AbeFrohman

There is a lot wrong with NP and PA scope of practice in the south, particularly Alabama, which has the most restricted scope of any state in the nation for NPs. Louisiana won't allow CRNAs to practice chronic pain management, even though CMS has decided that it is within their scope and can be reimbursed for it. Many more examples.

Glad to see so many defending PAs on here. We need to realize that PAs and NPs can do so much more together. They both have their faults and points of excellence in different places, which culminate in equal care by both. If we come together, we can much more easily overcome scope of practice issues, prescriptive authority problems, ect. We can look at each others educational models and instill the best from both, we can look at how each of our lobbying efforts are successful and mimic it, and we can be 250,000 strong when speaking to elected officials and contributing money to their campaign funds. There are 100,000 PAs and 150,000 NPs. There are nearly 1 million physicians. If we want to stand up to that kind of power, we need to be together. If you want to see what NPs, CRNAs, PAs are truly capable of, look no further than the military. All three act independently, especially in combat zones.

The current thought model on how PAs can become independent is through CAQ (certification of additional qualifications), which has only come out in the last few years and there isn't one for every specialty yet. They are written by specialty PAs and MDs and are intended to resemble allopathic board certifications. These exams are only allowed to be taken after a residency or so many years of full time practice. No PA is arguing for independence in say, neurosurgery, but many are grumbling that after residency/time in practice with a passing CAQ score, they should be independent in specialties such as FP, EM, outpatient settings, ect. As a side note, it is commonly accepted by PA leaders that residencies in specialties will become the norm. Either through legislation (similar to degree creep how NPs need a Master's degree to practice in many states now), or by self-selection as jobs will start to only take residency trained PAs with a passed CAQ. It happened to the docs the same way. First, all you had to do was graduate med school, then legislation required an intern year. Now you can work in any specialty after an intern year legally, but no hospital will hire/credential you and you could be sued into oblivion. Will independence for PAs ever happen? Who knows. More than likely the best they can hope for in this lifetime is collaborative practice and untie themselves from "supervision," and with no physician liability they will be able to demonstrate they can stand on their own two feet. It is hard to show that you are competent if the physicians are taking credit for you work through "supervision." No way to prove if it was a PA or the MD that did the heavy lifting. If any of it does, it will be much more slowly than NPs progress and it will likely be without the help of the AAPA. The House of Delegates for the AAPA won't even consider studying the cost/effect of a name change. Though a new organization, PAs for Tomorrow, has started just in the past month and is attempting to reach critical mass so that they may take on the issues the AAPA won't touch.

Absolutely. NPs and PAs can come a lot further together than apart. As for the PA name change, it would help PAs be taken more seriously by insurance, executives, and legislators. Many specialist PAs, many of which already own their own clinic, are shot down by banks for business loans, insurance reimbursement, or fight law makers because "how can an assistant employ their supervisor." Furthermore, there are many states legislating for law changes to allow PAs to sign off on more forms and removing supervision requirements. This will allow for better access to care, and help PAs from getting left in the ditch. What happens to a PA when their supervisor decides to move or quit? They can't give so much as a flu shot. They are left out in the cold with no job. Is that fair? Supervision is currently being lobbied for removal by Northeastern U in Massachusetts. More than likely it will be replaced with something like Washington state has with "sponsoship" only and no need for strict supervision. Nursing needs to look into helping back these advancements for PAs because wins for one non-physician provider will help show our usefulness and strengths for all non-physician providers. What is good for the goose will be good for the gander.

I would do it like below. Total time=1.5 years. Didatic instruction run concurrent with rotations. Rotation Location Length  Emergency Medicine 28 weeks  Radiology/CT/Ultrasound 4 weeks  Anesthesia 4 weeks  Pediatric Emergency Medicine 4 weeks  Trauma 8 weeks  ICU 4 weeks  CCU 4 weeks  PICU 2 weeks  Orthopedics 4 weeks  OB/GYN 2 weeks  Burn Management 4 weeks  Trauma 4 weeks  Toxicology 4 weeks  Blood Bank 2 weeks  EMS 4 weeks

You can also look at this file : Clinical Quality Management It will tell you a great about almost every type of provider in the Army

