PA vs. NP vs. OT

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Hi all,

I'm a 30 year old mom of 2. I have a B.S. degree in Psychology and no prior healthcare experience. I'm weighing my options between becoming a Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant or Occupational Therapist.

If I went the nursing route, I could do an accelerated BS to BSN in 14 months then apply directly to NP school. So that would be a little over three years of schooling to become a NP. Do you think it would it be difficult to find employment right out of NP school? The accelerated BSN is $60k and the NP Masters is $35k.

Alternatively, I could enter an ASN program that would take 2 years, and bridge to a RN-BSN program which would take 1 year. This would be inexpensive but would also add 2 years onto my studies.

OT school would also be around 3 years to complete. Cost is $55k

PA school requires at least 1400 hours of healthcare experience to be competitive, so it would take me over a year to accumulate that, and the program is 2 1/2 years. Cost is around $60k.

I'm currently enrolled in A&P I and will be taking A&P II next semester, but I'm trying to make a decision soon because each program has different prerequisites beyond A&P.

Please help! I know most of you are nurses on here, but which would you choose and why? I'm a sensitive, caring person and I've heard that nursing can eat you alive at times between coworkers, doctors and patients families. Does it get better when you become a NP?

Thanks!!! :-)

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I'm in your same situation and I am going the NP route. I did a lot of research and I prefer the nursing model to the medical model and I appreciate all the options I would have as a nurse that I wouldn't have as a PA.

$60k sounds like an awful lot for an accelerated BSN. Mine is going to be around $30k including pre-reqs, I would look around if I were you. Good luck! I'm super excited about the future!

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Specializes in Women's Health.

what are you interested in???? why do you want to be an OT or NP or PA? Is it $$$$ or what??? You have no previous health care experience... can you handle it??? do some shadowing.... why did you get a degree in psych??? why not get a MS in psych??

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Hi there. I did an accelerated 2nd degree BSN program with the future goal of obtaining my NP. However, after talking to a lot of people, I decided to work as an RN for a few years first. I am currently completing my second year of bedside nursing and started my NP program this semester. By the time I finish my NP program (since I am going PT), I will have about 5-6 years of bedside nursing under my belt. My reason for choosing this route is that I was told that it is very difficult to obtain an NP job without having prior bedside nursing experience. Good luck with your decision!

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Specializes in Developmental Disabilites,.

I would do OT. It is real hard to get a job as an RN right now. But there is a critical need in my area for OTs. I don't think NPs and PAs get the money or respect that they deserve.

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I felt compelled by your question because I faced the decision you are trying to make. I chose to get the BSN but I regret my decision (I'm still in school for that). Out of 45 people in the class that graduated 2 months ago, only 5-7 have nursing jobs. This is a dismal outcome, won't you agree? In my area MD/VA/DC there are jobs for NPs but they are not easy to come by. The previous poster mentioned that she chose to work b4 her NP for that same reason. Do you really want to work 2-5 years as an RN before the NP? The PA is a much faster route even with the required HC experience. Can you get a job as a CNA and get the experience while you are taking classes (I'm assuming that you are not currently employed but you didn't mention if you are or not).

OT is a well paid profession and almost completely stress free-you can work part time, full time and there is strong demand where I live. I would probably find it boring but the money and hours are great and if you went the OT route you could always apply to PA school after b/c you would have healthcare experience.

Just my 2 cents-but I would not want to spend 60K on a second bachelors and 30K on a masters and then find out I can't even get a job.

Since you already have a psych BS, you could also get another route and get the ADN while you are working as a CNA and then apply to PA school or decide to either practice as an rn and apply to BSN/NP school

I would also recommend that you start volunteering at a hospital-thy the ER...it usually has PAs on duty and RNs. Try a nursing home for the OT observation.

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Specializes in PICU, ED, Infection Control, Education, cardiology.

If I am not mistaken, don't you also need a masters degree to be an OT. My wife is an OT and she also says that she is so glad that she finished college before she was required to get a masters (she graduated the year before the masters took effect).

What about a direct-entery MSN?

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Hi everyone...thanks for your replies!

Yes, the OT school I'm considering offers an entry level Master's degree in OT. A Master's degree is now the minimum degree required to become an OT-R.

