Wednesday, October 09, 2013

JBSA Fort Sam Weekly Wednesday Physician Assistant Mentorship/Networking Luncheons

As we celebrate PA week this week, what are we doing in order to sustain the momentum of the excitement throughout the week? What are we doing to improve our profession? Where are the gaps from where we are today and where we need to be? How are we going to get there? How do we make it better for future generations of PAs?

One way that the Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Houston  physician assistants can answer these important questions is by our newly established weekly PA Mentorship/Networking luncheons from 1100-1200 hours every Wednesday.

We discuss current events that affect our profession and several lines of effort in order to support Army Medicine and the SP Corps. More importantly, we take the time to meet, build camraderie, and establish a network that honors the past, celebrates the present and plans for the future. To borrow JFK's saying of "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" and think about this: "Ask not what the physician assistant profession can do for you, ask what you can do for the physician assistant profession." America Needs PAs... come join us in asking and providing solutions on what we can do for the physician assistant profession... not only during National PA week.

For the month of October, we are focusing on the following: ORB, OERSF, OER, DA Photo, CV. COL Gross mentioned today to support this focus is bringing someone with you when you take your DA Photo and having someone else check your photo before approving it. The group also added that you should also be looking over your ORB for corrections, and completing your OERSF based on your Senior Rater and Rater's OERSF, MAJ Broussard mentioned that reading over the Army Medicine 2020, the SP Corps Balanced Score Card, and knowing your unit's mission and vision are also an integral part of defining what should be on your OERSF.  The senior PAs offered to the junior PAs of looking over these documents for them to offer guidance and ways to improve. MAJ Duran-Stanton also mentioned that the TAPA (Texas Academy of Physician Assistants) offers a deeply discounted military membership as long as you are already a member of your military organization (SAPA for Army). COL Gross also caveated to have SAPA as your organization for the AAPA. These organizations are what drives our policymakers to make decisions that affect us; let your voice known by being involved. TAPA is having a CME opportunity in San Antonio, TX in February 2014. Even for those who are not coming for the CME, it is a good time to network with our civilian counterparts. See you for the remainder of PA week and keep up the momentum for next week's mentorship/networking meeting!

 

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