Physician Assistant Vs Nurse Practitioner Essay

The Physician Assistant (PA) and Nurse Practitioner (NP) career fields were the medical fields’ response to the physician shortage that began in the 1960s, but the shortage still exists today. As the population continues to grow, the gap continues to grow as well. Medical schools were having a hard time producing as many doctors that were needed to fill in the gaps in a timely manner, leaving the medical field looking for ways they could have health care providers diagnose and treat patients, but educated in half the time of a doctor. The PA program was then born out of the military. Medical doctors watched as military doctors and medics came back, but they had no formal training except for on-the-job training. The NP program was derived from previous midwifery program. Currently, as the physician shortage is still impending more and more PAs and NPs are being hired to fill in the gaps. This is causing many questions to arise: Are they qualified?, What kind of education do they have?, and Should I feel safe?. Patients want to know that they are getting excellent care, and that their medical providers are qualified to diagnose and treat patients accurately.

This has allowed me to experience what each person’s role in a hospital setting truly is. Both physician assistants and nurse practitioners share a lot of the same responsibilities as a physician, although nurse practitioners are given the flexibility of choosing which specialty they are interested in pursuing. This autonomy is what drew me into this position, which includes a lot of independence within the practice. Over the years that I have worked in healthcare, I have realized that patients need a health care provider who will be an advocate for them, and they also need someone who will truly listen to them in order to help improve their quality of health. The roles and job responsibilities of a nurse practitioner have caught my attention and therefore have made me want to pursue this career

Healthcare workers in the United States work together to provide the best possible care for patients that come into their facility. Patients go through different waves of health care professionals before seeing an actual physician. Healthcare systems use a nurse practitioner, which is a registered nurse with more education and specialization, to help treat a patient in a timely manner. According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, NPs have been providing care to patients for over 45 years. The year 2011 has seen 140,000 practicing nurse practitioners in the United States alone, with 9,000 more expected to enter the work force (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners a, 2010). With statistics demonstrating great expectations of

The health care industry is experiencing a surge in the number of baby-boomers needing health care and increased demands on the physicians providing the care. This trend has made the role of Advanced practice providers more important (cite). It is imperative to understand the differences and similarities in the advanced practice provider roles as it pertains to healthcare. This paper will identify specialty nursing roles including advanced practice registered nurses (APRN). It will further compare and contrast the advanced practice nurse (APN) and physician assistant (PA) roles in practice.

While the demand of healthcare need increasers the United States facing a physician shortage. In recent years the number of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) has significantly increased and they are taking the part in providing healthcare cervices to the majority of patients. I believe nurse practitioners and physician assistants can practice independently from doctors and be free of oversight. Expanding the scope of NPs and PAs is essential to overcome the healthcare crisis we are facing; it will increase patient satisfaction and stabilizing the healthcare economy.

The physician assistant (PA) profession has grown exponentially and as a consequence more people are becoming familiar with the profession. The profession has grown in the United States from 80,019 certified PAs in 2010 to 115,547 certified PAs in 2016 which is an increase of 44.4% over the past 6 years.1 Furthermore, in the United States there are 36 PAs per 100,000 population.1(p6) PAs are found in all 50 states and the average salary among all certified PAs in all specialties is $104,131 making the profession ranked number 3 out of 100 best jobs.1(p11,21) Therefore, the PA profession is becoming more popular and demanding which makes for a competitive environment when applying to a PA graduate program.

The medical field is one of the fastest occupations in the world. Medical Assistants and LPNs have different roles and responsibilities. You will get a better understanding about each occupation position in the medical field. Understand the difference between the two is not as difficult as it seems. The difference between the two is Medical Assistants handles basic clinical tasks. They are responsible for medical records, book-keeping, and answering call. Most Medical Assistants help Doctors examine and treat patients. They are responsible for drawing blood, and giving injections. Medical Assistants work in private offices and have clinical duties according to the state law. Medical Assistant can check temperature, height, and weight. They

by a nurse equivalent is equivalent to care provided by a physician.. In addition, the

deficiencies that appears in the United States has placed the spotlight on the advanced practice nurses, involving nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to make up for the insufficiency physicians (Kleinpell, Ward, Kelso, Mollenkopf, & Houghton, 2015). With the NPs and PAs coming into the for forth to provide patients with high-quality healthcare at reduce costs. The PAs and NPs continue to inform patients on new medical advancement and treatment pertaining the patients? health conditions to ensure patients continue up-to-date knowledge and to encourage

