ADVANCE Blog for PAs : Recertification

Practice-Focused PANRE Debut

Stephen Cornell — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:49:00 GMT

The NCCPA quietly rolled out the practice-focused PANRE this month.

Here's a little review from the NCCPA Web site:

Beginning in March 2009, PAs recertifying through PANRE will have a new choice to make. While 60% of the generalist exam will cover the same content as always, the remaining 40% can be directed in one of three areas:

Adult medicine
Surgery
Primary care

This new option gives PAs the opportunity to focus more of the exam on their general area of practice—or continue with “business as usual” by choosing the “primary care” option.

Link

12 Physician Assistant Moments for 2008

Stephen Cornell — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:07:00 GMT

This is the 448th and final post to the ADVANCE Blog for PAs in 2008. Check back on Jan. 2 for the first blog post of 2009.

Until then, here's a quick look back at some of the notable PA stories of the last year.

***

January
Annals of Family Medicine publishes a study that concludes, “Family practices employing NPs performed better than those with physicians only and those employing PAs.”
Link

February
Bill Leinweber officially joins the AAPA as its CEO and executive vice president.
Link

March
For the first time, ARC-PA grants accreditation to two clinical postgraduate PA programs: the MD Anderson Cancer Center postgraduate PA program in oncology and the Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Surgery postgraduate PA surgical residency.
Link

April
The Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants draws a record 400 PAs to its annual conference in Tucson, Ariz. Despite the shaky economy, many PA state and specialty conferences continue to draw crowds.
Link

May
PA Karen Bass is sworn in as the first African-American woman to serve as the speaker of California’s General Assembly.
Link

June
The Society of Dermatology Physician Assistants launches its Distance Learning Initiative to provide advanced training to experienced dermatology PAs.
Link

July
The NCCPA posts information about the new practice-focused PANRE on its Web site. Beginning in March 2009, PAs will be able to take recertification exams with some of the content focused on one of three areas: adult medicine, primary care or surgery.
Link

August
The Journal of Physician Assistant Education publishes a study about PA perceptions regarding entry-level doctorate degrees for the profession. The authors conclude that PAs participating in the study “do not favor the profession moving toward offering a DPA degree.”
Link

September
The number of accredited PA programs reaches an all-time high of 142.
Link

October
The Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants and ADVANCE name Washington PA Tom Hughes as the fourth Family Practice PA of the Year.
Link

November
AAPA president-elect Paul Robinson dies suddenly while returning from a meeting in Florida.
Link

December
California PA Steve Hanson wins a special election held to fill the vacant position of president-elect.
Link

Comments on ARC-PA's Standards

Stephen Cornell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:47:00 GMT

On the topic of ARC-PA’s standards for PA programs, I have two questions.

One, why does a PA program director need to be a PA or a physician? It certainly should be a consideration, but not a requirement.

At least two terrific PA educators were not PAs: PAEA immediate past president and University of Colorado Child Health Associate PA program interim director Anita Duhl Glicken, MSW, and former Northeastern University PA program director and APAP past president Suzanne Greenberg, MS.

In fact, a review of past APAP/PAEA presidents reveals several non-PAs: Ronald D. Garcia, Jesse Edwards, Denis Oliver, Stephen Gladhart and David Lewis.

Isn’t the pool of talented medical educators shallow enough? Why exclude qualified people simply because they are not PAs?

Also, why must PA program directors be currently certified? Many program directors do not remain in clinical practice. Current certification is seems irrelevant to the ability to run a quality PA program.

Link

NCCPA's Solution for Specialty PAs

Stephen Cornell — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:51:00 GMT

Back in May 2006, the NCCPA pledged to develop "a solution to meet the needs of specialty PAs."

Since that time, the NCCPA has done a great job creating productive debate about the problems facing PAs in specialties. But it really hasn't offered any solutions.

The NCCPA hasn't forgotten its pledge. At its August board of directors meeting in Banff, Canada, the NCCPA BOD again discussed the challenges facing specialty PAs and created a work group to come up with a solution proposal by mid-2010.

Discussion on Specialty Item Development
The Board engaged in a robust discussion regarding the potential need to begin development of specialty-related items to enhance NCCPA's current item pools and at the conclusion of the discussion authorized management to begin that process and provide regular reports to the Board. In a related discussion, the Board recognized that the organization had not resolved its response to the needs of specialty PAs and tasked an ad hoc workgroup to continue those discussions and offer a solution by mid-2010 to the Board for consideration. In so doing, the Board agreed that the organization should adopt as a philosophy that the evolving certification maintenance processes and the PA competencies should guide the workgroup's discussions.

Link

Meet the Practice-Focused PANRE

Stephen Cornell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:21:00 GMT

NCCPA has posted to its Web site information about the practice-focused PANRE.

Beginning in March 2009, PAs recertifying through PANRE will have a new choice to make. While 60% of the generalist exam will cover the same content as always, the remaining 40% can be directed in one of three areas:

Adult medicine

Surgery
Primary care

This new option gives PAs the opportunity to focus more of the exam on their general area of practice—or continue with “business as usual” by choosing the “primary care” option.

Link

10-Year PA Recertification Cycle?

Stephen Cornell — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:38:00 GMT

It seems as though Pennsylvania PA Bernie Stuetz's effort to increase the length PA recertification cycle to 10 years is gaining momemtum.

Stuetz wrote "A Plan to Revise PA Recertification" for ADVANCE in 2006 and introduced a related resolution at the 2007 AAPA House of Delegates.

Here's an excerpt from Stuetz's ADVANCE article.

Among the problems with the current recertification system is the lack of defining and proving competence in the PA profession. Another is the fact that PAs and physicians are being treated differently. PAs should recertify every 10 years, as the ABMS recommends for its physician specialty organizations. This could be gradually put in place to coincide with the dissolution of pathway II in 2010, as the American Board of Family Medicine is doing.

Link