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AAD/SDPA Leadership Meeting Recap
Last month, SDPA leaders journeyed to San Diego for our annual meeting with the leadership of the AAD, and for the first time in many years, the AAD was adequately represented by their board of directors. In most recent years, these meetings have been attended by only a few individuals and seemingly lacked momentum to make progress in our common goals.
Although this may seem like a tiny victory, the significance is large in the grand scheme of the work being done by your SDPA leadership team to improve our relationship with dermatologists as a whole. This meeting was not unlike others in regards to recent concerns with Optimal Team Practice (OTP), PA practice models, and sharing mutual frustration with misunderstandings on the political front.
AAD members continue to struggle with the concept of OTP and how it differs from independent practice. Throughout the discussion, we continued to reiterate our ongoing commitment to team-based practice with board-certified dermatologists, both in our overall vision for the future of the profession and in policy relating to our requirements for fellow membership.
Clearly, much work still needs to be done to dispel the misconceptions associated with OTP in the dermatologists' world. Another important discussion that took place during our meeting was in regards to "Truth in Advertising" and badge laws, which are two hot topics within the AAD currently. The AAD has a dedicated team and campaign aimed at ensuring that all medical professionals represent themselves appropriately to each other, patients, and the general public. We stand on common ground in regards to these issues and hope to be able to work together legislatively in the future to standardize the use of proper identification in the workplace for PAs, MDs, DOs, and staff members, alike.
SDPA members can help with this initiative by ensuring that they properly identify themselves as a PA when entering an exam room, on the phone, on uniforms/badges, business cards, and practice marketing materials. The SDPA is also looking into how we can best annotate our NCCPA certification without using terms like "board-certified" which seem to give rise to concern in the physician community. Most interesting during this year's meeting, was gaining a more in depth sense of perspective from PAs to MDs and vice versa. We discussed the AAD's recent infographic depicting the education and hours of training for dermatologists, PAs, and NPs.
SDPA leaders were pleasantly surprised to learn that the AAD did add information to the print beneath the graphic detailing our value in team-based practice following the initial oversight when first released. We learned that the AAPA's shift from using the terms "supervising physician" to "collaborating physician" and our use of "fellowship" in our new Diplomate Fellowship program title stimulated concern in the dermatologist community. Although these are things that are not likely to change, it was eye opening to hear and see the MD perspective from the outside looking in. Likewise, the AAD President was surprised to learn that our main concerns with the recent New York Times article were with the poor representation of dermatology PAs, while they simply saw an attack on the dermatology profession as a whole. As the old saying goes, perception can be everything. We cannot possibly know how things may appear on the other side without open, ongoing, candid dialogue.
Now more than ever, it is critical for the SDPA and AAD to continue more frequent discussions to find common ground in the ever-changing healthcare landscape. We have requested to meet on a more regular basis to avoid misinterpretation of information on both sides, but only time will tell if the AAD will be willing to work towards a more collaborative relationship going forward.
In the meantime, I encourage each SDPA member to keep abreast of the current issues facing the PA profession, engage in open dialogue with your dermatologists, and be keenly aware of how closely our actions are being scrutinized. A misstep by just one of the thousands of dermatology PAs in the US unfortunately becomes click bait for dermatologist social media groups.
Let's make an effort to change the tide, give them only great things to say about dermatology PAs, and especially SDPA members. Represent yourself and our profession with pride and honor, and never forget the most common bond we share with our dermatologist counterparts: our patients and love for dermatology. Jennifer Conner, MPAS, PA-C Immediate Past President SDPA Diplomate
