6. Action. At the risk of sounding like a cheerleader, being part of the NP or PA profession is something special; it always has been and always will be. Our professions have grown impressively in numbers, utilization, and stature. We need to cultivate and support our professions and their representative organizations (ie, AANP and AAPA).
In the early decades of each profession, individuals with a great deal of passion and dedication created, advanced, and led these organizations on both state and national levels—and even an international level. You know who they are! Without them, we would not have made the strides that we have as professionals—the attainment of licensure, authority, and reimbursement.
Now that we are being truly recognized for our role in the health care team and our contributions to patient care, some of us may become complacent with regard to our professional organizations. But there will always be legislative and regulatory gains to make, and strong representation (and “strength in numbers”) is the best way to achieve our professional goals. Please, let’s continue to support our organizations not only via membership (which provides funding for initiatives) but also by participating in whatever ways we can to further our professions.
If we are going to fully cement our place in America’s health care system, NPs and PAs must strive to keep up the national dialogue about our patients, their needs, and how our contributions address those needs. I hope you agree. Please share your thoughts with me at PAEditor@frontline medcom.com.
REFERENCES
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2. Physician Assistant History Society. Eugene A. Stead Jr, MD. http://pahx.org/stead-jr-eugene. Accessed January 16, 2015.
3. Kartha A, Restuccia J, Burgess J, et al. Nurse practitioner and physician assistant scope of practice in 118 acute care hospitals. J Hosp Med. 2014:9(10); 615-620.
4. Naylor MD, Kurtzman ET. The role of nurse practitioners in reinventing primary care. Health Affairs. 2010;29(5):893-899.
5. Horrocks S, Anderson E, Salisbury C. Systematic review of whether nurse practitioners working in primary care can provide equivalent care to doctors. BMJ. 2002;324:819-823.
6. Halter M, Drennan V, Chattopadhyay K, et al. The contribution of physician assistants in primary care: a systematic review. BMC Health Services Research. 2013;13:223-236.
7. Hooker RS, Everett CM. The contributions of physician assistants in primary care systems. Health Social Care Commun. 2012;20(1):20-31.
8. US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. The US Health Workforce Chartbook. Part 1: Clinicians. Rockville, MD; 2013.
9. Hooker R. A physician assistant institute [editorial]. J Phys Assist Ed. 2014;25(3):5-6.