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

What is the difference between a Physician's Assistant and a Nurse Practitioner?

• Are they both used in the NICU or the labor and delivery area? What are the responsibilities that differentiate a PA from an NP?

• Answer:

  A Nurse Practitioner starts off as a registered nurse, and then gets advanced eduction to become an advanced practice nurse. Depending on the state, she may be able to perform indendent physicals for diagnosis, prescribe medications. They can work as a medical provider in some clinics and ERs (in ERs, usually as a Fast Track provider). They do not generally (again it depends on the state) require close medical supervision. A physician's assistant has education based on medical training, not nursing. They can also do most of the same things mentioned above, but most states require that a physician supervise the PA. If a PA works in a hospital, such as in an ER, then a physician has to sign off on a lot of what the PA does.