Different between Nurse Practitioner And Physician Assistant

Professionals who seek challenging and well-paying healthcare careers may find themselves torn between two comparable disciplines such as nurse practitioner and physician assistant. Both nurse practitioners and physician assistants are mid-level practitioners.

However; they are not doctors, but they take on some roles traditionally taken on by doctors, including making diagnoses and prescribing medication. They are valuable partly because of their role within an increasingly expensive medical system; their services are more cost-effective than those of physicians.

Academic Preparation Of Nurse Practitioner And Physician Assistant

Physician Assistants must attend a PA program following graduation with a Bachelor’s degree. These Master’s level programs are extremely rigorous and are modeled on the curriculum found in medical schools. In fact, many of the courses like dermatology, hematology and psychiatry are found in both medical schools and Physician Assistant programs. The PA programs, they are both focused on the medical science.

Nursing programs do provide a strong medical background for Nurse Practitioners, but they are more focused on natural, behavioral and humanistic sciences. This emphasis upon the state of the patient rather than the treatment of the underlying medical affliction reflects a historical origin in which Nurse Practitioners were utilized to ease the discomfort of the ill or injured. Nurse Practitioners do, however, complete a Master’s degree program like Physician Assistants.

Clinical Preparation

While Nurse Practitioners may obtain from 500 to 700 hours of experience in a clinic learning about diagnostic techniques, common medical procedures and case management, Physician Assistants are required to spend almost 2,000 hours in a clinical environment prior to licensing.
Nurse Practitioners are expected to choose a specialty like pediatrics, acute care or oncology in which they can devote their clinical preparation, Physician Assistants are expected to rotate through a wide variety of medical specialties.

Certifications

Physician Assistants must be nationally certified to practice and are nationally certified by a single authoritative body, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. The NCCPA only certifies those who have taken the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam and passed. Nurses, on the other hand, are not required to pass a national certifying exam, although doing so will permit them advanced credentials.

The state licensing procedures for each profession are slightly different

Nurse Practitioners only need to provide proof that they graduated from a nursing program. Additionally, PAs must complete 100 hours of continuing medical education hours every 2 years an pass a recertification exam every 6 years, while NPs need only complete 75 continuing education units every 5- 6 years.

Read More

How Nurse Practitioners Can Help Save To Lower Down The Cost As Primary Healthcare

The healthcare costs are growing at unsustainable rate. This is the problem to say  but this is a multi-faceted issue comprising unhealthy lifestyle,  medical technology, rising hospital costs, fraud and waste and so on. In this case, nurse practitioners are increasingly becoming the primary health care providers. NP is advanced practice registered nurses who are qualified to treat wide range of health problems, diseases and conditions. To simply put; nurse practitioners are able to seamlessly blend their expertise in diagnosing and treating various health conditions.

The need of an hour – The primary care physician shortage is a serious growing problem and patients are being affected. The demand of the primary care is projected to rise in the next 5 years due to population overgrowth, expanded health insurance and aging. With the rising shortage of primary care physicians and studies repeatedly showing that primary care reduces cost and increases quality for consumers.

Reasons To Have Nurse Practitioners To Have As Primary HealthCare

Nurse practitioners can play a critical role in expanding primary care capacity. Nurse practitioners often called mid-level health care providers are able to extend some aspects of primary care, complementing the work of primary care physicians. Nurse practitioners are nurses with advanced clinical training. They need fewer years of training than physicians making them a more immediate support to a stretched primary care workforce. Furthermore; nurse practitioners can reduce cost because their average earnings are half those of primary care physicians.

The NPs are important for areas of the country that face severe primary care physician shortages - this shortage is particularly acute for rural areas and southern states where the patient-to-primary care physician ratio is higher and where fewer physicians are choosing to practice. Studies show that Nurses are more likely to practice in these underserved areas than primary care physicians, increasing access for Medicaid patients and the uninsured.

How do nurse practitioners save the healthcare industry money?

Nurse practitioners are qualified to perform many of the same procedures as a physician, including: delivering babies, writing prescriptions, ordering tests, and diagnosing illnesses. Some of the only procedures NPs cannot perform are complicated/high risk cases and surgeries, which will generally be referred to a physician specializing in that particular area.
However, enabling nurse practitioners to practice medicine to the full extent of their licenses will enable the healthcare industry to both meet the demands of a greater number of sick people and lower the cost of primary care for all people.

Quality Improvement

Expanding NP scope-of-practice strengthens primary care capacity. Nurse Practitioners increases consumer access to primary care while freeing up physicians to manage more complex patient cases. States can support consumer access to health care by passing legislation that eases restrictions on NP scope-of-practice.

Harnessing NPs can also help address a common barrier to care for the beneficiaries: the shortfall of primary care providers. Empowering Nurse Practitioners to diagnose and prescribe without physician oversight is one important tool in helping to ensure that there is an adequate primary care workforce to serve this new population, especially NPs are more likely than MDs to treat patients in settings where provider resources are scarce.

Read More