Susan Emaus, PA

I have been a practicing PA for 30 years. I have been specialized within cardiology, in electrophysiology, my whole career. I am now 65 and would like to keep practicing for another three to five years.  I was at the end of my six-year cycle last year, and because my state does not require it and the hospital that I work for does not require it for employment, I thought I was fine not taking the recertification exam for the first time. (I have always done it; the last two were the take-home Pathway 2, which, stupidly, has been eliminated). But the medical staff office let me know at the end of last year that I need it in order to be credentialed. 

I am ripping angry at my profession and the organization that leads it! Recertification has been an issue for years. I now have to study all of medicine—the bulk of which I have never used and will never use—and do the new self-assessment CME (really?) in order to take my boards, which are of no value to me or to my practice. This process will not make me a better PA. I have to keep up with my specialty (electrophysiology) in order to practice, and I like doing that. But this is absurd!

The answer is simple: Since we have such an ineffective organization (AAPA) helping us, I have told my niece and all my daughter’s friends who are considering becoming advanced practice clinicians to become NPs. They do not have to resit for their boards and only require CME to renew their certification. My niece is graduating from nursing school this year.

The NCCPA is just a money-making organization and really does not have the best interest of PAs as their primary goal. So watch the NP profession grow while the PA field diminishes.

Susan Emaus, PA
Providence, RI

FOR MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
A Learning Experience but Not an Impediment
A Vote in Favor of New Model
Should Exams Be More Hands-on?
When Did a Simple Process Become So Complicated?

I have been a practicing PA for 30 years. I have been specialized within cardiology, in electrophysiology, my whole career. I am now 65 and would like to keep practicing for another three to five years.  I was at the end of my six-year cycle last year, and because my state does not require it and the hospital that I work for does not require it for employment, I thought I was fine not taking the recertification exam for the first time. (I have always done it; the last two were the take-home Pathway 2, which, stupidly, has been eliminated). But the medical staff office let me know at the end of last year that I need it in order to be credentialed. 

I am ripping angry at my profession and the organization that leads it! Recertification has been an issue for years. I now have to study all of medicine—the bulk of which I have never used and will never use—and do the new self-assessment CME (really?) in order to take my boards, which are of no value to me or to my practice. This process will not make me a better PA. I have to keep up with my specialty (electrophysiology) in order to practice, and I like doing that. But this is absurd!

The answer is simple: Since we have such an ineffective organization (AAPA) helping us, I have told my niece and all my daughter’s friends who are considering becoming advanced practice clinicians to become NPs. They do not have to resit for their boards and only require CME to renew their certification. My niece is graduating from nursing school this year.

The NCCPA is just a money-making organization and really does not have the best interest of PAs as their primary goal. So watch the NP profession grow while the PA field diminishes.

Susan Emaus, PA
Providence, RI

FOR MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
A Learning Experience but Not an Impediment
A Vote in Favor of New Model
Should Exams Be More Hands-on?
When Did a Simple Process Become So Complicated?

I have been a practicing PA for 30 years. I have been specialized within cardiology, in electrophysiology, my whole career. I am now 65 and would like to keep practicing for another three to five years.  I was at the end of my six-year cycle last year, and because my state does not require it and the hospital that I work for does not require it for employment, I thought I was fine not taking the recertification exam for the first time. (I have always done it; the last two were the take-home Pathway 2, which, stupidly, has been eliminated). But the medical staff office let me know at the end of last year that I need it in order to be credentialed. 

I am ripping angry at my profession and the organization that leads it! Recertification has been an issue for years. I now have to study all of medicine—the bulk of which I have never used and will never use—and do the new self-assessment CME (really?) in order to take my boards, which are of no value to me or to my practice. This process will not make me a better PA. I have to keep up with my specialty (electrophysiology) in order to practice, and I like doing that. But this is absurd!

The answer is simple: Since we have such an ineffective organization (AAPA) helping us, I have told my niece and all my daughter’s friends who are considering becoming advanced practice clinicians to become NPs. They do not have to resit for their boards and only require CME to renew their certification. My niece is graduating from nursing school this year.

The NCCPA is just a money-making organization and really does not have the best interest of PAs as their primary goal. So watch the NP profession grow while the PA field diminishes.

Susan Emaus, PA
Providence, RI

FOR MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
A Learning Experience but Not an Impediment
A Vote in Favor of New Model
Should Exams Be More Hands-on?
When Did a Simple Process Become So Complicated?