistants.

The name change is important not only for the profession but for the health care community as a whole.

i totally agree we have to keep on pushing for this issue...we must  rename the physician assistant title into something much more accurate and respected, i urge everyone to join the physician assistant group profile on facebook so that we can discuss this very important subject that obviously needs attention ASAP.....i belive that physician assistants are powerful enough to make it happen, if we dont do this  no one else will do so the future of our profession is in our hands otherwise  people will never really learn what we're actually capable of and  not to mention there's our counterpart who's always trying to put us down called NURSE PRACTIONERS......this is simply a battle that we must win or else we go down the drain

...I like Deputy Doctor...

Physician Associate definitely sounds more appropriate.

Every time we say our name to people who w treat for the first time, they hear medical assistant.

As I ahve said before, the name is confusing, misleading as we are the only "assistants" who Dx, Rx and are help to the same standard as the people we assist. Outright crazy.

Dave

Very refreshing to not only see a response from someone different but a logical comment published in the official journal of the AAPA. I agree with Steve , Kudos to Mr. Lyons as well as to JAAPA for being true to the needs and desires of PAs in the trenches.%0d%0aBob Blumm