Healthcare Heroes

You know you can’t talk about working in healthcare – the nights, the weekends, the thankless job and the seemingly never-ending tasks… without talking about you, the human being who works in healthcare. It’s a lot to do, all while dealing with all the things you do as a person outside of your profession. 

It’s awesome if healthcare is your calling, your passion, your profession and something you feel drawn to, but hopefully you can have some passions and pursuits outside of the healthcare realm as well. 

Today I’m sharing a very important reminder that you are a person first and a PA second. Sure, being a Physician Associate is a HUGE deal and a major part of your life, but it’s not the *only* thing. You were a human being before you were a hero. You are a person AND a PA, not a PA instead of a person! 

The PA Career Mistake

The biggest mistake I have made thus far in my career as a PA is letting my career define me. I spent so much time, effort and energy becoming a Physician Assistant (now Physician Associate) that I started to define myself by being a PA. 

My PA career became such a huge part of who I was and almost all that I defined myself by. When I introduced myself I would say “Hi, I’m Tracy… I’m a General Surgery PA…” and on and on I went. I was telling people what I did, not who I was.

Medicine is a unique profession. Practicing medicine is a calling. It’s a vocation and it’s a special one. Medicine also comes with a set of expectations that are often contradictory to our own desires to meet our basic needs and survive. 

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COVID Changed Everything

COVID changed healthcare forever. This pandemic was a pressure cooker. Coronavirus brought to light issues that have been happening in healthcare all along. These problems existed before March 2020. They will persist once COVID is no longer in the news. They need innovative leaders and providers like you to speak out and make change in your life. 

Working through the covid pandemic was one of the hardest seasons in my career as a PA, not only because it coincided with burnout

You Are More Than a PA…

You are more than a PA. Being a Physician Assistant (now Physician Associate) is simply a part of who you are. Being a PA is what you do, not the entirety of who you are. 

Certainly being a Physician Associate is an incredible calling, a great vocation, a job that you can love, but you are a person all by yourself. You are a person first and a PA second.

You are a person first and a PA second! 

You, my friend, are enough. You matter. You are doing a really great job! 

In case your patients and your healthcare system and your colleagues forgot to mention it today… Thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you for sacrificing to take care of those around you.

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