What is the difference between a nurse practitioner and a physician assistant?

I am interested in the education requirements, duties, responsibilities, pay scale and status.

So far, only one answer. The pay scale URL given by Answerer #1 does not have pay for medical professionals, just accountants, teachers, etc.

I was told by a R.N. that nurse practitioners go to school for 7 years; PA's go for 2 years; the PA's get more respect; and the PA's make twice as much.

From the answer and links given, I can't determine if that is true.

What is the difference between a Nurse Practitioner (NP) and a PA?

According to the American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP), "While NPs and PAs often perform similar functions, there are important distinctions between these health care professionals. PAs work under the supervision of a physician. They must meet the entrance requirements of a PA program, but that does not necessarily include a background in medicine or nursing. In contrast, NPs may work independently or in collaboration with a physician and must have an RN license before being accepted into an NP educational program."

Note: the AAPA's definition of the duty of PAs states "Physician assistants are health care professionals licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision". The distinction between under and with was made to note that much of the PAs work is done without direct physician supervision.

In addition, the entrance requirements for nearly all PA programs require a background of patient focused healthcare experience. This is not limited to certain professions, and students entering PA school today have backgrounds in medicine AND nursing, as well as other allied/ancillary healthcare professions.

http://saaapa.aapa.org/prepa/pafaq.htm

Now to add my own 0.02: Physican assistants can prescribe medication in most states and they can work independently (as long as they check back with a physician once a week for chart review). Of course, like NP's they do need to work under a physican (they can't have independent practice, like a doctor can). Both NP's and PA's can have their own patients. I once worked for a PA who had her own patients as part of a larger clinic.
Nurse Practictioners are trained to the nursing model, whereas PAs are trained to the medical model (an abbreviated form of medical school).
Nurse Practictioners go to a 4 year nursing school, and then a 2 year master's degree program to be certified as an NP.
PA's generally go to a bachelor's program, also, and then they do the two year master's program to be a PA.
If you are interested in nursing in itself, then I would go to a 4 year nursing school, work as a nurse for awhile, and then go on to the nurse practictioner's program.
If you aren't all that interested in nursing, then you might want to get your bachelor's in pre-med or another subject that interests you, and then on to the PA program. Most PA programs won't accept you unless you have a few years of medical experience (paramedic, EMT, medical assistant, phlebotomist, or something like that). An NP program usually just wants to see that you have some nursing experience.
Hope this helps!

look it up on yahoo. you will find all the info you want. i had the same question not too long ago. i have decided to persue nurse practitioner. i do know that a pa must always work under a physicians supervision. they usually help with surgery. they cannot writer perscriptions. a np usually works in a office either alone or with a doctor. they can write perscriptions and have their own patients.

PA~ http://www.aapa.org/geninfo1.html
http://www.aapa.org/
http://www.tri-c.cc.oh.us/library/guides...

NP~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_pract...
http://www.nurse.org/acnp/facts/whatis.s...
http://allnurses.com/Nursing_Specialties...

look on http://www.salary.com/salary/layoutscrip... for pay info.