NP vs PA vs CRNA

[HF7189]

After doing a lot of research and shadowing, I still do not know which field I want to go in. I live in the middle of the city in the NorthEast area, so I would like to work around near here. Even though salaries are not a priority, it is something I consider because each field requires a lot of effort and I feel as if I want to be rewarded more than the average national salary (through experience of course, but most I read has a compensation limit).
I am interested in any surgical specialty which I know all of these three majors provide. Job outlooks for PA and NP seem identical, as well as salaries (10K isn't really much of a difference), but I am unsure if the job outlook for CRNAs are as good as PAs and NPs. Considering they make well over 140-170K, I am wondering why many people (especially on SDN) believe that there will be a surplus of CRNAs within the next 10 years (BLS says otherwise). I don't really care about politics, so I don't want to get into details about that, but overall, I would like a secure, permanent (no locum tenens) job in the future where I don't have to keep moving around and losing more than what I can earn. Also, what I don't understand is why NPs and PAs don't make as much in surgical areas (one surgical PA I shadowed, makes around 125K within 5 years, starting off with 90K); from what I read, it requires more training to work in those kind of fields, but the compensation rate doesn't seem as great.

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[deleted480308]

Nps and pas don't make as much insurgical areas....compared to what?

 

[HF7189]

compared to CRNAs

 

[deleted480308]

compared to CRNAs

Supply and demand

 

[deleted6669]

If you are sure you want to do surgery PA>NP. PAs own the surgical market for non-physicians. If we were talking about psych, women's health, or NICU I would say go NP.
there are also many (optional) postgrad pa programs in surgery if you want to get adv. training. see www.appap.org

 

[NYCGuy86]

After doing a lot of research and shadowing, I still do not know which field I want to go in. I live in the middle of the city in the NorthEast area, so I would like to work around near here. Even though salaries are not a priority, it is something I consider because each field requires a lot of effort and I feel as if I want to be rewarded more than the average national salary (through experience of course, but most I read has a compensation limit).
I am interested in any surgical specialty which I know all of these three majors provide. Job outlooks for PA and NP seem identical, as well as salaries (10K isn't really much of a difference), but I am unsure if the job outlook for CRNAs are as good as PAs and NPs. Considering they make well over 140-170K, I am wondering why many people (especially on SDN) believe that there will be a surplus of CRNAs within the next 10 years (BLS says otherwise). I don't really care about politics, so I don't want to get into details about that, but overall, I would like a secure, permanent (no locum tenens) job in the future where I don't have to keep moving around and losing more than what I can earn. Also, what I don't understand is why NPs and PAs don't make as much in surgical areas (one surgical PA I shadowed, makes around 125K within 5 years, starting off with 90K); from what I read, it requires more training to work in those kind of fields, but the compensation rate doesn't seem as great.

Feedbacks would be awesome, thanks 🙂

It really depends on what you want your role to be. If you want an intraoperative, first assistant surgical role (in addition to pre and post-op management), then PA would be the best option. If you are okay with pre and post-op surgical patient management, then either PA or NP (specifically the Acute Care NP, which is the type of NP educated and trained for inpatient and specialty practices) would be fine (many times this depends on the location and facility as far as the prevalent provider). If you want to be an anesthesia provider, then of course CRNA would be your option (there is also AA, anesthesiologist assistant, though they aren't able to practice in all states currently).

Think about what you want your role as a provider to be.

As far as job outlook, I think that part of it has to do with the purported proliferation of schools in recent years. It is said that with so many schools putting out so many grads, there won't be as many jobs available, and salaries will go down. You hear the same thing on the pharmacy forums and others.