Nurse practitioner or Physician's Assistant

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Specializes in O.R., Endo, Emergency, Education, Nurser.

I have a young nurse with approximately seven years nursing experience looking at Physician's Assistant program as opposed to Nurse Practitioner. How should I advise her?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the Nursing Career Advice forum

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Specializes in O.R., Endo, Emergency, Education, Nurser.

Thank you for your reply. I wish I could find it. It was moved to the nursing career advice forum. Have not located it yet. Help. Thanks again.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I don't know if she has this option at the schools she's planning to attend, but locally here in Sacramento, UC Davis-CSU Sacramento's NP program and the PA program are basically the same. Students in either program take many of the same courses. If a NP student wants to also sit for the PA exam, all that student has to do is take a couple other courses that are in the PA program that aren't in the NP program and then the NP student can sit for both, and conceivably be licensed/certified as both a NP and a PA.

Such a program side-steps the whole issue by offering a means to do both.

If that option is available, I'd say it should be considered. If she knows what kind of NP she wants to be, that might make things a bit easier... but once employed in a specific role, she may only wear one hat at a time: PA or NP.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

This post is in the career's section

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I don't know if she has this option at the schools she's planning to attend, but locally here in Sacramento, UC Davis-CSU Sacramento's NP program and the PA program are basically the same. Students in either program take many of the same courses. If a NP student wants to also sit for the PA exam, all that student has to do is take a couple other courses that are in the PA program that aren't in the NP program and then the NP student can sit for both, and conceivably be licensed/certified as both a NP and a PA.

Such a program side-steps the whole issue by offering a means to do both.

If that option is available, I'd say it should be considered. If she knows what kind of NP she wants to be, that might make things a bit easier... but once employed in a specific role, she may only wear one hat at a time: PA or NP.

Have seen many job postings that state "either/or" for NP and PA. Have also seen 'either/or' but with a slight difference in salary.

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