Like in all things in life, some things might be easier than others. But how about being a PA? That might be a little more complex to answer. Yet, simplistically speaking it can be both– hard and easy at the same time. In that vein, I will try to put it in perspective for you not so much from a clinical perspective but rather from an administrative one instead.
Personally, the way I see it is this: it boils down to individual and/or PA advocacy commitment level. So what difficulties specifically make it hard to be a PA?
For one, we (our profession) are constantly trying to prove ourselves over and over to the world that we are legit and belong in the healthcare playground like many other kindred professions. However, despite our rigorous training, and proven track record, we still fifty years later are by far more regulated, we are more unfairly scrutinized at every turn than anyone else. To make matters worse, even today, the Physician community and many nursing groups try to discount our role as healthcare team members or bring us down.
Another reason that it’s difficult is to accurately present our credentials to many misinformed or disinformed people inside and outside the industry when our title has “assistant” in it. Amidst this unfortunate conundrum, we [the PA community] have one thing going for us. We are a resilient group and started to move forward in our way of seeing ourselves. No matter how we are viewed or segregated, interprofessionally, whether minimized, or discounted, the patient community has started to realize and value our role and contributions. That’s what has been so hard in the past–the unleveled playing field.
Lastly, difficulties will always be present, however, we are starting to gain ground and be recognized, the industry generally speaking is becoming more tolerant and accepting of PA-led patient care, more so these days than when this author first became a physician extender in the late 80s. These days unsupportive employers are slowly vanishing, thus making PA practice less difficult.
While some PAs are satisfied playing a subservient professional role in their careers, many PAs would argue that this is just setting too low a standard. It is time to assert ourselves and continue removing regulatory barriers or archaic restrictive statutory laws while continuing in our ascending trajectory.
In summary, from what I have seen & experienced throughout my career, the ease or difficulty of being a practicing PA while mostly multifactorial, it mainly would seem to stem from the level or degree of a PA advocacy commitment level. Professional passivity indirectly makes it more constraining to be a PA.
