Supporting PAs at Every Step of Your Career Month, XX, 2017

The American Academy of PAs is the national association for the PA profession and serves as the public voice of PAs across the country. AAPA helps PAs work to the top of their education and experience and advocates for PAs with legislatures and regulatory bodies, employers, the media and the public.

Founded in 1968, the American Academy of PAs is the national professional society for PAs. It represents a profession of more than 115,500 certified PAs across all medical and surgical specialties in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and the uniformed services. AAPA advocates and educates on behalf of the profession and the patients PAs serve. We work to ensure the professional growth, personal excellence and recognition of PAs. We also enhance their ability to improve the quality, accessibility and cost-effectiveness of patient-centered healthcare.

Constituent organizations (CO) are independent organizations affiliated with AAPA and include: AAPA’s constituent chapters – based within five regions (for state chapters) and five federal service areas – provide their members locally-based CME, networking opportunities, social gatherings, timely information, advocacy and job resources. Specialty organizations support AAPA’s knowledge base regarding medical specialty practice issues.  Special interest groups (SIGs) are informal groups composed of individuals sharing a common goal or interest. A caucus is composed of individuals who share a common goal or interest related to healthcare access or delivery.

All states have an obligation to project those within their borders by regulating the practice of medicine. By including the PA profession in state law and designating a state agency to regulate PA practice, states both protect the public and define roles for PAs. States have modified their approach to PA regulation over the years in response to a growing body of information demonstrating the safety and high quality of PA practice and the need to better utilize their healthcare workforce. AAPA works closely with constituent organizations to modernize healthcare laws and expand access to care.

AAPA offers several important educational resources to help you get through your classes and rotations, pass the PANCE and stay up-to-date on the latest medical knowledge. Some of these resources include:  Maxwell’s Quick Medical Reference, a pocket guide that will help you review clinical checklists and equations on the go. Very handy to have in your white-coat pocket during your clinical years. Up-To-Date, which is an evidence-based, physician-authored resource for reliable clinical answers that incorporates the latest medical findings, the best available evidence and practical recommendations for patient care. Whatever your clinical question, you can be sure to find the answers you need. And of course there is our AAPA PANCE review, which improves learning by combining the latest teaching methods with top educators to create one of the most tech forward approaches to learning in medical education.

AAPAs member benefits will also help you communicate with your patients and stay informed on all the newest medical information. As a member you will receive free access to Canopy Translator app.  Students love this app for its ability to translate medical terms into Spanish as well as 15 other languages. It helps both with training and in communicating with your patients! AAPA also offers free digital access to several important medical journals and discounts on the publishers website.  

The demand for PAs has fueled an increase in PA salaries The demand for PAs has fueled an increase in PA salaries. According to new data from the AAPA, PA compensation continues to increase faster than both national inflation and most other professions, and has consistently done so for more than 15 years. The 2016 AAPA Salary Report shows an increase of 3.4 percent in national median base salary for PAs between 2014 and 2015, and an overall increase of about 50 percent greater than the rate of inflation between 2000 and 2015. The comprehensive report put out each year by AAPA also provides information on benefits, bonuses and wages broken down by geographic location, specialty, employer type, work setting and years of experience. Data from the 2016 AAPA Salary Report equips PAs, future PAs and healthcare thought leaders with the information they need to understand the changes to our national healthcare system and the role PAs are playing in shaping its future. The following slides contain a few highlights from this year’s report.

The new “PA JobSource” website is designed to connect employers with PAs across all disciplines and career levels. PA JobSource offers a variety of unique features to PAs, including: Free expert resume evaluation services by a resume-writing expert. PAs can also choose to purchase assistance in rewriting their resumes. The ability for PAs to post multiple anonymous resumes featuring different strengths and abilities, allowing them remain in control of which employers view their complete information. Full integration with AAPA’s career resources, training opportunities and other member benefits.

Your one-stop shop for CME 34,800 PAs awarded credit — nearly one-third of all PAs! 485,000 CME credits awarded Catalog of 350+ CME activities