PA speaks poorly of RN's

[heavenbound]

PA's who are they? I just heard of them within the last few years. If not mistaken, I believe there are two per state (joking). Any hoot, I had an interesting conversation with a high school friend that I have not spoken to in about a year. She is now a physician in the OR and currently working on her residency to become a surgeon. As we were catching up on current situations, she had the audacity to put a PA on the phone after I told her I was in nursing school. The PA kind of caught me off guard as I was in the midst of running errands and in and out of loud places. To be respectful I stepped out of the store to speak with this unknown person and to be able to hear her clearly. I was told that they are now phasing RN's out, so getting a BSN will soon be worthless. I chuckled as I could not believe what I was hearing. I remained calm and did not unleash the "pitbull" from its skirt. I was told that in order to get $$$$ one will have to become an NP. RN's are getting paid bedpan money for doing bed pan work. I was flabbergasted by her comments. Has anyone else heard of such a thing? Please share your thoughts and comments. If I ever have an opportunity to speak to this person again I thought about given her a piece of my mind, but then again why bother; not worth the time and energy.

[Crux1024]

Sounds like your friend doesn't think too highly of nurses, either, which is extremely disconcerting since she works in the OR, one area where highly skilled, technically superior nurses are a must for her to do her job. Hope someone sits her down and gives her a stern talking to for her own good.

I have to agree with this. I cant imagine why your "friend" would put a complete stranger on the phone if for nothing more than to get a rise out of you (and the pitbull in your skirt).

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

Never underestimate the power of stupidity.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Hmmmm. Am I just.......destined to always be the devil's advocate?

Ummmm, you do know there is a ring to truth to what this person said. I don't agree it can or will happen, but yes.........hospitals would love to "phase out" nursing. We are considered a debt, not an asset. And yes, there are hospitals that think we can be replaced by med techs and CNA's. The hospitals in TX are aggressively trying to take this route as I understand things.

Go to the political boards and read up on "Obamacare". Different people agree on very little concerning its long term effects on the healthcare field. The things people tend to agree on (of the very few):

1. Pt. ratios for doctors and other dept.'s will go up immensely.

2. Nursing wages will drop significantly.

Those are the biggest viewpoints that I tend to see agreement on the most. Now, IDK about you, but if they do drop nurses salaries, I would have trouble naming more than ten people in my entire hospital that would stick around (I being one who would not). Bad enough that I often feel the care provided at my facility is sub-par, but then you want me to give the same effort to cover up your deficiencies yet live like a burger flipper outside of work. Not gonna happen. Especialy when you combine said pay cut with #1 above. My drive to deliver care I feel is acceptable would be compromised too much by a drop in pay and thus I'd move on.

So, yes, this PA lacks tact and probably suffers from Napoleon Syndrome on an epic level. Lets face it though folks, they were not completely talking outta their arsh. I don't think we will ever be completely "phased out" but........eh, things are going to take a sig. change for the worse.

As it stands now, I do see med techs and CNAs being more utilized in the new model of care. Once that occurs, the duties of the RN will dissipate. The "new age" RN will be more like today's charge nurses, overseeing the grand scope of everything. The salary will drop and there will be fewer positions because we will no longer do as much of the "busy work". It'll be more administrative.

[mentalhealthRN]

i would venture to guess that maybe the pa is thinking a cna and a med tech could replace nurses.

also, your statement that a pa is a bachelors prepared practitioner is false. to be admitted to a pa program (even one in ny), you must have completed a bachelor's degree already.

actually--not that this is the point here but here-- but in rochester at the rochester institute of technology it is a bachelors. i just looked it up and you don't have to have a prior bachelors.

this is actually from their website-- www.rit.edu

bachelor of science in physician assistant

heidi miller, program director

http://www.rit.edu/cos/medical/physician_assistant.html

the physician assistant program focuses on primary care and awards a bachelor of science degree upon completion. the pre-professional phase (years 1 and 2) involves core courses in basic sciences, mathematics, and the liberal arts. the professional phase (years 3 and 4) is fully accredited by the accreditation review commission for the physician assistant, inc. (arc-pa) and encompasses 21 months. students participate in the program during the summer between these years. the last two years of the program include nine months of clinical course work and 12 months of clinical rotations. qualified transfer students are accepted into any one of the first three years of the program. all pre-professional course work must be completed to continue on, or to be considered for entry, into the professional phase of the pa program.

