NPs vs Doctors

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Specializes in Medicine.

Hi all,

I am a nursing student right now in an accelerated BSN/RN program. It will be a long time before I decide on NP schooling but I would like to know more about it before hand since I've been having thoughts of medical school.

In the end I want to be a person that is able to keep someone alive in an acute setting, for example, being able to handle a code. Also I would like to open my own practice one day to take care of patients with everday problems and be able to refer them to specialists that are outside of my knowledge.

What are doctors able to do that a nurse practitioner cant? I live in NYC and I believe NPs are able to work under their own license and prescribe medication. Particularly I am interested in becoming an FNP since they are able to see a wide variety of patients.

What types of small end surgerys are NP's able to perform? What drug's can't they prescribe? What is the limit to the medical diagonses they are able to make?

If anyone can shed some light that would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Ken

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If you haven't done so already, you can try searching for NP vs. PA vs. MD. There's a lot of informative threads.

Here's one of the link: https://allnurses.com/forums/f34/how-np-role-different-md-272767.html

:)

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