KevinMD March 7, 2020
Currently, in America, there are only three legal groups of prescribers, the physicians (which include MDs, DOs, DPMs), the nurse practitioner (NPs), and the physician assistant (PAs).
The first class of physician assistants, in 1965, was also the year of the first class of nurse practitioners. Today there are nearly 300,000 NPS In America and 123,000 PAs.
PAs are outnumbered almost three to one, and the trend, with the rapid rise, and push, by NP organizations for more accessible, primarily online, schools, will soon reach four to one. The two have existed for the same number of years, yet, in most states, including my beautiful state of Utah, nurse practitioners have a status that allows them independent practice in all...