Last week, I was delighted to make the acquaintance of a PA in deepest, darkest Edmonton; one of several in that city that had been missed by the CAP’s PA search last year. Thank-you for volunteering to contact the others so that they too might make their presence known. If there are others elsewhere in the country who were missed, I encourage you to make your presence known to the CAP so that they can have as complete a list of Canadian PAs as possible.
I’m off to Vancouver on Wednesday at the invitation of the CAP, the PLCO (BC’s Provincial Laboratory Coordinating Office) and BC’s educational authority to attend a one-day stakeholders’ forum on the subject of education, distribution and regulation of PAs in this province. I’m really hoping that something substantive can come of this meeting. I’ll let you know what I learn at the meeting soon.
Please be aware that there is a 1.0 FTE PA position (paid at MLT III level) in Penticton available at present. The job is listed on the Interior Health website (http://www.roomtogrowbc.ca/showcaseopps.asp), the AAPA site (www.pathologistsassistants.org) and will soon be on the CAP site as well (www.cap.medical.org).
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Uh-uh! Edmonton ain't dark but bright and sunny..we also have the world's largest mall (according to Guinness Book), The West Edmonton Mall..Yes, I shall be your advocate if you need one. So far, I've emailed 3 PA's here in Edmonton..Good Luck on your meeting..may it be fruitful for us PA's..
ReplyDeleteI must say, Bill, that I am a bit purturbed by your last two or three postings.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it would seem that the CAP survey was not as extensive as you may have thought as my colleague and myself were never contacted, and if the CAP missed Toronto, then they have a definite case of severe myopia.
Second, you have had my e-mail address since I sent my resume to you over 8 months ago, and I never received your note!
Third, if you look at the US experience closely, you would not discount an association with the CSMLS too soon. The AAPA, (of which I am one of only 10 Fellows registered in Canada), decided to form just such an association with the ASCP, because after going it alone for almost 30 years, they found that it was not affordable to be alone with such a relatively small group of members. Just look at some of the smaller Colleges of Professionals in Ontario and see what their annual licence dues are!!
Although I agree with you that some form of professional recognition and credentialing is needed in Canada, I would not discount the contribution of the, non-degreed, on-the-job-trained professionals out there. It hasn't been that long since medical lab technologists were all OJT. Their quest for degree-for-entry into the profession has hit stiff opposition from the people with the purse-strings, and in my opinion, rightfully so. You might need a degree to become a specialist or a manager, but to work on a routine bench in a lab??!!, I don't think so.
The AAPA and the schools in the States are going through this angst as we speak. I was astounded, looking at a job posting for an executive secretary the other day. It said "batchelor's degree preferred". Give me a break!!
All we will succeed in doing in setting a Master's degree as an entry level, is diluting the value of the Master's degree.
As W.S. Gilbert said in the late 1880's....." When everybody's somebody, then no one's anybody!" (The Gondoliers)