Advocacy

Resources

• Optimal Team Practice PDF (Download)

Compilation of Advocacy Tips from PAs

• You can write an email or letter when asked or even when you see something that does not describe the profession well.

• See what committees your organization has, and contact the committee, the President, or the main email address. Make a one hour a month commitment, and maybe the weekend that the kids are staying away, you can pick up an extra task.

• One of the most underappreciated PA leaders are those who just actively participate on one Committee for their State or Specialty Organization. The people who regularly attend monthly meetings (usually for 1 hour) and pick up an occasional extra task make a world of difference for the executive leadership. Maybe it’s the Scholarship program, or maybe you join the conference committee and just help organize the CME schedule in a thoughtful way.

• A lot of being successful with state bills is having local PAs know their state representative and senator. A simple email asking for a meeting and just an intro of you, your education/training, and how you help communities with maybe one red tape you have.. do this and email them for a meeting three times a year.. makes a massive difference. Zoom meetings are a major thing right now for them and us.

• STOP using the terms assistant and supervising physician. You are a PA and you have a collaborative physician and you are held to the same standards as your physician colleagues in terms of standard of care. Think about the things you say often and ask yourself whether it truly reflects our profession in today's environment. If it doesn’t, then change it.

• Read everything on AAPA Advocacy Central. There’s a lot of good info there that will get you up to speed on current efforts.

• Meet with your legislator just to introduce yourself and let him or her know what PAs do for the medical community.

• Write an article for a newsletter or newspaper.

• Represent PAs by serving on a committee at your hospital or even something that’s in the community where you can share expertise.

• Volunteer some time telling legislators what you do and what you need to take care of their constituents. No one has endless time or money but, anything you donate to the cause helps.

• Join your state organization and call all your friends to do the same.

• Explain to patients who PAs are and what we stand for

• Make sure those providers you refer to know you are a PA and share how fantastic PAs would be to their practice.

• You can write an article or even use a couple of articles written on the AAPA communication pages for something in the local Pennysaver or local newspaper.

• You can give a talk at your local library.

• You could also talk to your patients without describing yourself as a physician associate yet, about the changes going on in the profession and how they will change us, and even how nurse practitioners and PAs will be changing healthcare in the future.

• You could volunteer to precept and let the students know the changes going on in the profession like OTP and title change.

• You could be active on a physician site just being another clinician and showing them that we are knowledgeable and generally we know what they know, so they don’t look at us as some three-eyed monster- especially those who have not ever worked with us before.

• You could write the governor and ask for an executive order doing away with barriers like supervision and collaboration so PAs can practice where and when needed during the Covid crisis.

• You could meet with high school students in their science club or even the high school guidance counselor in town and discuss what PAs do and the exciting changes happening in our profession.

• You could give a lecture or two to pre-med students at the local community college or regular college.

• You Could meet with the veterans' groups in your area or even state veterans groups to support your OTP efforts when your state decides to pull the trigger and do it.

• You could meet with your local and state officials… so when the time comes for OTP, they know you, and you’re not coming in to beg for their support, they already know you and trust you.

• You could let your state and national leadership know the PA job conditions in your area.

• You can write to one or two well-known websites and ask them why they allow someone who has a history of being anti-P.A. to keep publishing commentaries on their site.