Doctored

"Frankly, we get asked all the time, 'So you're a junior doctor, are you going to graduate from med school soon?'" [Alisa Gifford, president of the Oregon Society of Physician Associates] said. "It's important to show them that we're associates, we are professionals."
Physician assistants' push for a rebrand gains steam

But the answer to that patient question is "no." The Physician Assistant (or "Associate") that's working with them is likely not going to graduate from medical school soon, because Physician Assistant programs are not a stop on the medical training that MDs receive. Now, it's possible that the PA in question is, in fact, in medical school, but that would be up to them as an individual; the programs are separate.

I'm not convinced that it was wise for Axios to print Ms. Gifford's statement as-is, in the way that they did. The American Medical Association says that changing the role title from "Physician Assistant" to "Physician Associate" would be confusing, presumably because it would lead patients to believe that "Physician Associates" were a junior class of actual physicians, "Associate Physicians," as it were. And, as presented, Ms. Gifford's statement appears to acknowledge that confusion and use it as a rationale for the change.

As there the ratio of doctors (especially general practitioners) to the overall population ticks down, Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners are starting to take over the role of primary care provider for a growing number of people. And many people, correctly or not, understand their primary care provider to be their "doctor." It strikes me that what the PAs and NPs are up against is that connotation, along with the idea, as advanced by the American Medical Association, that a "physician" is a person who holds either a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree. The PAs may have decided that in updating their title to "Physician Associate" may help break down that distinction in the eyes of the public, and offer them greater status. Because for an allegedly "classless" society, the United States is very status-conscious.

I suppose that the best thing for everyone involved would be for the public to have a better understanding of the training and capabilities of MDs, DOs, PAs and NPs, so that society at large comes to see medical practitioners who are not Doctors as reliable and competent and not the "unskilled labor" of the medical profession (to the degree that anyone involved in medicine can be "unskilled"). But it's likely, as the saying goes, "That sounds too much like work." And besides, I doubt that the Doctors see it in their interests (just as they don't see allowing practitioners from overseas to practice here as being in their interests).

Step one of problem-solving is understanding the problem to be solved. There's a certain strain of affluenza that leads people to conflate their interests with the problem(s) to be solved. And that's what strikes me as going on here; it's common when questions of status (which tends to have impacts on pay) are involved.