Bsn degree vs. Physician assistant certification/licensure??

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Greetings!

This might not be much of a debate. Maybe someone can shed some light:

RN, BSN(degree), CEN, CFRN

...or...

RN, PA(certified/licensed Physician's Assistant), CEN, CFRN

Which credentials of a BSN or PA is much more appealing to an employer, and much more likely to pay higher raises(by very little or a lot)??

Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Apples and oranges comparison.

A "BSN" is simply a nursing degree and it qualifies its holder as a staff nurse.

A PA is a physician's assistant and is a mid-level provider who practices medicine under the auspices of a supervising physician.

Specializes in OrthoRehab/Med-Surg.

What are the differences between a nurse practitioner and a physician's assistant?

I believe physician assistants make more in regards to pay but keep in mind that a physician assistant certification is a masters program vs the BSN is a bachelors program. So a bachelors is needed plus prereqs for entry into PA programs.

In HHC hospitals NP's make more-start at 82K, PA 79K, if your trying to pick a route choose it by what you would like to do, and how you want to grow as a professional, let the money be second. I chose to go the BSN->MSN route because there plenty of options. Besides, I hate being called an assistant, makes me feel like I need a wand!

There are PA programs that are not Master levels there is one here at the community college and I have heard there are ones that are 4 yrs too

Greetings!

This might not be much of a debate. Maybe someone can shed some light:

RN, BSN(degree), CEN, CFRN

...or...

RN, PA(certified/licensed Physician's Assistant), CEN, CFRN

Which credentials of a BSN or PA is much more appealing to an employer, and much more likely to pay higher raises(by very little or a lot)??

Not sure I understand the question- working in what capacity?

As an RN/PA, you are likely to make more as a PA except the lower end paying PA jobs compared to, say, travel nursing.

BTW it's Physician Assistant, no 's.............

What are the differences between a nurse practitioner and a physician's assistant?

a nurse practitioner is a nurse first and foremost.

the separation from np and pa goes back to luther christman wanting to start a graduate level nurse to practice in psych. the degree was proposed to duke university to have their medicine students and christman's nursing students learn together. someone didn't like the idea of mixing the male and females for this school and threatened to withdraw funding for duke's program so christman started his own school and duke began the first pa program.

nps can run their own practice without supervision of a md, pas must practice under the supervision of a md

Do a search under the Speciatly tab -> Advanced Practice. There's tremendous information about PA vs. NP and the routes to get there.

Good luck!

a nurse practitioner is a nurse first and foremost.

the separation from np and pa goes back to luther christman wanting to start a graduate level nurse to practice in psych. the degree was proposed to duke university to have their medicine students and christman's nursing students learn together. someone didn't like the idea of mixing the male and females for this school and threatened to withdraw funding for duke's program so christman started his own school and duke began the first pa program.

nps can run their own practice without supervision of a md, pas must practice under the supervision of a md

I'm not sure where you got your information, but that's not what I've heard all these years. The first NP program (it was a pediatric NP program, specifically) was started in 1965, by Dr. Henry Silver and Loretta Ford, PhD, RN, at the University of Colorado, to prepare experienced nurses to be primary care providers in rural areas. At about the same time, large numbers of medical corpsmen and combat medics were returning from Viet Nam, and med school faculty at Duke (among others) were interested in creating a program to enable them to make use of the considerable skills and knowledge they had acquired in the military in providing primary care in rural areas, and the PA concept was developed. There was never any "separation" of NPs and PAs -- the two roles were entirely different and separate from the very beginning, one developed within nursing and the other within medicine.

Hildegard Peplau developed the first Master's program in psychiatric nursing at Rutgers University in the mid-'50s (the psychiatric CNS was the original advanced practice role in nursing). I'm aware of Luther Christman and his many contributions to nursing, but I've never heard him mentioned before in connection with the development of the psych CNS, NP, or PA roles before.

Also, whether or not NPs can practice independently, without some degree of physician supervision, depends on the state -- different states have different rules for NPs.

The whole "NP's practice independently" vs. PA's "practicing under MD's license" is weird to me. Newly licensed NP here, no interest in practicing without an MD close by. NPs are great, awesome education, good jobs, etc--but they're not MDs, and the degrees aren't equivalent. Also, PAs often work "independently" just like NPs--with some degree of collaboration with a physician.

I know in 2 or 3 states NPs can truly practice without a collaborating doc. Who knows if I'll change my tune in the future, but that does not sound very nice to me.

Concerning the question posed by the OP--RNs and PAs are very different. Not many go from RN to PA--but to be an NP you have to be an RN.

+ Add a Comment