Episode #36
100% Real PAs
Send us Fan Mail What makes someone a “real” PA? After a recent story about someone allegedly creating a fake PA-student social media presence caught our attention, we started thinking about a much more uncomfortable question: what happens when someone has the very real degree and very real credentials—but maybe didn’t exactly master everything it took to get there? In this episode, we talk about the spectrum between outright pretending and simply doing whatever it takes to make it through school: cutting corners, relying heavily on classmates, memorizing just enough to pass, just skating through rotations, and ultimately graduating with the exact same letters after your name as everyone else. This isn’t about calling out our colleagues or deciding who “deserves” their PA-C. Every profession has stronger and weaker clinicians, and struggling in school doesn’t automatically predict the provider someone becomes. It’s a conversation about what those credentials actually mean—and why earning them might be the end of PA school, but it definitely isn’t the end of proving yourself as a clinician. Because at the end of the day, the diploma may say 100% real PA-C … but becoming a REAL GOOD one takes a whole lot more.
