Which do doctors respect more, Physicians Assistants or Nurse Practitioners?

Please do not tell me that a PA is the same thing as a medical assistant, I would love a *real* answer here, so if you aren't sure what you are talking about - please do not bother!

The real answer is that it varies from doc to doc. PAs can't work without a doctor there, and NPs can work independently and set up clinics and get their own patients (in the state I live in). I think the internet buzz shows doctors to be less in favor of NPs, because they may feel it hurts their business, but statistically less docs are going into general practice (more want the extra income from a specialty) and NPs sort of step up and fill in the vacuum in the community for affordable clinics and GPs.

If you're trying to decide on which way to go, that's going to be entirely up to you. Both NPs and PAs who are competent and communicate well with other providers are respected. I'm going back for my psych NP starting in the fall, and it's a long haul and not an easy overnight thing. Many people are pushing for NP's to have doctorates, and the program I'm going into provides that. I'm not sure if a PA is even a masters - maybe it is - from what I understand it's 2 years after your BA.

And for information for others: an NP is at least a master's level nurse, and often a doctorate level. It took me 2 years of pre-reqs and 2 years of nursing school to be an RN. 1 more year for the BA, then 2 more years for the master's and another 1 1/2 years after the master's for the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. A PA needs a BA, then 2 years - so a PA would come out with a master's degree.

A big difference to keep in mind is that the PA applicant's BA can be in anything - accounting, forestry, you name it. in general, the NP applicant will have already gone through at least 4 years of nursing.

If it's a question of technical assistance then Physicians assistant
otherwise Nurse Practitioners

physicians assistant - from what i have seen in the hospital over the past 10 years .

As an RN myself, I'm sort of biased. I respect NPs more, usually, because they are nurses, and...nurses stick together. :) Also, in the state of Delaware, NPs have just a little more authority than do PAs, so that is part of it as well.
However, each person is a person unto himself or herself. There are brilliant PAs and NPs who are not intelligent.

Both are well respected in the medical community and either may perform primary care roles and prescibe medications in most states.

Someone with a PA had a good enough 4 year degree to get into grad school which they study more on medicine. A Nurse Practitioner becomes a nurse first, I think 2 years of schooling, then a Practitioner, I think another 2 years of schooling. If a doctor is going purely on how much schooling a person got to recieve their title, then I'd say a PA. A Nurse Practitioner may be just as or even more knowledgable then the PA, but they don't have the schooling to back them up. I'm sure that how long they have been practicing medicine factors in school.

Now I'm not some big city doctor, but if I were to take a guess, if a doctor were judging in his mind a PA just out of school, and a NP just out of school w/ little hospital experience, then I'd say a PA gets more respect.

It's like anything else PA's and NP's have diffrent job discriptions rules and regulations in diffrent environments, and locations it is all due to your origin of what you are capable of doing in your area per your license, certificate or protocols.

I am an RN who continued on to be a PA-C. The respect is totally dependent on the individual physician. I practice in the state of Maryland and I have the same legal rights as a NP. In the locality that I practice in I have experienced no animosity between our professions. We all work together. And each person is usually as good as they individually are. There are not -so- good doctors, NP and PA-C......and there are great ones. The education of a NP is based on a nursing model. The PA-C is based on a medical model. It's just two approaches to learning basically the same thing. I personally like having both backgounds. My masters is in Medicine.

Because the concept 麓Respect麓 is a construct i.e. a subjective abstract term and so is the concept of 麓More麓, your question is hard to answer. A range of basic aspects are to become clear first. Such as: What kind of doctor do you refer to, what is your definition of respect exactly, and in which setting would this kind of respect be relevant ? Further, where are those PAs and NPs working and trained?

One answer I believe can be given without knowing any of the above and that is that what is looked for in any PA and NP,
is that they are able to express themselves with the receiver of their communication in mind. Thus social and people skills are key. Their personality stands out because of their grace and compassion through which they should be able to build rapport at an instant. So it麓s not too difficult to figure out which professional gets the most 麓respect麓 in universal terms: the NP who can do this or this PA who is rude and impatient?

The answer is they are NOT the same.

A medical assistant goes to a community college or vocational trade school to get trained. It's not a bachelor's degree or anything close to that. It's a certificate program (usually 9 months to a year), like a dental hygenist. It's a back office person who can do certain things. I have a friend who is one. They can't diagnose, they can't treat, they just help with giving assistance to the doctor. This means things like draw blood, take vitals, set up for exams, do inventory, etc., It's NOT a physician's assistant, it's a medical back office assistant.

The physician's assistant is highly educated, can diagnose and treat people, and must work under a doctor's supervision, and they are educated 2 years BEYOND their bachelor's degree (6 years total), and must practice and are licensed to work under the doctor's license and malpractice insurance from what my PA told me. He said hence the title "Assistant".

A nurse practitioner has a bachelor's, a masters, and 2 years in a nurse practitioner program (8 years). A Nurse Practitioner may practice under her own malpractice insurance and own license or optionally under a doctor's. Hence, the term "practitioner".

Please visit the different websites of the Universities that offer the nurse practitioner or physician's assistant programs. The degree requirements are listed for each of them. Good Luck!