Among the titles that I have heard for our profession, the most recent -- which I had not heard previously -- was coined at a recent meeting: "Pathologist Assistant." For 30+ years, I have considered myself a Pathologist's (or maybe Pathologists') Assistant. The exact title has been a source of discussion between and among PAs. I must admit that I dismissed the new version when I first heard it but, after giving it some thought I began to believe that this might actually be one of the better titles.
I know that it might seem ludicrous to be considering what we're called when we have practised for so many years. This again illustrates that SO very little has been done for our profession.
"Pathologist's" (singular) Assistant has heretofor been my favourite version. The justification is that at any given moment, I am assisting one, not multiple, pathologists. The title has a more applicable, more immediate context in this form. Further, this version can be used to apply to those PAs who work with just one, or very few, pathologists, as well as those who work with multiple pathologists. Members of the AAPA prefer "Pathologists' " (pl.) Assistant (I have yet to hear a substantive rationale other than the fact that the AAPA uses this version).
I am interested to know what you, Canada's PAs, think. Please cast your vote by posting a comment to this item, anonymously if you prefer.
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My position is called Pathologist Assistant. Our hospital also used to have "Pathology Assistant" (they do the morgue). Pathologist Assistant is on a higher scale. Apparently, to avoid confusion, the Pathology Assistants were renamed/reclassified as Histotechs..
ReplyDeleteI believe that the American standard title is Pathologists' Assistant. It would be nice to be in line with our southern neighbours to maybe avoid future confusion. At present here in Calgary, we are called Pathology Technicians and are paid similar to Laboratory Technologists on a level 1 scale.
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