May 2009 - Posts

AAPA Town Hall Meeting Wrap
May 25, 2009 12:46 PM by Terri Schaefer

Late yesterday afternoon, AAPA president Cindy Lord, president-elect Steve Hanson and CEO Bill Leinweber were panelists at the academy’s inaugural Town Hall meeting. Questions of any sort were encouraged from the in-person audience, as well as from participants Read More...

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AAPA Treasurer's Report
May 23, 2009 7:38 PM by Michael Gerchufsky

One fascinating annual presentation at the AAPA HOD that we at ADVANCE try not to miss is the treasurer's report. Bruce Fichandler, PA, manages to simultaneously cram the report with humor and a large amount of data about the finances of the academy. Read More...

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AAPA San Diego Update
May 23, 2009 7:13 PM by Michael Gerchufsky

Saturday has been a busy day so far at the AAPA Conference. At the general session this morning, AAPA president Cindy Lord promised that PAs no longer will be the "curious omission" in discussions of policy and public awareness. Later, CEO Bill Leinweber Read More...

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AAPA Conference Begins Saturday
May 21, 2009 1:51 PM by Michael Gerchufsky

The ADVANCE for Physician Assistants staff is headed to San Diego for the annual AAPA conference. Keep up with conference events on here on the ADVANCE blog for PAs , at our Facebook page and on our Twitter feed. For an audio preview, listen to editor Read More...

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Med Students, Branding and Tchotchkes
May 20, 2009 2:41 PM by Michael Gerchufsky

The authors of a study in the May 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine find that "subtle exposures to branded pharmaceutical promotional items influences implicit attitudes of medical students toward pharmaceutical brands." The randomized controlled Read More...

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PAs on TV This Summer
May 18, 2009 12:02 PM by Terri Schaefer

For those who enjoyed having fictional PA Jeanie Boulet on “ER,” the cable network USA has a new show for you—“Royal Pains,” premiering June 4 at 10 p.m. The show’s main character is Dr. Hank Lawson, who becomes jobless and ends up as a “concierge doctor” Read More...

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Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud
May 13, 2009 3:47 PM by Michael Gerchufsky

Minutes after I posted "'What is a PA?' Redux," my colleague, Terri Schaefer, directed my attention to the dreadful, ignorant and scathing comments posted by readers at the end of the "Filling the gaps with midlevel health providers" article at Knoxvillebiz.com Read More...

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'What Is a PA?' Redux
May 13, 2009 2:57 PM by Michael Gerchufsky

While it serves nobody for us to post every published "Health Care 101: Intro to PAs" article, here's one worth mentioning. This news feature is notable not only because is it an excellent description of the profession, but also because it focuses more Read More...

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A PA Who Runs Every Day
May 12, 2009 2:33 PM by Terri Schaefer

Pennsylvania PA S. Mark Courtney has run for 10,740 straight days —every day for more than 29 years. He has competed in more than 140 marathons, including running the Boston Marathon 30 times. “There were days when I didn’t want to [run] and days I should Read More...

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Canadian Military PAs Serve Afghanistan, Too
May 11, 2009 10:13 AM by Michael Gerchufsky

This article from newsdurhamregion.com , the home page for seven newspapers in the Durham, Ontario, area, reminds us that PAs in the U.S. military aren't the only ones serving in Afghanistan. Bearing gifts of scorpion keychains and volcanic rock, a Canadian Read More...

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A Sign of the Times in Washington
May 11, 2009 9:57 AM by Michael Gerchufsky

I've noticed an increase in the number of profiles in the news about clinics that serve uninsured and underinsured Americans. Maybe the dire economic conditions eventually can help lead to a solution to this decades-old problem, which now has been driven Read More...

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A PA Helps 'Win the Hearts and Minds of Afghans'
May 11, 2009 9:43 AM by Michael Gerchufsky

A Fox news article on Saturday features an Army PA stationed at the medical clinic at Camp Tillman in southeastern Afghanistan, and describes how he and his colleagues offer local Afghans much more than painkillers and antidiarrheals. [W]ithout a local Read More...

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What Do PAs Do ... in Canada?
May 8, 2009 1:08 PM by Michael Gerchufsky

A new twist on the time-tested "What Is a PA" feature, which you can count on being published in a U.S. newspaper somewhere at least once a month, 40-odd years after the profession debuted. The difference this time: It's about PAs in Canada. From yesterday's Read More...

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Convicted Fake PA Gets 2 Years in California
May 7, 2009 10:30 AM by Michael Gerchufsky

A California man has pleaded guilty to numerous felony counts for impersonating a PA and was sentenced to two years in prison. From the OC Register : Steve Armand Martinez, 60, San Juan Capistrano, pleaded guilty to four felony count of the unauthorized Read More...

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PA’s Baby Wouldn’t Wait
May 6, 2009 2:21 PM by Terri Schaefer

The Buffalo News published a story on New York PA Julie Schmidt , who last week delivered her daughter, Leighton, in the parking lot of the hospital while her husband was looking for the entrance to the emergency department. “It was such a wonderful, Read More...

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California PA Honored for Cofounding Free Clinic
May 5, 2009 3:23 PM by Terri Schaefer

California PA Karen Kushner was one of two women honored with a Making a Difference for Women award from the Soroptimist International of Chico for working to improve the lives of women and girls. Nancy Morgans-Ferguson and Karen Kushner founded Shalom Read More...

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New PA Review Guide Available
May 4, 2009 3:57 PM by Terri Schaefer

David Paulk, EdD, PA-C, and Donna Agnew, MT, PA-C, of the Arcadia PA program in Glenside, Pa., have written Physician Assistant Review Guide . Physician Assistant Review Guide is a comprehensive overview for physician assistants preparing for the Physician Read More...

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