however interestingly i also came accross this one

rochester institute of technology will offer a combined b.s./m.s. degree program in physician assistant studies, beginning in 2011 with a first-year class

so up till now all their pas have a bachelors and it looks like they are transitioning to a masters. i guess it depends on where you go and when you graduate--but we do have a lot of pas in my area and most if not all i know have a bachelors..........my point of the whole thing is that many rns also have a bachelors degree so that pa needs to get rid of the chip on her shoulder and learn to respect nurses for what they offer. that was my only point here. just had to look up the program at rit as i was curious myself as i have always known it as a bachelors program. even looked into it as my second degree instead of my bsn. so interesting that it is changing.

even still nurses are not going anywhere. we may end up changing the minimum standard for education some day but certainly not to a masters and cnas are not even close to educated enough to do what nurses do. i have worked with some who would have a floor of dead patients in a matter of hours. the whole idea is really just ignorant and rediculous.

[mentalhealthRN]

Apparently this PA is not aware of the studies that have been done...

http://www.ahrq.gov/research/jun10/0610RA21.htm

And many states/facilites don't even allow LPNs to give certain meds--IV push, IV push narcotics, etc. so how you gonna let a med tech do that. Or a med tech doing a heprin drip, an insulin drip or all those cardiac drips in ICU?? Really? I don't think so. Putting meds in a central line?

I for one would never go (as a patient) to any hospital that had CNAs and med techs only instead of nurses. He** no!! I can't even imagine the patient outcomes.

[RNmilwife]

What a jerk! I really don't know what else to say.

[Chicago, BSN, RN]

As soon as she had finished blowing hot air, I would've responded so cooly: "Girl, I hear ya! Not all of us can get into nursing school or medical school. I guess for you it was both. But hey, look on the bright side. At least, you got in somewhere. Congrats to ya. Hey, could you put so and so back on the line?" Then have a side convo off the phone, telling a random in the grocery store how the "poor thing" was venting, and you're glad she FINALLY made it in life. Making sure BOTH of them caught the side convo. And if they hadn't hung up by then, then you immediately say how you'd love to chat, but the produce section requires your focus. As you trail off a "goodbye, talk to you later" and hang up yourself! GOOD RIDDANCE!

[ckh23, BSN, RN]

I would venture to guess that maybe the PA is thinking a CNA and a med tech could replace nurses.

Also, your statement that a PA is a bachelors prepared practitioner is false. To be admitted to a PA program (even one in NY), you must have completed a Bachelor's degree already.

You are misinformed, not all PA programs require a Bachelors Degree. In fact here is one where you only graduate with a Bachelors Degree.

Here is an example:

http://www.pct.edu/catalog/majors/BPA.shtml

[ckh23, BSN, RN]

PAs make more money than nurses. No question. I don't know many nurses that make close to 100K right out of school.

YOU may not know to many, but there are some. Not all PA's make more than nurses. I personally know many nurses that make over 100k easily in a year, not to mention what some NP's bring in and what CRNA's make compared to PA's. So yes I do question your statement.

[Katie5]

Who at one time or another has not spoken poorly about any career(health related or otherwise)?

...throw the first punch.

[Fribblet]

YOU may not know to many, but there are some. Not all PA's make more than nurses. I personally know many nurses that make over 100k easily in a year, not to mention what some NP's bring in and what CRNA's make compared to PA's. So yes I do question your statement.

Where can an RN make close to a 100K as a new grad. Please tell me because I'd love to work there.

[MagsMom]

My question is why did you spend that much time on the phone with this person? Clearly, they were just trying to wind you up. I woud say that next time you should practice better phone skills and end the conversation earlier and, another thing, nice friend you have there. What was she thinking just "putting this PA on the phone" to chat with you. Sounds very weird to me.