Note, you can be deployed as a med/surg RN, or other RN as your experience dictates, while being a military NP. This should help out. It is dated, but still holds mostly true. : Expanding the role of NPs in deployed settings Also, if you were wanting to be in closer to combat or even at a battalion aid station, this is a role generally reserved for PAs. NPs typically, not always, either do primary care only at a clinic or combat support hospital, midwifery, or psych. You can see the possible delineation of privileges here: NP privleges You can compare that to the PA, which can also extend into one of the specialties (flight surgeon, battalion surgeon, emergency medicine, ortho, ect) which is another sheet altogether: PA privileges

First, the Nurse Practitioner name has been publicized quite a bit and it would be detrimental to PR if a change were to happen. Maybe not the end of the world, but it would just add a hurdle. Secondly, NPs practice nursing. This shouldn't be demeaning. It is actually a great thing because the alternative is to practice medicine. If NPs did that, then they would have to answer to the BOM. They would rail NPs into oblivion. The name, as it is, is a good thing. PAs on the other hand, well they need a name change and bad.

The army offers a DSc in PA studies that coincides with a EM or Ortho residency. Other branches have the residencies in place and are working to implement the DSc. This was done mainly to allow for promotion as you can get stuck in a rut if you only have a masters degree. The AAPA is still against a doctorate. There is only one bridge which is for PA to DO at LECOM that is 3 years. Not even much of a bridge and is equivalent to other 3 year programs direct towards primary care where they just cut out the summer off and a couple of electives. As far as evidence based practice goes, both my NP and CRNA program went into plenty of detail on this. Problem is, no one cares or uses it so it becomes lost after graduation.

There is nothing wrong with an associate degree PA. All associate degree PA programs require minimum 4,000 hours of prior, high level experience (nurse, emt, rt) and most are in the 10,000 range. So might say they are better than master prepared PAs. Also they have the class and clinical requirements as a masters degree PA (minimum 2,000 hours of clinical) minus a research project. They still take research though.

True with the exception of why they created PAs. PAs actually existed before NPs, albeit only by a year or so. Now AAs, they were created in opposition of CRNAs. That may be where you getting confused. Also, most do not want "independent" practice (though they do want a better MD/DO bridge than is currently available at LECOM), but I would say that most want to go to "sponsored" or "collaborative" practice that most NPs have.

Dude, as long as you have a 3.0, go for it. I made almost all B's in nursing school and I'm going to PA school after getting some HCE in critical care. I had good science GPA as well. Caspa does count nursing course, but you can it either as science or non-science based on it's content. Most of the time they won't question you when it comes to you deciding on nursing courses. if you want a good science education then PA (or CRNA) is the way to go. Unfortunately, it requires a base knowledge so nursing prereqs don't usually qualify. Usually have to go back and take at least more chem courses.

No CRNA keeps their CCRN certification. At least none that I have met, and I guarantee if I still had mine they would have laughed at me.

4.0 GPA average for the class? You realize how much of a statistical improbability that is right? Either half the class went to schools where they gave higher than a 4.0 (which is not the norm of universities) or EVERYONE had a 4.0. There is probably no cohort in the history of education of any major that can honestly make that claim if they had more than 7 students. If you still claim it is true, tell me the name of the school and I will personally research it. Until then, I say poppycock!

Here's what happened.. Admission Director:"Where's the pile of applicants that met the minimum requirements?" Secretary: "On the left side of your desk." Admission Director:"How many are we taking this year?" Secretary: "75." Admission Director: "Okay, grab the first 75 in the pile and send the rest a denial letter. Wow, I'm exhausted from all this work." I'm not saying there aren't selective schools out their, but they are not the norm. I have been through the application process at several schools and friends all over. I'm telling you, it just SEEMS competitive because the person with a 3.9 GPA just had the bad luck of having their application seen after all the slots were filled. I've yet to see a person who met the minimum requirements not get in within at least on the second try, even at the same school. ETA: I had a 3.5 GPA, ZIPPO experience, the GRE was waived for me (>3.2 GPA), and no interview, and UAB ACNP program took me without hesitation. Just to show schools that are online and take huge class numbers (despite being renowned medical institutions) are really easy to get into.