AASPA Leadership News

Benefits of Obtaining a leadership role

Ashley Sclafani, PA-C, AASPA Professional Development director

Obtaining a leadership position as a physician assistant (PA)  or PA student with the American Association of Physician Assistants (AASPA) can be valuable as it increases chance for opportunity, growth, and networking. It can be a catalyst for production and inspiration. Various opportunities include enhancing skills, submitting research, speaking professionally, promoting advocacy, and fostering a relationship as a mentor.

Building skills by attending conference workshops or various other events will allow you to increase your competency level as healthcare provider or student. There are options for kinesthetic and tactile performance of skills to augment retention and understanding. Hands-on skills can include basic and advanced suturing, ultrasonography, robotics, peripheral and central line placement, first assisting principles, trauma applications, bedside procedures, splinting/casting, and more. Completion of these skills prior to on the job application or when transitioning specialties will permit you to have a better understanding and advantage in excelling your aptitude and expertise along numerous surgical and non-surgical specialties.
 
 Becoming involved with leadership can be academically beneficial. For example, you can present medical or surgical topics at conferences/webinars or other various events offered which improves your proficiency for professional speaking. You can also improve analytic reasoning and critical thinking by performing research. Your scholarly work can then be submitted to our professional journal, SutureLine.
 
If wanting to learn more about the financial and administrative framework of the organization you can adopt the role that allows you to enact policies that advance the association. Applying your expertise on the national level, can allow you to become a lobbyist for the PA profession at large. As such, through communication with Congress you can uplift barriers that prevent PAs from offering effective high-quality care to patients and further promote PA advocacy.