PA "resource"

I was disappointed and dismayed by the publication of a URL (http://idisk.mac.com/seligl-Public) in the Spring 2008 Canadian Association of Pathologists Newsletter. As many of you know, Canadian PAs own a Section within the CAP and thus, the CAP is, or should be, acquainted with what a PA is, and does. The supposed resource alludes to a PA's most import responsibility being the maintenance of supply inventory in the gross room. The reference is incomplete, superfluous, site-specific and, in fact, insulting to any PA I have ever known, Canadian or American. If, as I suspect, the author is dissatisfied with the performance of his "PAs," he should not be surprised given the low expectation placed upon them and the lack of resources provided to them.

I can only imagine that the editor of the Newsletter did not read the content. My fear is that others may get a skewed idea of that which constitutes a PA. The Key Competencies for PAs, also published on the CAP site (www.cap.medical.org), clearly enumerate the many responsibilities placed upon PAs; illustrating the fact that PAs provide an important part in the care of patients in North American hospitals.