Lately I've been having a lot more doubt about whether I want to pursue nursing or being a physician's assistant. In thinking about nursing, I've always had the goal of moving towards nurse practitioner. I like the idea of having that level of knowledge and responsibility, and hey, the money is appealing as well. But more and more people have been talking with me about PA and the prospect sounds interesting. I was talking with my mother about it, since she's a nurse practitioner, and she said that PA is more technical than NP. The other difference is the amount of schooling. I would have to do the 18 months of accelerated BSN, then 2 (or more) years to become a NP. PA school, while super intense, is 2 years. I would have to take the GRE though to get in, and to go the nursing route I wouldn't have to take it until I got the NP part, and I'm not totally certain that it's required for that.
I think I'm going to go ahead and apply for OHSU's accelerated BSN, then see if I get in. If I don't, I'll have more time to look into different options. If I do get in, well then I'll have to decide what I want to do sooner rather than later.
wow that's a whole lot of acronyms there Pedra. My mom is also a nurse practitioner, I didn't know yours was! I'll ask her what her thoughts are on the subject because I sure don't know jack.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark!
ReplyDeleteI need all the help I can get :) And it's always cool to hear about different perspectives on things.
-Cheryl