In December 1970, the American Medical Association adopted the following definition for Physician Assistants: “The Physician Assistant [(PA)] is a skilled person qualified by academic and practical training to provide patient services under the supervision and direction of a licensed physician who is responsible for the performance of that physician assistant.” (NY Department of Health). Laws and regulations for the PA profession have been developing over time based on the needs of the society; however, the need for a supervising physician found its way in the definition of the PA early on. Since PAs have been playing an important role in patient’s life, it is not surprising that they needed the supervision of a physician. After all it was a new profession, therefore it needed time to show if it is fulfilling the initial goals of the profession or not.

At this point in time there is no standard model for the regulation of Nurse Practitioner (NP) practice throughout the country. Currently, each state determines the scope of practice, roles, and basic educational requirements for NPs (Zaccagnini & White, 2017). In addition to general confusion on the part of medical professionals and patients, this results in issues accessing health care for patients as well as limiting the mobility of NPs to move throughout the country and continue to practice. Important terms to consider when discussing the regulation of advanced nursing practice are licensure, accreditation, certification. These terms are occasionally used interchangeably, leading to further confusion.

In this article, it explains the duties, work environment, licenses and certificates and also the education of a Nurse Practitioner. Nurse practitioners typically take or review patient’s medical histories. Besides doing that, nurse practitioners also are known to examine patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests, such as x-rays or blood tests. NPs also are able to diagnose a patient’s injury or illness like a doctor can and can also give treatments for patients with broken bones or even immunization get patients. Along with physicians, NPs can also work independently. Their particular obligations and the degree to which they should be regulated by doctors or specialists contrast from state to state. They are not confined to work in a specific area of medicine. A Nurse Practitioner area of work includes primary care and family medicine, emergency medicine, surgery, psychiatry also mental health. Some APRN duties are the same as those for registered nurses, including gathering information about a patient’s condition and taking action to treat or manage the patient’s health. The only difference is that NPs have the ability to refer patients to specialists, both diagnose and treat ailments and order tests. APRNs likewise may

Physician Assistants are also known as a PA’s; they practice medicine under the direction of physicians and surgeons. They formally trained to examine patients, diagnose injures and illness, and provide treatment. Physician Assistants also evaluate and treat patients under the supervision of doctors and surgeons. A Physician Assistants is a graduate of an accredited Physician Assistant educational program who is nationally certified and state- licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a physician. Core tasks of a Physician Assistant are they take medical histories and examine patients. They Interpret lab test and make diagnoses, Treat minor injuries with stitches, splints, casts, and prescribes certain medications, The

The role that nurse practitioner (NP) plays within the increasing complex health care system is a constant changing role with the Consensus Model and the introduction of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The scope of the nurse practitioner (NP) includes the care of the young, the old, the sick and the well. The educational needs of a nurse practitioner vary greatly from that of a Registered Nurse (RN), in the amount of education as well as the focus of the education. NPs provide coordinated primary care with the use of comprehensive health histories and physical examinations, diagnosing and treating acute and chronic illnesses, the management of medications and therapies, ordering and interpreting tests results, and educating and

The role of a nurse practitioner has changed and progressed over the time since their inception. Nurse practitioners in today’s environments of hospitals and clinics in treating primary care has expanded. Their roles has expanded that in some states a nurse practitioner can work in a clinic stand-alone without an overseeing physician. Do all states offer these privileges to nurse practitioners some ask and the answer is no. Some states still have the requirement that nurse practitioners must be overseen by a physician. In today’s environment of physician shortages this leads to nurse practitioners being limited in the field of scope of primary care. Not a lot of physicians are going into primary care because of the lack of money that they may earn as a general physician over as a specialist. This problem has led to the shortage of physicians in the field of general medicine and what hospitals and clinics are trying to do to remedy the situation by using nurse practitioners and physician assistants. These organizations see nurse practitioners as a means of filling this void in primary care. Studies have shown that nurse practitioners deliver a higher quality of care or equal to that of a physician. Clinics in states that allow a nurse practitioner to practice freely from a physician are able to create openings in areas that physicians typically would not apply for. These states are seeing more nurse practitioners and physician assistants in rural areas by allowing