Applying to PA and BSN programs

[Tiago303]

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Good Afternoon,

I am very interested in applying to PA and BSN programs this upcoming summer and fall. I graduated in May 2014 with a bachelor of science in biology. Initially, I was unsure if I wanted to become a clinician or apply to dental school. After much thought, I decided not to apply to dental school because I am more interested in learning about systemic health than oral health.

Since my sophomore year of undergrad, I have volunteered in hospitals and family practice offices. I admired the work that both PAs and Nurse Practitioners did for patients. The PA route is attractive as I have a strong science background and it may be more of a direct path to working as a clinician. However, I see that a nursing degree offers many paths of career advancement that include NP, nurse anesthesia, and management. I live in a state where NPs are able to practice independently. At the end of the day, I would be happy with going either the PA or the BSN route because I would still be seeing patients.

Anyone willing to give me their opinion on my options? Would it be a bad idea to apply to both programs if I have the pre-reqs completed for both?

 

[deleted6669]

if you are sure you want to be a clinician , apply to PA and direct entry NP programs and skip the bsn stage. As a career, bsn/rn and PA are miles apart. One is ancillary staff and one is a clinician.

 

[nico vazquez]

RNs are actually healthcare professionals not ancillary staff.

 

[deleted6669]

RNs are actually healthcare professionals not ancillary staff.

they are both. They carry out the orders of clinicians. they are not clinicians in the sense that physicians, PAs, and NPs are.

ancillary

Houghton Mifflin

• 1. Something that is subordinate or accessory to something else.
     
     
     
  2. A person working in a supportive or subordinate role.
     
     
     

 

[nico vazquez]

It's disrespectful to call RNs "ancillary staff" just as it would be disrespectful for a physician to refer a PA as ancillary staff.

 

[deleted6669]

It's disrespectful to call RNs "ancillary staff" just as it would be disrespectful for a physician to refer a PA as ancillary staff.

fine. nurses (like RTs, etc) are non-clinician staff.

 

[NYCGuy86]

Thank you. Yes, I saw this before in another thread and just ignored it, but I agree. RNs certainly are not "ancillary" (by the definition given, PAs would be ancillary to physicians), and do a lot more than carry out the orders of the physicians, NPs, and PAs (in some cases working in settings where there is no implementation of physician/advanced provider orders). I don't believe I've ever seen a hospital refer to nursing as ancillary, but you never know.

Interesting:
http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/access/ancillary_services.asp
http://www.auanet.org/advnews/hpbrief/view.cfm?i=559&a=1475

Having said that, I do agree that the roles of RNs and PAs (and NPs) are very different, and if one is considering PA, then the nursing role closest to that would be NP. While RNs have a very critical role in health care (beyond carrying out "orders"), it is not the same as an NP, who can diagnose and prescribe medications. I do agree that the BSN will provide you with many options beyond NP if for some reason you find out you don't want to be an advanced practice provider.

 

[deleted6669]

Interesting:
http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/access/ancillary_services.asp
http://www.auanet.org/advnews/hpbrief/view.cfm?i=559&a=1475
Having said that, I do agree that the roles of RNs and PAs (and NPs) are very different, and if one is considering PA, then the nursing role closest to that would be NP. While RNs have a very critical role in health care (beyond carrying out "orders"), it is not the same as an NP, who can diagnose and prescribe medications. I do agree that the BSN will provide you with many options beyond NP if for some reason you find out you don't want to be an advanced practice provider.

Fair enough, I stand corrected and apologize. I meant no offense.. my point for the OP was that nursing ( or other non-clinician roles like Resp. Therapy) are very different than clinician roles. Both are critically important, but someone looking for one and working in the other would end up very unhappy. I'm just saying the OP needs to know what they are getting themselves into. If you have no desire to be a nurse, you shouldn't become one. If you have no desire to become a clinician/provider you shouldn't do that either. I have a world of respect for good nurses. I couldn't do my job without them. They keep me from doing stupid stuff and I have their back when bad stuff happens on their end of the patient encounters. You probably won't believe this, but one of my global health/disaster med role models is an RN. They guy is fearless. He worked with Ebola pts for 6 weeks recently after spending a year in Ethiopia at a rural hospital taking care of folks with tropical diseases. We have worked together for years and have a lot of parallel interests and goals. I consider him one of my best friends. He is one of my content advisers for my dissertation and I am trying to help get him some graduate credentials to match his impressive practice resume.

 

[pamac]

"Clinician:
n.
A health professional, such as a physician, psychologist, or nurse, who is directly involved in patient care, as distinguished from one who does only research or administrative work."

So yeah, definitely not ancillary staff. I'm not sure I agree that RNs are "clinician" staff, but this definition is all over the place.

 

[pamac]

It's definitely important to determine whether you want to be a nurse or a provider. They aren't very similar. You will not be happy as a nurse if you are expecting it to be like a PA. It's a lot of hands on application, and following of orders written by the providers.