NP vs. PA? advantages?

Stitchie · Jan 21, 2004

One of my instructors told me that PA's can only practice under a physician's license and can only do clinical work.

NP's can practice on their own (not sure about the collaborative agreement thing, you need to check that out) but NP's also can teach since they have the Master's degree.

PA school may be shorter but the NP seems to have more flexibility since it is a longer degree program.

Berliner · Jan 28, 2004

I was once asking the same questions myself and the best answer for going the NP route is ease of advancing/ broadening your career. PA's are at a dead end where as the nurse can specialize further fairly easily and even change course all together. I changed my mind and decided to apply for a CRNA program.

ADNRN · Jan 28, 2004

Originally posted by RachelinMali
I'm sorry if this is a repetetive theme here but as I don't have frequent access to email and the internet I haven't been able to scan all of your threads.

My question, as a graduate of a liberal arts university who has never been through nursing school but has some healthcare experience: what do you feel is the major advantage to pursuing a degree in advanced practice nursing as versus the medical school mentality of a physician's assistant program? I've been asking people and wracking my brains, but besides the two different philosophies (nursing vs. medical) I can't figure out the major pros and cons between the two professions. Can anyone help? Any personal/professional experiences you could share?

-evaluating career possibilities post-Peace Corps

It would be interesting to know what the job opportunities are for both. Is it easier to get hired as a physician's assistant as a NP or PA. Of course, I would do neither. I would either be an MD or an RN. I think RN is more of a "Gospel" profession, so I'll stick with that.

FNP grrl · Jan 28, 2004

first i should admit i am biased toward NPs because, well, i am one! and i also want to add that i work with many fabulous PAs- we work side-by-side in the same positions, & i respect the excellent, competent work that they do. they are my friends & colleagues. still, the difference between the medical mindset & the nursing mindset is a huge NP selling point for me. PAs were created BY doctors FOR doctors. NPs were created by NURSES.

i'm pretty sure what follows is accurate- someone correct me if i get it wrong!

entry-level for most NP specialties is now a master's degree; my understanding about PAs is that their education varies from certificate to associate's to bachelor's to master's degree- and they can all be licensed as PAs. i like that NP educational requirements are now mostly standardized to the MSN level. i am in no way knocking my brother & sister NPs who practice brilliantly without benefit of an MSN- i'm just saying i think it was the right direction to go for the NP profession as a whole.

yes, PAs practice under a medical license. NP licensure in the US is not identical from state to state though (a problem that needs to be rectified). in my state, my NP license is governed jointly by the boards of nursing & medicine. NPs here must have a primary supervising physician- but the amount of contact required bwtween the NP & MD after the first few months is minimal. and after an initial licensure phase is over, no MD co-signatures are required for NP documentation & orders. PAs must have everything counter-signed, i believe. the logistics of this distinction can be very significant if you stop & think about it.

some states have liberal NP licensure, governed solely by the board of nursing....NPs can hang a shingle in those states (actually i could here too w/ a collaborative agreement w/ an MD)

NPs can bill independently, PAs can't.

I think NPs might have broader prescriptive authority in some states- i'm not sure though.

in my overall experience, i feel like PAs are a bit bolder & more confident in their role than NPs sometimes are. i could expound on why i think that is so- and it's not across the board, just a generalization- but i'll start another thread about that sometime.

anyhow, good luck w/ whatever you choose. what is your peace corps assignment anyhow?