NP vs PA

Comparing Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Career Paths.
When looking to achieve a high tier in your profession, it can be daunting to choose your path. Becoming a nurse practitioner (NP) or physician assistant (PA) could provide a rewarding and lucrative career. This article will guide you along the path of becoming an advanced practice provider. As a prospective nurse practitioner or physician assistant student, let’s take a look at the differences between these two roles. Which one is the right choice for you? Now let’s list the difference between NP and PA.

Physician assistants and nurse practitioners are educated from fundamentally different viewpoints. A PA is medically trained from the medical model. The medical model focuses on the pathology of the problem and how to cure it. The PA model essentially is disease-centered.
A NP goes to a nursing school and is trained under the nursing model. The nursing model focuses on the patient as a whole. The NP model is patient-centered rather than disease-centered. Philosophically, the medical and nursing models differ tremendously.

As a NP, you will have different workplace experiences than that of a PA. Nurse practitioners work in a range of settings. NPs practice in hospitals, clinics, schools, camps, and skilled nursing facilities, and because they often have the authority to diagnose and prescribe independently, they’re also found in nurse practitioner-run clinics, or even establish independent clinics of their own. PAs typically work directly under surgeons and physicians in doctor’s offices and hospitals where they contribute to the work MDs do. This means they aren’t able to strike out on their own to establish an independent practice.

Both PAs and NPs can specialize in a great number of areas. Even though PA programs focus on general medical practice, in their careers they often specialize by area of medicine and practice setting, including emergency medicine, surgery, or orthopedics. On the other hand, NP programs all include a focus in a specific patient population group: family and individual across the lifespan, pediatric, adult and geriatric, women’s health, neonatology, or mental health. NPs can also further specialize according to practice setting and disease type.
Whether you choose to become an NP or a PA, the requirements are similar in terms of the level of education you’ll need, even though the focus of the education will be considerably different. The PA must attend graduate school and receive a master’s degree, either in Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS), Health Science (MHS), or Medical Science (MMSc). The NP attends an advanced practice program, either a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), both of which build off the knowledge Registered Nurses already have.
Both professions have state licensing and national certification requirements. The PA must take a general national certification exam known as the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE). NPs, on the other hand, test for primary certification in the patient population that aligns with their graduate studies. If the NP wishes to specialize even further, there are additional certification options in everything from emergency care, oncology, infectious diseases, and immunology to forensic nursing and informatics.
Both physician assistants and nurse practitioners must be licensed or registered at the state level, and both participate in continuing education to maintain national certification and state licensure. Depending on how licensing is handled in a given state, an NP would either earn an additional APRN (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse) license, or an advanced practice endorsement on their existing RN License. In virtually all cases, NPs would still be required to maintain a Registered Nurse license in good standing in order to practice.
PA vs NP Salary

PAs and NPs have different salaries, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. A physician assistant earns a median salary of $101,480 per year. At the top of the salary range is $142,210 annually. Nurse practitioners make an average of $104,610 annually. The high end of the NP range is $140,930 annually. Both career paths have an excellent outlook with both fields growing and creating new job openings.
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Creative Contributors: Writer/Video Editor:
Caitlin Alcox
Craig Trayler