Creating a five-year plan for your PA career is an empowering way to take charge of your career development. Read on for the PA Career Coach’s advice on how to identify your career goals and translate those goals into an actionable plan.

Stigma and bias can lead to poor patient outcomes for people who have mental health and substance use disorders. So, what can providers do to help patients and limit their barriers to receiving good care? Find out how you can help mitigate bias and stigma in the healthcare setting.

It is essential that providers can connect with patients, recognize signs of mental health and substance use disorders, and holistically approach the treatment of these patients. In this article, you will learn how bias and stigma affect health outcomes for patients with mental illness and substance use disorders, and identify some of the different types of bias and stigma that may affect the care that healthcare providers give to their patients.

The happiest PAs feel like they are part of a vital, mutually supportive team. Read on to learn the most common roots of dissatisfying team relationships and learn the PA Career Coach’s tips for cultivating and maintaining a strong relationship with the physicians on your team.

Although every PA’s path to clinical practice is unique, practicing PAs (and PA students) are responsible for collecting and retaining a standard set of documents as they progress in their careers. We’ve compiled these documents into the handy checklist below so you can make sure you have the professional records you need.

AAPA has developed ethical guidelines for the PA profession that offer a framework for your decision-making.

There is no perfect job. Career satisfaction is highly individualized. PAs can find the right job for them by carefully considering variables like work-life balance, compensation, and work setting, and prioritizing the variables that align with their passions, values, and morals.

Relationships are the cornerstone of PA practice. PAs can promote positive connections with colleagues through trust, respect, communication, and clarity.

Make the most of your CME budget and learn how to tailor your clinical education to your individual learning style and needs.

Career disappointments and setbacks are parts of the professional journey that will happen to almost every PA at some point—and they can feel devastating. In this article I’d like to explore some ideas and approaches for responding to career setbacks so that you not only rebound but return to your practice with greater zest and confidence.

This article is an overview of effective patient communication, from background to benefits to strategies and pitfalls that the clinician should know.

Megan Pinder, MMS, PA-C, is an advocate for psychiatric patients both personally and professionally. She responds to questions about PAs’ role in mental health, how access, socioeconomic status, and stigma impact patient mental health, and how to advocate for mental health patients.

The PA Foundation’s Vital Minds podcast featured a discussion on how health disparities have been exacerbated by COVID-19, the role socioeconomic factors and insurance may play in health disparities, and how PAs – and other allies – can help bridge the care gap.

AAPA invited PAs Lauren Eisenbeis and Jo Rolls to host Huddle’s latest Ask Me session on transgender healthcare. Eisenbeis and Rolls used their expertise from years of experience to provide advice and resources for PAs to provide trans-affirming healthcare to patients.