For students that are undecided between RN/PA

Nursing Students General Students

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I wanted to let anyone that is considering PA vs NP or RN know that I have experienced a semester of nursing classes, and found that the curicculum did not match my expectations nor seem appropriate for later consideration of applicability to a PA program post BSN.

I don't want to blather on about a subject that I have been vocal about since I came to the board. This debate has been worked over and over on many threads, but never before with someone that had been through nursing classes, to my knowledge.

If there is an interest expressed, I will post away and answer questions for the people that wish to discuss the topic.

By Globalrn

oh and what gives with ...the thinking that medical doctors don't give holistic care? The good ones always do.

Good point Global. Those posters are stereotyping. Most MDs I've ever gone to for care or worked with, have been oriented to the patient, not just the pathology.

As a respiratory therapist, I was more often treated as a colleauge in the patients care, and got to see the kinder side of physicians, if I demonstrated an interest in their thought process as it related to the medical model and showed an aptitude to understand the way they do things individualy.

one would think that with more than 800 posts I've made, anyone making the statement that I have a "God complex" or that I'm arrogant, could easily quote me to make the argument.

Alas, stereotyping is good enough. Those that favor the medical model over the psychosocial one, must be hateful nazis that despise humanity, treat patients like dirt, and disrespect nurses.

:chuckle

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one would think that with more than 800 posts I've made, anyone making the statement that I have a "God complex" or that I'm arrogant, could easily quote me to make the argument.

Alas, stereotyping is good enough. Those that favor the medical model over the psychosocial one, must be hateful nazis that despise humanity, treat patients like dirt, and disrespect nurses.

the god complex is in the "attitude" of your post, not in a specific quote. the wording of you post while sophisticated at best are sometimes read as haughty and pompous.

and while you are choosing between the medical and psychosocial aspects of care, many of the nurses and nursing students here make no distinction between the two. they walk hand in hand. in order for a nurse to successfully give care to a patient with COPD, he/she must understand the disease process or the SCIENTIFIC aspects of the pathophysiology. he/she must understand how the body is working so one will know what to do and most importantly what NOT to do. in order for that same nurse to increase patient compliance with treatment at home, he/she must understand the PSYCHOSOCIAL aspects that apply to that same patient. he/she must educate and support the WHOLE (*gasp* Holistic?) person. he/she must apply NURSING INTERVENTIONS that have the greatest chance of being followed all the while doing the best to increase quality of life.

now, before you decide to spout about how medical drs and PAs do the exact same thing, i'll save you time. some do, some don't.

the same as there are NURSES that bothered to learn the why's and wherefor's before they gave patient care as well as those that saw no good reason to learn why NURSES do what they do.

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oh and best of luck. someone else said it best about you needing to be in research or whatnot. you obviously have no desire to LEARN about nursing as nursing IS more than just patho. it's nice to know that someone as dedicated to hard, concrete facts will be developing new "cures" while the holistic caregivers will be delivering the care.

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So, only nurses really know how to care for people. The rest of the healthcare system are all just wannabees uhh? Even though the same prerequisites that apply to psychosocial markers are in both PA and RN prerequisites, only nurses can figure out how to use it somehow, while also learning the same applications for pathophysiology as to make a seamless comparison in their knowledge bases?

That would make ADNs better qualified than a PA to care for patients.

To think, PA programs have been wasting everybody's time putting life-span development, psychology, sociology, into their programs, while it turns out only nursing students can understand how it fits into pt care.

I'm glad you pointed that out...............Wow, that's going to save me 4 extra years of school.

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Specializes in CVOR,CNOR,NEURO,TRAUMA,TRANSPLANTS.

*edited by Zoe*

Some things are just better left unsaid.

Zoe

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see, your godlyness is showing. :chuckle

from rena's post

now, before you decide to spout about how medical drs and PAs do the exact same thing, i'll save you time. some do, some don't.

the same as there are NURSES that bothered to learn the why's and wherefor's before they gave patient care as well as those that saw no good reason to learn why NURSES do what they do.

and you obviously didn't read my post or bother to interpret it.

SOME nurses (although this has not been MY experience) do not wish to deal with psychosocial or as you have referred to it "the touchy feely" aspects of nursing. the same as SOME drs. and PAs have focused so much on the "science" of medicine that they've lost a "bedside" manner along the way.

