PA vs Nurse: Difference and Comparison

Being sick and suffering from diseases is a part of life. It cannot be avoided or terminated. Therefore it becomes important to get the right treatment at the right time by the right people.

Doctors are the people that we look the first in any of these cases or related situations. But except for them, some other professionals’ help is also available. Examples of these can be nurse and physician assistance.

Both of them take care of sick and unhealthy people. But the thing with these professions is that not most people are aware of the differences between both of them.

Key Takeaways

1. PAs practice medicine under the supervision of a physician, while nurses provide patient care and support.
2. PAs can diagnose, treat, and prescribe medications, whereas nurses focus on patient education, monitoring, and administering treatments.
3. PAs require a master’s degree and certification, while nurses can have various educational backgrounds, such as associate’s or bachelor’s degrees or advanced degrees for specialized roles.

PA vs Nurse

PA, short for “Physician Assistant,” is a healthcare professional who works under the supervision of a licensed physician. PAs are trained to diagnose and treat illnesses and injuries. A nurse is a healthcare professional who is responsible for the care of patients. Nurses work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, schools, and community health centres.

PA is a certified person in graduation under the physician assistant course. Their scope of practice is based on the agreement they have signed with the physician.

They always work under supervision and re-certify after ten years and require 2000 hours of clinical practice. They are more disease-centred, which means they are more concerned with prescribing medicines and tests.

A nurse is someone who has done graduation from a nursing program and has been certified. The scope of practice of a nurse varies from state to state or country to country. They can re-certify after five years of practice.

They are more patient-centred, which means their work is more on patients and taking care of them. They can practice independently but sometimes work under supervision.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	PA	Nurse
Scope of practice	Defined by an agreement.	Depends on the state.
Supervision of Physician	Required	May or may not be required
Salary	High salary	Low salary
Re-certification	10 years	5 years
Type of practitioner	Disease centered	Patient-centered

What is PA?

PA or Physician Assistant is a certified person. They examine the patient and give a prescription for the medicine.

Following are the duties and responsibilities of a Physician Assistance:

1. They have to interview and communicate with the patient to understand with disease or the cause of his sickness. They have to make sure the proper care is taken.
2. After communication, they have to prescribe all the necessary tests to identify the nature of the sickness.
3. They prescribe the medicines and precautions that they have to take care of to make sure they don’t fall sick again.
4. In case of cuts, they have to stitch the wounds. They also have to place the bone correctly if there is a fracture or dislocation.
5. Administer immunization.
6. They also have to maintain the records of patients.
7. They should communicate with the patient clearly to understand their problem and make sure they don’t feel uncomfortable.

A Bachelor’s degree is a must for practising as a PA as 2000 hours of clinical experience. It is a very popular profession, and therefore it also offers a good amount of salary.

They are trained in the field of anatomy, pathology, clinical medicines, microbiology, haematology, pharmacology, etc., and post-nominal initials for them are:

• PA
• PA-C (PA – certified)
• RPA (registered PA)

What is Nurse?

A nurse is a profession in the medical field; it is associated with taking care of patients. The nurse has the following duties:

1. Patient care: this is the main duty and responsibility of a nurse. He has to take care of the patient and make sure they are getting whatever is required without any problems or difficulty. They help the patient to recover, prevent illness, treat health conditions, etc. It is their responsibility to check the monitor regularly. They take proper care of them which may include their spiritual and developmental needs.
2. Patient advocacy: along with the care, they have to advocate for the patient’s best interest while maintaining their dignity. They have to suggest to their patients the best plan and support them the most while making any medical decisions.
3. Planning care: as mentioned above, their main role is not to take proper care of the patient, but for that purpose, they have to plan how they are going to accomplish that. They make necessary decisions; they should communicate thoroughly with the patient and plan their activities and schedule as the patient need.
4. Patient education and support: nurses are also responsible more making the patient well aware of their condition and providing education to them about the cause and treatment. They have to educate the patient about the precautions and methods they should apply after discharge from the hospital.

A person is required to have a bachelor’s and master’s digress in nursing. Or he should have done a diploma in the nursing course.

Main Differences Between PA and Nurse

1. The main difference between a Physician Assistant and a Nurse is that both of their scopes of practice are different. In the case of a Physician, Assistance is defined by an agreement with the Physician in charge, whereas in the case of a Nurse, it depends on the agreement of the state mainly.
2. They differ in terms of the supervision of Physicians for Physician Assistance, it is mandatory to work under supervision, while for Nurses, it may or may not be mandatory.
3. When compared in terms of salary, Physician Assistance gets a higher salary in comparison to a Nurse, who apparently gets a low salary.
4. Both professions need to re-certify, but the period after they require this is different. For physician assistance, they require to re-certify after ten years, whereas, in the case of a nurse, they require to re-certify after five years.
5. Both of them require different educational qualifications, Physician Assistance requires to have a bachelor’s and master’s in physician’s assistance studies, while the nurse is required to have a degree of bachelor’s and master’s in nursing practice.
6. Last but not least, for the certification process, a nurse should have 500 to 700 hours of clinical experience, whereas a physician assistant must have 2000 hours of clinical experience.

References

1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-0361.2009.00252.X
2. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077558713495453

Last Updated : 02 August, 2023