NP vs PA? Scope difference and difference in practice?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I'm trying to get information on the difference in lifestyle of being a Physicians Assistant vs a Nurse Practitioner....I know that obviously PAs must work under the supervision of a doctor and Nurse Practitioners are advanced nurses but both require Masters degrees so what I am trying to figure out is the difference in curriculum. I know that medicine and science is the core of a a Physician school and that is what really interests me is science and medicine....but somehow I feel as a career I would be much better at working as a nurse...but I am not sure. What is the curriculum in NP school? Do they study medicine and gross anatomy? What is the core focus? I have tried researching but can't seem to find anything. I'm not really that interested in starting my own practice at all...I want to be a traveler and I know that both PAs and RNs can travel but I haven't heard of NPs traveling. It would be great to get some info.

& Btw I don't need anyone telling me the NPs are better than PAs or vice versa! Both professions deserve all the respect they get!

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Did you search the forum? I've seen lots of posts about the subject.

PA programs generally require you to have previous healthcare experience. NP programs generally require you be an existing RN although there are some direct entry programs.

From what I've read is nursing takes a holistic view of health (nursing model) and PAs treat disease (medical model). I've also read that if you are interested in surgery, then PA is a better way to go.

Here is a sticky in the Specialty forum:

https://allnurses.com/nurse-practitioners-np/differences-educative-clinical-164046.html

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Another thing to consider is that some NP programs, if "co-located" with PA programs, may allow a NP student to take the additional courses that they require of PA students and when all the coursework is complete, the student tests for both, and can licensed/certified as both a NP and a PA.

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Another thing to consider is that some NP programs, if "co-located" with PA programs, may allow a NP student to take the additional courses that they require of PA students and when all the coursework is complete, the student tests for both, and can licensed/certified as both a NP and a PA.

Is that really true? That's interesting, I'll look into that thanks! ...although I'm not quite sure I could handle the load of both schools at the same time lol.

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Did you search the forum? I've seen lots of posts about the subject.

PA programs generally require you to have previous healthcare experience. NP programs generally require you be an existing RN although there are some direct entry programs.

From what I've read is nursing takes a holistic view of health (nursing model) and PAs treat disease (medical model). I've also read that if you are interested in surgery, then PA is a better way to go.

Here is a sticky in the Specialty forum:

https://allnurses.com/nurse-practitioners-np/differences-educative-clinical-164046.html

Yeah I've looked at most of them but I guess what I am trying to figure out is....if I my main desire is to work in pediatric intensive care...and my goal is to really help and care for the children....would I be able to be myself and be PA, and not always be too busy for the kids or would I be better off continuing the nursing route?

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There is a PA forum that might help you. You can ask them about Pediatric intensive care and their views as a PA

http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/forum.php

You could also pose your question in the NP forum here:

https://allnurses.com/nurse-practitioners-np/

Also, I've seen 2 schools that seem to mix PA/NP but I don't think you can test for both, you'd have to ask the schools but UC Davis seems to mix their PA/NP programs together with a lot of what seem to be the same classes. Duke also seems to share some resources between their PA/NP programs. In my search of schools, I haven't seen any other schools do this but I've only been looking at east coast schools.

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