To answer smily_nurse: I earned my BS in Psychology many years ago thinking I wanted to become a counselor. Over the years, I had worked in Finance (completely unrelated field) and knew neither Finance nor Psychology were right for me. I'm attracted to the medical field for various reasons, including having an interest in disease processes and health, treating the patient as a whole and building relationships with patients over time. I also enjoy the level and type of knowledge that one would need to acquire as a professional and the level of autonomy of the NP, PA and OT professions.

I have shadowed an OT and RN. I have an understanding of the professions I'm interested in and am attracted to each one for different reasons.

I started off originally with my mind set on OT, but I am worried that the profession won't be exciting to me and won't provide me with the type of patient care that I think I would enjoy. I'm attracted to nursing because it considers the whole person in the healing process and would allow me to work in exciting areas that I am interested in, such as the OR, ICU, or PICU.

I'm not considering any of these careers soley for the money, but it is always a consideration when you have a family to support and are investing a large amount of time and money into schooling.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone that answered!!

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LaxNurse: How does your wife like her career? What setting does she practice in?

Thanks!

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I am in a similar boat as you, only I'm a few years older with no kids. I spent most of the last year really focusing on prioritizing prereqs for various accelerated BSN or direct-entry RN programs in my area. I already have considerable student loan debt from an unrelated master's degree and have recently started researching more about the routes to becoming a NP. The two schools I'm most interested in (Chicago area) allow you to apply directly to a master's or doctorate NP program with an RN license and a bachelor's degree in a non nursing area. You don't have to take that middle BSN step, although there may be a few added "bridge" courses added to your program. I am hoping to get into the associate's program and get an ASN and then apply shortly thereafter to the NP programs. Yes, there is some lag time in there between graduating, passing the NCLEX, applying to grad school, and starting a program, but I figure it will give me time to find a job. And yes, experience does look good when applying to grad school, but it isn't an absolute requirement (at least at the schools I'm looking at). My only reservation about doing an ASN program is the fear that it will be harder to find a new-grad RN job as I keep hearing that a lot of hospitals are really looking for the BSN grads. I figure the job market could be different in a few years, and I am really open minded about working in the less popular specialties. So for me it is really about the cost difference. The accelerated programs are going to cost me $40,000 to $60,000 more for the initial RN portion, and I decided that wasn't for me. Plus the accelerated programs do not give you much hope for holding any kind of a job while you are in school. I believe I will be able to work as a CNA during a "regular paced" ASN program, which I think is more beneficial to me in the long run. I do think this is very much a personal decision though. I don't think there is a right or wrong path. If $100,000 fell in my lap today, I'd go for the accelerated path in a heartbeat. As for PA...I've done some research, but not a lot. Like you said, the requirements to get in will take longer, including the prereqs. Most require more chemistry and some physics that is usually not required for nursing entry. I haven't done any research into OT, though I have a sister who is currently in a program (as a second degree student) and loves it. My route to NP as a second career is going to be longer than I initially intended, but I'm finally feeling very good about my decision. Of course, now I'm waiting to see if I get into an ASN program for the fall (with applications also submitted for BSN programs as a second choice).

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Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.
Hi there. I did an accelerated 2nd degree BSN program with the future goal of obtaining my NP. However, after talking to a lot of people, I decided to work as an RN for a few years first. I am currently completing my second year of bedside nursing and started my NP program this semester. By the time I finish my NP program (since I am going PT), I will have about 5-6 years of bedside nursing under my belt. My reason for choosing this route is that I was told that it is very difficult to obtain an NP job without having prior bedside nursing experience. Good luck with your decision!

After doing my own research and speaking with other advance practicing nurses, I couldn't agree with you more on your decision .

The way healthcare is changing, NPs will have more opportunities and the need will be great. More med students are choosing to specialize, leaving the door of opportunity for NPs. Many of my professors have already encouraged us to go for the advanced degree.

Currently, I'm in an ABSN program and plan to work as a bedside nurse for at least 1 year, then plan on applying to an NP school. OP, $60k seems quite high for the ABSN program. Is this in Cali? My program is only costing me $28k (including getting the school's insurance) for the 15-months.

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I'm in the same situation. I don't know where you are located but here at University of California at San Francisco there is an MEPN program that I'm going for. Since I already have a bachelors (non nursing) I can go to this program (its 3 years) and at the end have an MSN with a family nurse practitioner certificate. I would definitely keep looking. GOOD LUCK!

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