fejes said:
My husband spoke to his friend's wife, who is a nurse. She was apparently just promoted to head of her department. My husband mentioned to her that I was interested in going to school to become a PA. Her comments now have my husband asking me if I am confident about my decision. She said that there are few jobs for PAs, and that the only specialty that is growing is surgery. Overall, her comments were "tell her its not what she thinks it is."
Hearing this has me really disconcerted and angry. How would a nurse know about the job market for Physician Assistants? Are her comments valid?
Obviously the nurse your husband spoke to is wrong. I would simply present the facts to your husband and explain that there is sometimes animosity between the two groups NP vs. PA. Both great professions, but when you look at the professions side by side, the PA is obviously cut from the same mold as a physician. I suspect it would be easy for a person in a nursing position to speak about other health care professions thinking or acting like they know a lot more about them than you really do. Especially if they know the person they are speaking doesn't know anything about it. I would encourage you to find the following data and present it to your husband and see what he thinks about the career outlook between the two professions.
(Not that the nurse was encouraging the NP route, but I guess this is the nature of the question.)
1. Training and education
a. part time vs. full-time requirement
b. Clinical requirements, including total hours and diversity
c. pre-requisites for matriculation into a program and selectivity
d. Nursing model vs. medical model of education
2. Clinical practice
a. practice act in the state that you want to practice in.
b. areas that the profession you can practice aka options/limitations
c. Autonomy
3. Salary
a. starting salary and benefits
b. salary for specialty and earning potential
c. career outlook
d. average hours worked per week and salary!
Then evaluate your personal situation
1. are you already a nurse (RN), it is usually a requirement for NP school
2. How much to you want to make - PA's usually make more
3. Do you want to be limited in what and where you can practice? PA's can practice anywhere/anytime, with physician supervision. NPs may not need a supervising physician, but a collaborating physician. Its pretty much the same thing!
4. Would you rather be a physician or are you comfortable being a mid-level? If you are uncomfortable with not being the top dog, just go MD/DO
5. Are you unsure of what specialty you want to practice or are or are you confident that you want to practice in one of the half dozen options available to the NP's. (it might be hard to decide until you have experienced them.)
6. Does the state that you ultimately want to practice in allow you to prescribe as a PA. I think there are still three states that don't allow PA to prescribe (however, this is probably going to change someday soon).
7. Do you want to go full time or part time? Almost all PA programs require a full-time commitment. NP's don't require nearly the commitment of PA school and training, but allow nurses to obtain practitioner status while working and/or be a mom or dad.
There are probably many more options to consider, but these are the common comparisons between the two professions. I think for most people considering the two professions even if they are a nurse, the PA route is the better option unless they have other obligations that prevent them from being a full-time student or if they have a particular affection for being trained in the nursing model.
L.
