PAs

I don't mean to be arrogant but...be better than their PA. Be there enough so you know what they like and can anticipate what they like.

I say this from experience as I am now a senior level resident that has worked side by side with a PA my entire residency. Some attendings early on will be more or less willing to involve you but over time I believe you can change that.

And I believe you can give feedback to your program about having attendings involving you more in cases especially if you are doing all the other scut work to get the patient to the OR.

And for any med students that read this post...this is a great question to ask the residents about when you go interview.

Your situation sounds like total BS. I'd fill out that acgme survey honestly. Also, the attending can bill for his PA if you're a pgy-3 and lower, so any excuse they use is BS.

I've got to agree with Juggernaut. Similar to him I have been working side by side with PAs my whole residency. In order to be able to bill for the PA there has to be "no qualified resident available for the case." That's a direct quote that goes into the operative dictation/note. At my institution that is generally before you become a PGY-3, but in some instances that persists after this point based on an individual resident's competence... or lack thereof. If you wanted to get more hands on you had to prove your competence both intellectually and technically. Some attendings are more prone to being hands off than others, but as time has gone on it's been nice to do cases with just me and the PA- knowing how that relationship will work once I'm in practice.
I have found many of our PAs to be great resources for education. The way our program is set up, having the PA actually facilitates our education. I'm not going to lie, there was a learning curve because most of your exposure before residency is standing 3 deep in a case, so holding a retractor is how you felt like you contributed. Once the PAs and residents came to the understanding that we were there to learn to be the surgeon, and they were there to be the hook holder/assistant, things went more smoothly. Each year, with new residents unaccustomed to this type of education, there is a similar learning curve. It has made all the difference in the world.
It was better early on when they would help us more with floor consults and things, but overall we work well together and help each other out. We are lucky in that they take the floor call BS at night so that we can focus on the ED/Trauma stuff. It's a great way to learn!