What is the difference between a PA and a Nurse Practitioner?

A. “On a daily basis in the United States, physician assistants and nurse practitioners function in similar roles. Both can diagnose, treat, and prescribe, but the training of physician assistants is generalist in nature and modeled on medical school curriculums. All physician assistants learn primary care and rotate through the major specialties while in training. Nurse practitioners, on the other hand, have traditionally been trained in one specialty (pediatrics, women’s health, etc.). Recently, family practice as a specialty has gained on popularity. Physician assistants are employed more often as house officers within the hospital setting than are nurse practitioners; surgery and its subspecialties are the most popular in-house specialties. Physician assistants are also more involved in emergency care than are nurse practitioners. Politically, physician assistants consider themselves to be a part of medicine as a member of the physician-led team, and some physician assistants sit ...  more

A. “On a daily basis, in the United States, physician assistants and nurse practitioners function in similar roles. Both can diagnose, treat, and prescribe, but the training of physician assistants is generalist in nature and modeled on medical school curriculums. All physician assistants learn primary care and rotate through the major specialties while in training. Nurse practitioners, on the other hand, have traditionally been trained in one specialty (pediatrics, women’s health, etc.). Recently, family practice as a specialty has gained on popularity. Physician assistants are employed more often as house officers within the hospital setting than are nurse practitioners; surgery and its subspecialties are the most popular in-house specialties. Physician assistants are also more involved in emergency care than are nurse practitioners. Politically, physician assistants consider themselves to be a part of medicine as a member of the physician-led team, and some physician assistants ...  more