This past year ( 2020 ) was quite a year, one of angst for many of us on many fronts given the domestic and worldwide challenges faced during the pandemic. From the political, to the economy, we saw the different repercussions play in our lives during these uncertain times.
For some it was personal, for others it was professional. Yet, we the PA Community (as a whole) continued experiencing professional stigmatization @ all levels. And even more so than ever before, based on recent widely seen publicized untruthful assertions by various physician groups about Advanced Practice Providers [APPs] incompetent or subpar medical care outcomes.
Why are we so Stigmatized?
As a PA, you well know how nondescript and misleading our professional title can be and it has been for the past five decades. It's very easy to see how we can be a blemished or devalued professional group when there's a pervasive basic lack of understanding of our Scope of Practice and industry role. The constant repetition of skewed informational inaccuracies to medical consumers and industry stakeholders never ceases to amaze me even in these days of the "disinformational age" as I like to call it. Plus, we continue being labeled either overtly or subtlety as "doctors wannabes" or more derogatorily as "medical school dropouts" in many physician circles/blogs seen nowadays.
This negative view of our community stigmatizers even emboldens them to foster legislative professional advancement barriers under the guise of patient safety as proposed by the watchdog group called Physician for Patient protection. Obviously [ we ] being depicted as a dangerous, or poorly trained incompetent providers does nothing to engender confidence nor trust in the patient community. This systemic discriminatory labeling tactic creates not only barriers, but also, reduced likelihood of industry collaboration and acceptance of our brand by other non-physician stakeholders by simply planting mistruths; thus allowing them to cement their necessity of power outside their constituents. Easy to see their ultimate goal; stigmatization of an outside group or individual renders them powerless in the competitive marketplace.
Addressing The Industry Stigma--how to mitigate it?
We as a community ( and individually) can & must create a positive mindful narrative even though we may have less industry support or financial partners advocating for our industry role. Every AAPA. State Chapter Organization, PA Specialty Organizations along with the AAPA should form a marketing coalition to educate all stakeholders and the industry once and for all of the benefits of our unique Brand. Anything short of such a coalition would not restore the perennial myopia when it comes to understanding our position.
Such a concerted effort can educate influentially many in discarding or reversing their erroneous stereotypical views of us. One that basically would set forth all our contributing benefits to all the stakeholders we interact daily with... including some members of various divisive physician organizations calling for our professional industry disenfranchisement by continually referring to us as lesser quality providers/care givers.
The willingness to stand tall and speak up should take center stage when our voice or OTP is threatened. But more importantly we should strive to eradicate all and any anti-stigma efforts by bringing our contributory narrative into the forefront of every single media outlet in the country.
By establishing a perennial continuum of visibility we will raise our stock and overcome their Medical Tribal Stigmatization...anything short of that will lead me to my biggest fear--stigmatization in perpetuity!
