NURSE PRACTITIONER VERSUS PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT

Last week in a restaurant in Lyon, France, my tablemate turned toward me and asked, “What’s the difference between a nurse practitioner and a physician assistant.”

My husband and I were on a tour. Our traveling buddies consisted of older folks like ourselves. The woman knew I was a retired NP and had told me she frequently saw either an NP or PA when she went for routine medical appointments. She was satisfied with either but didn’t know the difference.

I became an NP in the early 80s and worked in Chicago when NPs were trying to expand our practice by gaining prescription privileges. We were much maligned by the traditional medical establishment. “If nurses want to act like doctors, let them go to medical school” or something to that effect seemed to be the mantra of the American Medical Association. (Both the AMA and the Illinois Medical Association…