[NPInfo] RE: [ACC-Circle] Wall Street Journal Medical Blog

[Johnny Hudson]

Great post, Dave.... Let us know hat response you get.

You know, I work for one of those 125 US medical schools that has very
competitive residencies. Until my illness last year, I held a faculty
appointment. Medical students and residents who elected a neurosurgery
rotation rotated and rounded with me. I know that there are other NP's
and PA's with similar responsibilities. If, as an NP, I'm so "inferior",
why would I be in a position to train and influence medical students and
residents? Our medical school has an NP with the rank of clinical
assistant professor of medicine. (I plan on being next!) 

BTW I'll have my faculty appointment back when I am recovered enough to
work full time. I plan on being the first NP assistant professor of
surgery

Johnny Hudson, NP
USC School of Medicine
Division of Neurosurgery
Columbia, SC 
johnnyhudson at sc.rr.com

-----Original Message-----
From: acc-circle-bounces at listserve.com
[mailto:acc-circle-bounces at listserve.com] On Behalf Of David Mittman
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2008 1:23 PM
To: ACC; NP Info; paforum at mc.duke.edu
Subject: [ACC-Circle] Wall Street Journal Medical Blog

WELCOME TO THE ACC-CIRCLE DISCUSSION LIST!
Strength in Unity: Join the ACC today: http://www.amcollege.org

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Regarding the Caribbean Med School Deal With the NY Hospitals
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/08/08/fallout-from-caribbean-med-school
s-100-million-nyc-hospital-deal/#comments

See this quote!!!!!

SGU is never a medical student's first choice. They go there because  
they didn't make the cut in any of the 125 LCME accredited schools in  
the US, PLUS they have enough money to fund the high tuition there.  
The $400 per week of course is paid indirectly from the student to the  
hospital. And yes, I have experience with SGU grads, and no they are  
not the same caliber as most US grads, BUT they are better than a PA  
or NP and many international medical schools. Don't expect to see SGU  
grads in residencies that are very competitive; in that way they self  
select for careers that are not top tier.
While NYC may be upset about this deal, we need more doctors, and some  
of the SGU students will turn out to be better quality doctors than  
the medical residents who will be training them.
Comment by Chief of Medicine - August 8, 2008 at 6:03 pm

MY RESPONSE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am responding more to the comments made in a post by "CHIEF OF  
MEDICINE" regarding the medical schools in the Caribbean.
I am not sure why you chose to take a negative swipe at NPs and PAs in  
your comment above, but you did choose to. Why even put us in there?  
This is not our fight, although these are clinical training slots that  
could be used by our students also and because of factors not under  
our control, will not freely go to us. So, NPs and PAs are effected by  
this.
What I do know is that I doubt you have worked with experienced NPs  
and PAs. Are you aware the US Army's Flight Surgeon of the Year for  
207 is a PA. Or that the Air Force has 3 PA Hospital Commanders and  
the Army just named their first. Or that
there are I think over 300 NP and PA clinicians at MD Anderson Cancer  
Center, over 200 at Montefiore. If they could not do the work there  
(which is physician level work-why are they employed? Must be the  
inferior education?
I trained exclusively at NY City owned public hospitals. We trained  
with students from the Caribbean schools and I would say that  
generally (not always) we ran rings around them. Both with our  
clinical knowledge and procedural expertise.
I'll tell you what, let's take 5 graduates from the Yale School of  
Medicine PA Program and 5 from the Duke Medical School PA Program and  
take 10 grads from St George's. Have them take the clinical portion of  
the US Med Boards. I will bet $1,000 that the PA students do very well  
(Average higher score than the St George's graduates). I'll even ask a  
favor, let's really do it right and write the results up in JAMA. I am  
tired of these off handed swipes at NP and PAs-let's really take a look.
My NP and PA colleagues all had a chance if we chose to go to a  
Caribbean medical school. There are some schools that give us advanced  
placement. We chose not the title, nor the income, but to go to  
graduate school here in our own country and make a difference. Our  
programs are good, they are hard and if we were not good, why would we  
be getting hired as fast as we can graduate?
So, Chief of Medicine, take me up on my bet and let's see just who is  
the winner of the contest? Can you arrange it?
Dave Mittman, PA
Livingston, NJ
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Wear your professions patch proudly. If enough of us do, we will have a
great PR campaign. WE NOW ALSO HAVE PINS.@$5.00 EACH
http://amcollege.org/Patches.html