Even though the same prerequisites that apply to psychosocial markers are in both PA and RN prerequisites

and if you detested the psychosocial aspects so much in the nursing program, what makes you think you'll like it any better in a PA program?

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From Rena

and if you detested the psychosocial aspects so much in the nursing program, what makes you think you'll like it any better in a PA program?

Very good question,

I don't think a PA program will stress the psychosocial impact, as nursing does. The medical model is more interested in treating disease. I also don't think I'll see it in the context of an etiology unless it's used in differential diagnosis in the case of a possible genetic predispositon, like an anemic African-American, or a patient from Laos with bloody sputum.

see, your godlyness is showing.

Avert your eyes!!..................Do not look at me directly heathen!! :chuckle :devil:

Anyhoo, I don't think psychosocial, and medical issues will get the same amount of content. I don't think it's possible in any program, whether nursing or otherwise to thoroughly coverboth contexts in that timeframe. One of those contexts has to lose out space to the other. I think the content of the respective courses will follow the job description for which they are training.

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Am I missing something here? Does it really matter? Both the NP and the PA are responses of the free market system trying to fill a gap in healthcare initiated by low numbers of FPs in rural areas. It will continue because they are both economically feasible. Just as it is beginning to spill over into ER's. Both have mechanisms and advantages over the other and as time passes I expect the comparison will be nil betweenst the two. PA's will eventually have to seek more autonomy and freedom from MDs and MDs will have to give it to prevent NPs from taking over market share. As for me, I don't really feel anyone has been mean or ill spirited or arrogant on either side, but I do recall by GPA taking a nosedive when I entered nursing school...Geez, some of the questions those instructors could ask blew me away!

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wow!! i read almost every post in this blog and i think i'm more confused than i was before. i'm new at this and i apologize if i say something that sounds inappropriate to any of the members of this blog!

well, i will be graduating soon with an aa in science and my ultimate goal is to become a pa. need some advise...i am not sure if i should go straight for my bs or get my 4 yrs in nursing and then apply for a pa program. here in nc you have to have a bachelor's in order to apply for a pa program so i really don't know what to do....i was thinking about the nursing route because i will get the experience that a pa requires and plus if i want to apply for pa program i have to have 1000hrs of patient care and experience in a hospital!!! well, that threw me off since i do not have experience in patient care whatsoever!! i'm kind of confused any comments will help...tnks!

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I was setting myself up for a career as a PA. I have my BS in Biology and I will be starting an ABSN program in the fall. In speaking with my friend who is an RN I would say I definately have much more of a science background. Be aware that you will not get all of the prereqs. necessary for PA school in a nursing curriculum (Although I'm not sure what your AA covered so maybe you already have them). That being said it really is an individual decision. I liked the nursing philosophy better so I'm pursuing this course and will probably go on to become an FNP/CNM. I like that I have the background in science and will also gain nursing skills. I was able to become an EMT-B and got a lot of patient care hours that way and became familiar with medical terminology, patient care etc...so that is an option for patient care experience if you decide to not pursue the BSN specifically.

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Specializes in Med Surg/MICU/Pediatrics/PCICU.

i read the first 2 pages and the last page and in all honesty you say you aren't trying to discourage people from nursing but yet you are CONSTANTLY saying how much better a PA is than a NP or a nurse. so quit complaining if you don't like the nursing way don't do it simple as that and quit complaining about it on a NURSING forum ... just my :twocents:

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wow!! i read almost every post in this blog and i think i'm more confused than i was before. i'm new at this and i apologize if i say something that sounds inappropriate to any of the members of this blog!

well, i will be graduating soon with an aa in science and my ultimate goal is to become a pa. need some advise...i am not sure if i should go straight for my bs or get my 4 yrs in nursing and then apply for a pa program. here in nc you have to have a bachelor's in order to apply for a pa program so i really don't know what to do....i was thinking about the nursing route because i will get the experience that a pa requires and plus if i want to apply for pa program i have to have 1000hrs of patient care and experience in a hospital!!! well, that threw me off since i do not have experience in patient care whatsoever!! i'm kind of confused any comments will help...tnks!

wow really? the school that i'm going to now for nursing has a 4 year pa program and you don't have to have a bachelor's degree already. maybe because it's 4 year instead of the traditional 2 year? it does require 500 hours of direct patient care which seems pretty difficult for someone to get. the rigors of the program are on the same level of our nursing, respiratory care, pharmacy and occupational therapy programs. hmm weird i guess.

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