RN or Physician Assistant?

Question

What would you pick if you what to have a good lifestyle and if you want good pay and if you you what good options in that field?

Answer 1

I think Craig's answer is pretty much right on. I have been an RN since 1976, spent 23 years in the Navy, and now am a healthcare systems consultant for a non-profit in the Washington DC area. I tell you this to point out the great variety and flexibility that nursing offers. The nursing equivalent to the PA is a nurse practitioner (NP), as one of the other posters mentioned. To become a NP, you will generally need a BSN and then gain additional schooling, usually at the Masters level, to become a NP.  The PA route is quicker, but career options IMO are more limited. Although you can indeed become an RN with an associates degree, check the requirements for NP training to see if that is sufficient for entry (I frankly do not know).

Answer 2

well as an RN you could also be whats known as a nurse practitioner which is almost the same as a PA..you see and treat patients just like a PA!..in the VA there are alot of nurse practitioners.

Answer 3

Physician Assistant.

Answer 4

Both occupations will provide you a stable career and a good lifestyle. However, a PA requires a bachelors degree prior to admission to the 2-3 year PA program leading up to a masters degree.

You can become an RN with just an associates degree. You can further that by getting you Bachelor of Science in Nursing and eventually pursue a higher Nurse Practitioners Master's degree.

Nurses are in high demand every where. PA's are too but not nearly on the scale that RN's are. If it were me making the choice; I would go for being a PA. I think the work a PA does would suit me better and be more fulfilling. Not than nursing can't be, but for me I think it would be.