PA vs NP (Acute care)

[konstantinos]

Hello everybody,

Probably you heard a lot of time this question but I am really frustrated and I need to find out what would be the best career path for me. I am a senior nursing student I am know want to further my education but I do not now what to choose (PA or NP). I want to work in ER or Acute Care so I was wondering which path would provide me the best tools to be successful. I had talked to a lot of NPs and PAs and I got a lot of mixed answers. I also kind of reviewed the curriculums for PA school and NP school (critical care concentration combined with trauma) and I liked the medical based curriculum of PA school compared to the NP (too much nursing theory). That's why I decided to follow the PA route until I talked to one women's FNP ( UPenn graduate) who works at my college . She told me that NPS are more knowledgeable than PAs from personal experience and just by the fact that they are allowed to practice on their own, the thing though is that I am afraid that she is bias. I Any insight and guidance would be really helpful, thank you so much!