Understand the Difference Between a Nurse Practitioner and a Physician Assisstant
Many people get confused by the differences between physician assistants and nurse practitioners. While there are many similarities between the two, they are two distinct professions.
Steps
- Understand that both are considered health care practitioners, and can diagnose and treat conditions, prescribe medications, and manage patients' care, usually under the supervision of a physician.
- Understand that physician assistants have completed a course of training, usually either a bachelor's or master's degree, and can diagnose and treat conditions, prescribe medications, and manage patient's care under the supervision of a physician.
- Understand that physician assistants undergo general and broad medical training, allowing them to work in any health care setting or specialty of their choice. While there are some additional training programs PA's may choose to take to become more well versed in a specialty, they do not need additional training to specialize.
- Understand that nurse practitioners are, as the name suggests, registered nurses who have undergone additional training, at minimal, a master's degree, to be able to diagnose and treat conditions, prescribe medications, and manage patients' care under the supervision of a physician. In some places, nurse practitioners do not need physician supervision.
- Understand that nurse practitioner training can be more specific than PA training in that NPs are trained as pediatric NPs, family NPs, acute care NPs, etc. If a NP wants to switch specialties, he or she would have to undergo additional training. Family nurse practitioners have the broadest set of options, and often work in family doctor's offices and urgent care clinics, seeing a wide variety of patients.
- Understand that while they function autonomously in many cases, there are some procedures they can not do. They can not perform surgery (beyond very minor procedures and suturing), and some who do not have DEA numbers can not prescribe certain types of medications. However, they are trained to know when the patient's condition warrants care outside their scope of practice and will call for additional help as needed.
- Know that NPs and PAs do not earn as much as physicians in most cases, but their salaries are excellent and both are growing careers with bright futures.
Tips
- Most PAs and NPs prefer for their patients to call them by their first names.
- Do not be afraid to see a NP or PA as your primary care provider. They are highly trained and many people actually prefer the care provided by these professionals over that provided by physicians.
