Rising Medical Malignant Adocacy

 

        Over the last several years, I have noticed a growing number of distrustful and/or confused patients become anxious regarding their laid-out medical management or proposed treatment plans.  And rightfully so, and while the reasons can be many, none could be more detrimental than very opinionated non-APPs. This (unconscious) growing pernicious behavior committed by kindred allied healthcare peers. They reason questioning the established care plan is viewed as patient-centric care when reality may not be in many instances. It saddens & disturbs me greatly to see a soaring schism occurring amongst ourselves. It seems that in our daily advocate care-giving roles, we have started to take our roles of “educators” way too seriously. In other words, we have crossed the lines of being helpful to actually becoming hinderers when providing discrepant opinions of the already prescribed outlined  medical care activities.

        Moreover, when we disparage or disagree with other providers proposed treatment plans we immediately plant the seed of distrust in the patient’s minds. So how can we expect or demand patient compliance? After all, wasn’t it us with our ill-advice, of the treatment intervention that caused the misunderstanding and/or their confusion?

        Case in point, I have witnessed many instances in which a provider inadvertently undermined a surgeon’s proposed surgical intervention by disagreeing with a particular approach and taken the liberty to emphatically recommend a different course. Or even a Respiratory Therapist openly disagree with a pulmonologist’s treatment or drug choices selected. Or simply a nurse suggesting a patient or family that the proposed diagnostic intervention in her eyes is unnecessary or too risky for the patient’s age.

         We must be reserved and cautious when freely “dispensing medical advice” to our patients. It is incumbent in us that we must respect the physician-patient relationship or other providers/consultants recommendations. Sure, there are always exceptions to the rule, but this advocacy style could get many entangled in the legal system. An adversarial system in which an allegation of “practicing medicine” without a license could be easily entertained, considered and brought against the healthcare provider regardless of how well were the intentions at the time behind the advise, the opinion or even the recommendation.

        This unintentional or intentional behavior can have significant negative repercussions from perpetuating a fragmented industry to the already mentioned confusion and distrust due to a divisiveness  of opinion that already gives us a bad name --kind of an “us vs. them” mentality. Patients don’t want to have to choose, under duress, or have any more confusion than they may have had before our divisive advocacy came into play.

        If  individually the same amount of energy & effort was spent getting along and trying to build ONE great, seamless healthcare industry on all fronts, instead of wasting that energy on pettiness, not only everyone would prosper, but our fragmented industry would soar to new levels. Patients would have less angst when entrusting their care, their lives to their healthcare team members. 

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Author's Personal Page

 

        The author of this blog is a Boston, MA born individual who has an extensive healthcare industry background, both industry-related as a Pharmacy Technician during his undergraduate years, and industry-specific as a dually N.C.C.P.A. certified Physician Assistant in Surgery and Primary care after graduating from the University of Alabama—Birmingham Physician/Surgeon’s Assistant Program. Over the past 33 years he  has held  past clinical positions  in Cardiothoracic, General Surgery, & Emergency Medicine, including Cardiology  &  Orthopedics most recently. He holds a Master’s in Science with a Healthcare Administration major from Central Michigan University & a 120-hours Healthcare  Risk Management graduate certificate pursued based on his Health law interest.

        He has been retained and consulted regularly by both plaintiff & defense law firms over the past 25 years. During this time, he has served as both, as a consulting medical reviewer & a PA expert. Plus, he also has lectured/spoken on different Clinical Risk Management (PA) issues throughout the years to various PA based Training Programs. Likewise, he has done the same for lay audiences throughout the years covering a wide range of “Wellness” topics.

        Also, he has been a supporter and associate member of numerous professional clinical &  non-clinical organizations. He has also authored many non-clinical articles, spoken/lectured primarily about  career-related advisory subjects as well  as clinical Risk Management best practices. Currently he is employed as an orthopedic PA  for the past 11 years @ a Trauma I Level center. 

Welcome to this Blog Site --what you need to know about it

 

ABOUT THIS BLOG SITE

As a PA blogger, the purpose of this blog is essentially multifactorial, however, I will focus my comprehensive goals in a more detailed fashion as described below. These will based on my current perception of a much needed additional platform for the Physician Assistant community.

         My focus  is and it will be about:

• eliminating illiteracy or misinformation and misconceptions in the lay media of the Physician Assistant Profession.

• reinforcing the PA brand via personal reflective personal advocacy views.

• solidifying the PA community role in the various stakeholders minds.

• augmenting the PAs voice in a at times unfriendly marketplace.

• adding a resource to fellow peers by sharing best practicing tips, tools and resources in their daily practices.

• sharing experiential observations and experiences and acquired insights of my PA journey to those considering or entertaining the idea of becoming a PA.

 

   

Questionable PAs [ Part I ]

        I must confess, one of my biggest pet peeves that I professionally and personally struggle to deal with & comprehend is the level of PA professional apathy shown by many as disengagement or disregard to their own profession. Having said that, & on my defense I realize that we all do live very busy personal and professional lives. Moreover, not everyone has the burning desire to be an active participant. But as I said before, this behavior baffles me on an episodic basis; mostly during my one-to-one chats with former or current peers when I chat with them & discover their mistaken or incorrect impressions of our state chapter or national PA organizations.

             Naturally, I remain professionally composed and respectful of their position, even though it’s somewhat incomprehensible why not be part of the solution (pro-activity) rather than the problem (apathy). Sadly, in their very myopic view & misperception of the current reality, they don’t seem to realize they shortchange themselves greatly by missing both, the tangible & intangible benefits of fellowship & fighting for a common cause—safeguarding our prior predecessors’ legislative victories.

            They also fail to realize the consequences of their professional inactivity at all or any levels. This stance seem incredibly self-fish to me, even though it may be rationalized in a myriad of ways by these uninvolved peers. But disengaged PAs, in the grand scheme of things negatively increase the workload for the politically active ones. Simply, because they become “dead wood”. In other words, they fail to realize there’s power in numbers, but with apathy there’s loss of power and when no one is actively engaged in their own professional affairs then the worst case scenario takes place: we abdicate & essentially allow others to dictate our course and professional destiny since we do not have a unified vision or voice for that matter.

            Collective professional advancement is about taking individual action & responsibility. It is also about becoming committed to be actively involved, or actively remedying, or at the very least actively advocating for our very professional interests whether that is at the state or national level. This in turn, allow us to develop visionary insightfulness as to where we have been, where are we now and where should we been heading to. Much like a compass, steering us in the right direction.

            So if you’re still mulling the idea of becoming politically active in your profession, set aside the excuses and look at it from the big picture point of view; enhanced marketplace stability, enhanced industry respect, along with strategic/supportive legislative partnerships are all attainable, but only with persistent active involvement & determination not only for those of us who might have the time or the perceived skill set but by each and one of you too.

The bottom line, is this: the idea of all PAs coming together for a common purpose is always a good thing. Join the cause, become a non-questionable PA!

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