Physician Assistants should show respect to their customers
When a professional works with customers, they must show respect. This is no different for a physician assistant. Physician assistants must show respect for their patients, along with the patient’s family members. By showing respect to everyone the physician assistant will have a much better reputation, and when it comes to a physician’s office, word of mouth is a great source of advertisement. If one family member has a great, respectful physician assistant and physician, then it is likely that he or she will recommend the office to his or her family and friends. This will be great business, and it is unbelievable how fast an office loses business when the professionals were not respectful.
A physician assistant should show respect to his or her customers when it comes to their privacy, their beliefs, and their decision. If a patient does not want to take a certain drug or to be put on life support, the physician assistant and physician must respect that decision because it is the patient’s body and the patient’s life. A physician assistant should respectfully say “okay,” and do what the patient asked. This type of respect is not something that can be taught in a PA school, but many PA programs do warn their students that these situations will occur. A PA student is taught from the very beginning to always respect the patient’s wishes and to try avoid getting involved in family matters. Especially if working in a hospital setting, a PA may be put into a very awkward position between what the family wants and what the patient wants.
To prepare students for family disagreements on medical problems, PA programs require psychological classes and interpersonal classes. While a PA should always try not to get involved, sometimes it may be impossible. If the family gets the PA involved into the conflict, the PA must always remember that he or she must always respect the patient’s rights and wishes. If a patient does not want to be put on life support, then a patient should not be put on life support, no matter what the family says (unless of course the patient is a minor, then medical decisions are up to the parents). This can be a very challenging part of a PA career, but to maintain a good reputation, a physician assistant must always show respect. This includes the little things as well. A patient will not want to be talked at, they liked to be talked to. This means a physician assistant should show some compassion to every patient, even if it is just an ordinary yearly checkup.
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