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What is the difference in salary for a Physician Assistant and a Nurse Practitioner?

What exactly is the difference between a nurse practitioner and a physician's assistant?

  • I know that a nurse practitioner is probably the highest achievable position for a nurse, one step above a BSN (Master's). They are allowed to prescribe drugs to people, etc. ...show more

  • Answer:

    PAs have to have doctors sign off on everything they do. In some states NPs can function independently. In some states, NPs and PAs complete the exact same tasks and there is almost no difference. The major difference is the background. NPs are advance practice nurses, whereas a PA may have a background in a Biology, or pre-med. It's a little easier for people in other professions to switch into medicine to be a PA bc they don't have to be a nurse first, they just need the prereqs to get into PA school. NPs are trained in the nursing model, PAs are trained in the medical model. The nursing model is more preventative and holistic, the medical/disease model is more like "fix what's broken" and it's very focused. NPs also learn how to diagnose and treat medical conditions, but their focus is seeing the whole person and how other aspects, like social and financial and emotional needs are influencing the patient's health. That's the fastest I can explain this. This is a really good question to google because a lot of PA/NP school websites have comparisons between the two.

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Actually, there are a few Doctorate Degrees for Nursing: Doctor of Nursing Practice and Doctor of Nursing Science. That being said, I have a pretty tasteless joke about the difference between CRNPs and PAs: A CRNP is a nurse and a half while a PA is only half a doctor... Anyway, The difference is in their training. Both are Master's Degree programs and they both, generally, end up performing nearly the same functions. However, a nurse is brought up to treat patients, not illnesses. We are advocates for our patients when no one else is, no matter what our credentials. Hope this helps

MHnurseC

A nurses practitioner is something similar to that of a physician assistant. In some certain areas i.e.: smaller rural areas the nurse practitioner might also be able to do some physician assistant duties. These are closely related, but the physician assistant would still make a little bit more money than that of a nursing practitioner.

mtwaites

read these two articles pretty sure its the differences in schooling and certifications@!! nurse practicioner http://www.womenshealthchannel.com/nursepractitioner.shtml PA http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos081.htm to me i always thought the PA was higher up, but looks like the RN-NP has more training before they start working and teh PA has on going training. The PA still makes excellent money though!

Laura S

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