Nursing or Physician Assistant?

[Manu705]

I am currently a sophmore in college and was thinking of doing nursing, but many of my family members and the career counselor at my school told me to look into PA....can someone help me with the advantages and disadvantages of both?? i want to work with patients and make them feel better in a hospital environment. I'm so confused!:39:

[cougarnurse]

Personally, I think would choose the nurse path. Guess being a nurse for 20 years does that to ya. I work LTC, and I see many of the same residents day in and day out. I see the changes from day to day, and know my rezzies pretty well, and notice any changes, thus pass it on to the MD. True, I work alternate weekends, but that is part of MY job description. There are jobs that do not entail weekends, 3 shifts, etc.

This is just a start, of course. Someone else is sure to add to the list.

'Cat'

[Manu705]

thanks for your help! i'm looking more into nursing because its more of having a relationship with the patient rather than just assessing them and leaving. I'm really excited about transferring into the nursing program!

[cougarnurse]

I was thinking the same thing.....the relationship with the patient. Oh, I am sure some doctors and P. A.'s have fairly good relationships w/ the patients, but....

[Manu705]

yea i know PA's and doctors talk to their patients but i think i would be a better nurse because of my personality. although the reason why im debating so much about nursing is because of the blood and needles. i feel like i might be able to get over that fear though! any tips on how to get over it?

[mshep12]

If you want to look more into the specifics of nursing, there's a great site out there called http://www.nursingprograms.com. It goes into details about CNAs, LPNs, and RNs and then into the degrees you can get after that like BSN and MSN. Hope it helps...