Physician Assistant vs Nurse Practitioner: What's the Difference?

If you have any questions let me know :

I'm a little confused about the "NPs also work under supervising physicians" part. Is that still true, despite many states now allowing NPs (unlike PAs) to work without any supervising or collaborating physician at all?

My PCP is an NP. She's amazing.

Great video, a few mentions. We do not focus on holistic care, that is only found in alternative medicine and some mental health. NPs have years of RN experience usually prior to becoming NP (not all but most). You can't get an NP License without RN license and we must maintain both. While NPs get less clinical hours. Its less hours total compared to PA, but more hours spent in one specific specialty (640 hours in mine, which is psych). NPs can't easily switch specialties. One thing to note is that, if an FNP wants to be hired as a Psych NP at most jobs or vise versa, they will be required to go back to school (minimum post masters) and get more clinical hours in that specialty and take another board exam in that specialty.

I have an assistant nurse education then a nurse education still to take up when I have energy for that again.

A High school graduate from Canada, Alberta . I'm also looking into PA path here. So just wandering how big of difference between US And Canadian path. There is so much info about PA's in United States, but not so much about those in Canada, lol.

If there's going to be some PA from Alberta seeing this comment, I really like to hear their opinion, how long it took, how much different is it from US physician assistants and whatever that may be also interesting. Would love to hear.

I literally confuse what i should do after my bsc ?any suggestion ?

I have completed my Bsc after that can i do assistant doctor like PA? Whats the next ...we need to cross any compitive exams? Chances are there ro do assistant doctor after completion of bsc cource ?

Physician assistant and nurse practitioners should be replaced by people who actually care about healthcare. They are literally, dropping the ball on so many. I have had both and they gaslight and dismiss your symptoms. Then they kick you to the curb when they can't figure out what is wrong with you. THEY SUCK! THIRD WORLD MEDICINE! They take a oath NOT TO CURE!

Before the snotty sick people who do not work in the medical field want to be picky with their care - take this information and do with it what you will: There are about
1M doctors (so if you are looking for a Specialist - imagine how many specialties there are which makes this number smaller)
385,000 nurse practitioners
179,000 PA's
=====
1.564,000 HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS IN TOTAL
and only
6120 hospitals, total of about 1.7M beds
4.7 M Nurses
FOR ALL OF YOU 345 MILLION AMERICANS --- so go ahead, be picky and wait in line... or maybe celebrate when the Health Care System keeps crashing further down due to people resigning because of fatigue, rude patients, understaffing, etc. This cogwheel is running its last breath and trying to hold things together --- its' current state delicate even without a pandemic.

Often these discussions are down on nps for having less clinical hours. Many np applicants have been nurses for years already, that is valuable experience. I was a laboratory scientist and worked RN pool working between three major hospitals for over a dozen years before becoming np, how many clinical hours would that equivicate to?

FNP for 30 years, RN for 50. I've worked in Infertility, Urgent Care, Geriatrics, Palliative Care, Pharmaceutical Research, Internal Medicine, Gynecology, GI, and a Women and Children shelter and lastly ran an outpatient covid + clinic for individuals at high risk for death/ ICU. It is really not true that you cannot switch your focus. I also suture and perform procedures. In 15 minutes, neither of us has time to be "holistic" when prescribing HTN medications. We all follow the same principles, ie, no beta blockers for severe asthmatics, IDDM, etc. My friend is a PA and her undergrad is in Psychology. Given that I worked in Boston hospitals for 11 years before NP school, I already understood the "medical models" of illnesses, how to read EKGs and rhythms, medications, their uses, contraindications and side effects, how to perform a neuro exam, and heart and lung sounds. Things may be different now. The proof is in the pudding when you graduate. I'm happy to say that I retired as an NP this year and happily work in summer camps as a happy camper RN if I fell like it.

For those of us who use closed captioning, I found your hands very disruptive. Great summation of both professions.

Is there any such thing as becoming a NP and a PA have a half and half mix of both professions? Because there are very big likes and dislikes to both . I want as much knowledge into both backgrounds because both are needed just as much as the other .

Overall good video. One significant difference noted was incorrect. Not all Nurse Practitioners work under the supervision of a Physician. In many states, and progressively more every year NPs have autonomous practice as governed by their respective state.

These are both valued healthcare professionals. Trained differently and have different models of care and focus. Kudos to all of our PAs and NPs still working in this crazy healthcare system. I have been a NP for 23 years.

I just wanna say, I am both RN (4-year program) and MD (4-year program) in my country, and now I am doing the NP program. It is a great mix of nursing and medicine. I am also looking to get my 2nd doctorate degree, the DNP.

As a patient, it's unsettling to pay so much for medical care and not see a real 100% MD. No offense, but I expect to see a real Dr. when I'm paying the exuberant costs associated with the medical industrial complex.

NP here, thanks for not disparaging NPs. We are here simply because there is a huge gap in patient access to providers, due to the fact that many MDs are choosing to go into specialties. I am absolutely shocked at what I read on MD forums about their opinion of nurse practitioners. We are here to assist and augment the MDs practice because doctors asked for help in the 1960s. That’s why the position was created in the first place. I have worked in both the primary care and hospital setting and as far as I can tell MD utilize us in the same way.

