10/10/2023

PA Week Spotlight: Missa Culver, PA-C, AT

Happy PA Week, October 6-12, 2023!

OAPA is celebrating the growth of our PA community as it gets wider and more diverse every year. We cherish the value that PAs bring to the table and recognize the unique contributions each PA makes to health care landscape across Ohio.

Today we feature an interview with Missa Culver, PA-C, AT who practices in Hospital Medicine.

1. What does PA week mean to you?

PA week means a lot to me because even though I get so much enjoyment out of my wonderful career, it makes it a little extra special to be recognized and given the opportunity to educate patients, family, and friends on what a PA is.

2. What is your favorite part of being a PA?

My favorite part of being a PA is having the opportunity take a little extra time to give comprehensive care to my patients and educate them on their overall health. I also love getting to work with so many different health care services and providers, especially in the hospital setting.

3. Do you currently take students or train other PAs?

I have been precepting students since about the time I started my career as PA and have taken students from 4 different schools around the Midwest states. I have trained PAs as well and always willing to do so when new hires come through.

4. What was your journey like to your current position?

As with most PA students, I was not sure what I wanted to do once I graduated until I did my rotation in internal medicine. I had the great opportunity to rotate through my current position and fell in love with hospital medicine. My colleagues at that time remembered me and when a position opened a few months before I graduated, they called me first. I was so happy to have that stress of a post-graduate job off my shoulders and especially in something I knew I would enjoy.

5. Why do you love your current work in Hospital Medicine?

I love hospital medicine because of all the different things you get to see in a single day. The acuity of patients makes the role exciting but manageable to me. It is awesome to work in a small but still well-resourced hospital system that gives me access to many sub-specialties that help manage a complex patient.

6. How does practicing in Hospital Medicine improve patient care?

Hospital medicine improves patient care by coordinating care when patient has an acute need that cannot be managed in the outpatient setting. I always tell patients that a hospitalist is like the primary care provider within the hospital that not only treats the current illness, but also manages the chronic issues too.

7. How has your role changed throughout your assignment?

Initially my role was not very autonomous, which was okay to me at the time being a new graduate. It has evolved over my last 6 years thanks to my Hospitalist directors that new that it was important to let PAs practice at the top of their scope of practice.

8. What do you see changing in the PA profession within the next 5 to 10 years?

I see the future of the PA profession growing tremendously over the next decade in order to help fill the void in internal medicine/primary care in the outpatient and inpatient setting. It will continue to be a very exciting time for our profession and I hope it continues to further strengthen the physician/PA relationship.