Pa - Physician Assistant

EMT2PAC said:
Assistant Physician or Associate Physician makes it clear that the person isn't a full physician (aka Assistant/Associate Professor, Assistant/Associate Manager, Assistant/Associate Director, etc) but has duties and responsibilities that fall under the supervision of a full physician. It is logical and makes the most sense.
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When I hear assistant or associate Physician I think of a Physician . Just like an Associate professor is still a professor. And in most places an assistant manager is still a.....manager. And so on. I personally do not think that is the most logical title to use.
 
schulz said:
What about if we called you :censored:? Would you still quietly collect your pay check with a smile on your face? I think words can be powerful, I also think people should take pride in there work. If the title does directly easily reflect to the public and patients of the persons job I SEE NO HARM in changing it? Would you not agree?
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What if we called physician assistants physician assistants? Getting into a field and then complaining about the name is like moving next to an airport and complaining about the noise. What were you expecting?
 
ChaseZ33 said:
When I hear assistant or associate Physician I think of a Physician . Just like an Associate professor is still a professor. And in most places an assistant manager is still a.....manager. And so on. I personally do not think that is the most logical title to use.
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That would be, however, incorrect. An Assistant Manager is not a full manager. An Associate Professor is not a full professor. An Assistant Physician is not a full physician. The words "Physician Assistant" don't make any sense, but the name clearly is not "Physician's Assistant" and has never been such.
 
EMT2PAC said:
Physician's Assistant implies someone who assists a physician, like a secretary or administrative assistant. A PA is a licensed, quasi-autonomous medical professional who works at a level below that of a physician. Assistant Physician or Associate Physician makes it clear that the person isn't a full physician (aka Assistant/Associate Professor, Assistant/Associate Manager, Assistant/Associate Director, etc) but has duties and responsibilities that fall under the supervision of a full physician. It is logical and makes the most sense.
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As long as the last, dominant word is "physician" then it isn't clear. An assistant physician is the other physician helping out the primary physician. An associate physician is the other physicians at the practice group or hospital. A physician assistant is not a physician, and thus can not be a ____ physician.
 
JPINFV said:
What if we called physician assistants physician assistants? Getting into a field and then complaining about the name is like moving next to an airport and complaining about the noise. What were you expecting?
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This only makes sense when complaining about scope, not nomenclature. PAs are very happy with their scope of practice and went into the profession knowing their limitations. The nomenclature, however, makes no sense. Did you know that Yale's PA program calls them "Physician Associate"? http://medicine.yale.edu/pa/index.aspx
 
EMT2PAC said:
That would be, however, incorrect. An Assistant Manager is not a full manager. An Associate Professor is not a full professor. An Assistant Physician is not a full physician. The words "Physician Assistant" don't make any sense, but the name clearly is not "Physician's Assistant" and has never been such.
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An assistant manager is still a level of management. An associate professor is still a level of professorship. A physician assistant is, however, not a physician, or even a level of physician. To compare "assistant manager vs general manager" in terms of physicians would best be similar to "resident physician vs attending physician" since a resident and an attending are both levels of physicians.
 
JPINFV said:
As long as the last, dominant word is "physician" then it isn't clear. An assistant physician is the other physician helping out the primary physician. An associate physician is the other physicians at the practice group or hospital. A physician assistant is not a physician, and thus can not be a ____ physician.
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Incorrect. Another physician who is consulting or helping on a case is a colleague.
 
maybe you guys should take this over to the PA forum haha your cracking me up :rofl:
 
EMT2PAC said:
This only makes sense when complaining about scope, not nomenclature. PAs are very happy with their scope of practice and went into the profession knowing their limitations. The nomenclature, however, makes no sense. Did you know that Yale's PA program calls them "Physician Associate"? http://medicine.yale.edu/pa/index.aspx
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"Physician Associate" and "Associate Physician" are not the same term.
 
JPINFV said:
An assistant manager is still a level of management. An associate professor is still a level of professorship. A physician assistant is, however, not a physician, or even a level of physician. To compare "assistant manager vs general manager" in terms of physicians would best be similar to "resident physician vs attending physician" since a resident and an attending are both levels of physicians.
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A level of physician? Perhaps. PAs certainly act in a manner similar to physician. This is why they are issued licensed from the medical board. They are a level of medical professional who work under and supervision of a full physician, just like an assistant manager, assistant professor, etc. They are not a full physician, but certainly are assistant/associate physicians.
 
EMT2PAC said:
Incorrect. Another physician who is consulting or helping on a case is a colleague.
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There are multiple ways to describe the partnership between physicians depending on said partnership. However, the term "associate" does draw professional equivalence when used before a word.
 
EMT2PAC said:
That would be, however, incorrect. An Assistant Manager is not a full manager. An Associate Professor is not a full professor. An Assistant Physician is not a full physician. The words "Physician Assistant" don't make any sense, but the name clearly is not "Physician's Assistant" and has never been such.
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I am not sure why I am even arguing this but why not...

An associate professor is in fact a professor. They must meet all of the educational requirements outlined for that title. They are underneath a more experienced senior "Full" professor but that they are still a professor none the less. It does not matter what you put in front of the root word the root word still has a specific meaning.

"There are typically three ranks for faculty within U.S. higher education institutions: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor. Promotion from one to the next involves a formal process of evaluation of the faculty member's body of work. Typically, faculty have one shot at getting promoted to Associate, often at the same time that they are being evaluation for tenure, and usually, they must do so at the end of their probationary period."
 
JPINFV said:
"Physician Associate" and "Associate Physician" are not the same term.
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True. Physician Associate, like Physician Assistant, makes no sense. It's not proper English and is much too easily confused with Medical Assistant or Administrative Assistant. Assistant/Associate Physician is someone who has training and responsibility similar but inferior to that of a full physician.
 
ChaseZ33 said:
I am not sure why I am even arguing this but why not...

An associate professor is in fact a professor. They must meet all of the educational requirements outlined for that title. They are underneath a more experienced senior "Full" professor but that they are still a professor none the less. It does not matter what you put in front of the root word the root word still has a specific meaning.
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The root word is conjugated and modified by the specific epithet.
 
EMT2PAC said:
True. Physician Associate, like Physician Assistant, makes no sense. It's not proper English and is much too easily confused with Medical Assistant or Administrative Assistant. Assistant/Associate Physician is someone who has training and responsibility similar but inferior to that of a full physician.
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So a surgeon who is a first assist in a surgery is not an inferior surgeon?
 
JPINFV said:
So a surgeon who is a first assist in a surgery is not an inferior surgeon?
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They are a colleague who in that case is filling the role of first assist, assuming they are a fully trained and boarded surgeon.
 
EMT2PAC said:
The root word is conjugated and modified by the specific epithet.
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The average patient is not an English major but rather the majority read and understand at the high school level or below. If you introduced yourself as "assistant physician" I bet that the vast majority would think that you are a physician.

It sounds like some want the physician title without going through the work of med school. I would not consider PA a "level of physician"
 
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ChaseZ33 said:
The average patient is not an English major but rather the majority read and understand at the high school level or below. If you introduced yourself as "assistant physician" I bet that the vast majority would think that you are a physician.

It sounds like some want the physician title without going through the work of med school.
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Is it better to have the name "Physician Assistant" where the 'assistant' part might not be heard? The more appropriate name, and the one that those who advocate for a clear and unambiguous difference in the title, should be Assistant/Associate Physician. If the first words out of a PA's mouth is "Physician" then the patient is unlikely to hear the rest.
 
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