Most nurses who go to NP school worked as an RN at bedside and side by side with MD. Also, they had patient experience so to discredit that they have less clinical hours is irrelevant. Most of them have seen the ins and outs of healthcare system.

I am not a student for either profession; but, I am doing research since most of my medical visits are now managed by either a PA or NP. If there is a doctor in the office, I've yet to see them. Anyway, with no insult intended, (especially as I see a lot of PAs without concern) it seems that NPs have more practical, hands on experience with a variety of illnesses since they were a nurse first. My niece is heading to PA school but has only been a CNA as part of her requirement & that doesn't seem to be exactly the same. Your video offers some clarity but.... Thank you.

Philosophy of care differs substantially between the two

I don't like np's i feel like there are too many of them

Critical Care RN in NP school here:


Everyone here is so disrespectful. NP’s and PA’s are amazing providers. Most NP’s have a lot of years of experience at the bedside and even critical care. Which if anyone didn’t know, nurses tend to catch some things MD’s and other providers miss. With that being said, having that clinical background as an RN at least 3 plus years before becoming an NP, I wouldn’t go with a PA who there could be a chance jumped straight into a Masters degree from being a business man or an artist, or anything else but a clinician. So that’s why NPs are a bit more trusted. Yes PA’s have extensive training AKA 2 years only just like most NP programs, not online ones! But at the end of the day 2 years would be there only “experience” in a clinical setting if they weren’t any type of clinician before entering PA school and barely because first year is didactic only and second year is clinical rotations. In order to be an NP, in a good school, you must be an RN with bedside experience for at least 2 years. So if anything an NP would have much more clinical exposure anyway than a PA, who was a an accountant who got their undergrad health sciences degree before deciding to become a PA. So y’all have to stop being disrespectful to NPs and PAs as well both are amazing providers and they are an extension to the interdisciplinary team. It’s called collaborative care delivery and for y’all that don’t even have a degree or a medical background, get out of the comments cause you absolutely know nothing about the medical community. It’s always the ones that have not achieved the least bit of education that have something to say.

I'm doing Health Studies now, to get in the Respiratory Care program. I did my research about PA im very interested in it. Can you give me any tips on pursuing in the field?

Both are mid-levels:)

Thank you so much. You have articulated the differences very well. Do you know if it is doable to end up in Neonatology as a PA?

What a pointless video from a PA .. seems to me like your a pretend Dr… or underpaid Dr , at least a NP still follows a nursing route…

I’d rather see a Doctor than a physician associate and a nurse practitioner than a nurse.

My brother is a PA, and he said he sometimes feel like it was a waste. I asked why? He said he didn’t feel prepared upon graduation, and like me, we are very educated individuals. That’s why I decided to choose the NP route. I however, do think it’s important that we work together in the field, we already have the MD thinking we’re trying to steal their JOB! 😂

Thank you Ma'am for clearing the differences between the NP and the PA. One question if a NP is a Nurse Practioner the ì don't understand why they would be allowed to open their own practice? One would think that it would be the PA that would be allowed as they would have more experience where as again the NP deals with mainly the beginning of the visit and that's when The PA comes in to do diagnosis and/orthings of the more hard core items, so to speak. Either I missed that part or you didn't cover it which means I must have missed it. Again Thank you for your passion and time.

I am an NP myself but I can see from the comments that there's a lot of insecure NPs out her lol. Let's face it, PAs are trained like MDs - the medical model schooling. Majority of NPs like myself obtained it online, which is not bad. But if we are talking about who is more highly trained and knowledgeable to be a provider, we all know it is the PA. MDs prefer PAs than NPs and that's the truth.
I am out here to spread facts than being too defensive and insecure LOL.

may i know how to be a physician assistant after nursing program? thanks

If I could start my nursing career again I’d go to PA school as a lpn lol. I’m a RN though going for NP since there’s no other way for me to transition

You did a fairly good job of breaking down the differences, however, NPs are not supervised by physicians in over half the states.

Hey! I have been stuck on whether I want to become a PA or NP. I am about to graduate high school and not sure which route is right for me. But I had a quick question, for my undergraduate degree, what should I study to have a greater chance at being accepted into PA school, and what should I study to have a greater chance at being accepted into NP programs? Thank you for the amazing videos!

I was debating PA or NP, after looking over both programs, competitiveness, curriculum, credit hours, etc. I am shocked at how NPs are pushing for full autonomy. Some of their programs are completely online and only require you to be a licensed RN and pay an admissions fee, other programs are 36-50 credits only, and half those classes are some sort of nursing theory or ethics class and feel like they belong in nursing school. A new grad nurse could literally go to NP school, finish, and be labeled a provider, that is just beyond me. I will no longer accept to be seen by an NP again.

PAs are much more qualified based on the training model. PAs have a solid base of biomedical science and allow for extension of the physician led team.

I love your videos and I think an interesting topic to cover would be crna vs caa