NP vs. PA

[Beautiful_Beginnings]

I have been researching the idea of Np vs PA for quite sometime. At one time I planned on doing MD, but through a series of life events I decided it would not fit me. Their work life balance seems to great. I have my bachelors in Biology and a masters of Science that enabled me to assist in surgery. To make a very long story short, due to extreme eczema and a few acquired allergies I cannot scrub into surgery. My hands would blister swell and weep. Although I graduated with my masters I cannot work in the surgery field. At the time, I planned to continue PA school because I fell in love with some of the classes that I had with them. Working as a medical assistant, I work around many NPs. I enjoyed their patient centeredness and they are such an advocate for the patient's overall health and personal obstacles. That Moto is very dear to me. Now I applied to a ADN program which I gained admission to. I am completely wondering if there really is a difference between the NP vs PA. since I can apply to PA school now, is it worth rerouting by starting over by gaining my RN license first, working as a nurse then NP school? Do you notice a difference between the two professions and does one profession have more upward mobility than the other?

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Well at this time I cannot relocate out of my current area.where I am located there are no direct Np programs sadly

If you are unable to relocate then you need to do an extensive job market evaluation before you consider school.

[Brcperry]

If you solely look at the curriculum/course work required by an NP program vs. a PA program, PA programs would appear to have the upper hand in terms of medical knowledge. PA programs have nearly double the amount of credits hours and the courses are science based which could actually help you as a clinician. I have previously been enrolled in an NP program and from first hand experience, part of the course work is irrelevant. An entire year of course work involves classes that will not actually help you take better care of patients/become a better clinician. Those courses being Nursing Theory, Stats, Research, and some form of Professional Development/Leadership that have absolutely zero clinical applicability. After you get past these courses, the coursework is good, but it seems like a waste of time to get through those beginning pointless courses, honestly. I would love if they reworked the NP curriculum to better suit the role of the clinician vs. the role of the nursing researcher (most nursing research is BS anyways).

It is difficult to weigh the amount of relevance the BSN education and work experience as an RN factors in to being a good advanced provider and is something that will continue to be argued about for decades to come :) I come from an ICU nursing background but have been in our float pool now for sometime. I can say, without a doubt, that coming from the ICU environment will better prepare you to being an advanced provider. There is more time to focus on the pathophys of your patient, whereas the medsurg environment (and even unsafe PCU nurse/patient ratio environments) there just isn't the same luxury of being able to dive into your patient's diagnosis. People may argue with that, but that's my take. Medsurg environment makes you become the ultimate time manager due to having 5+ patients everyday, but with that you sacrifice knowing a little about multiple patients vs. knowing a lot about 1-2 patients. So, the ICU track may lead to a smoother transition to the provider role as an RN.

Program curriculum alone though, PAs are more rigorous.

[Brcperry]

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