NP Proselytizing

[mktalon]

I am getting really tired of RN's trying to convince me to become a NP instead of a PA when I mention that I am trying to get into PA school. I understand being proud of your own profession, but it gets to the point of them being defensive and nearly arguing with me about how much better a NP is. Is this type of proselytizing encouraged by the association or something? PAMAC, you've kind of been on both sides of the aisle, am I just an unlucky recipient of a few people that want to make their beliefs known, or is this something that is being systemically encouraged?

[GatorRRT]

Maybe it's the hospital you work in, even my NP friends where I work haven't questioned me.

[mktalon]

There is a strong nurse union presence, so maybe that's why? I'm not offended by it, really. I have nothing against them thinking that NP is a great profession - it is. But so is being a PA. It's not every nurse I run into, by any means, but it happens enough to where I am starting to question where this is coming from.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

As someone who has attended NP school and a recently accepted to PA school, I can tell you its just a few. Many will get into it if you make it seem like you think PA is better, but if its just what fits you best, most do not make a fuss. Never had anyone tell me to do one or the other. In fact, I've had many discussion with future NP students (who are now NPs) when I had first started my NP program and most agreed that the training to become a PA was harder. It was just that NP was the easier way to go if you were already a RN.

 

If you are in a union area, that explains a lot of it.

[winterallsummer]

I think it's just your area. All my RN's have encouraged me for PA. I've had a few people try to convince me to do MD but never once has someone told me to go NP. Maybe they want to do NP and are jealous that you are going PA while they stopped at RN?

[taotaox1]

All the nurses I work with are super supportive and two of them wrote me letters of reccomendation for the program.

[crystaltide]

I think it's a combination of the strong union presence and a potential inferiority complex. I've never had an issue with the NPs here (granted, I come into contact with very few), but I think the union lends to a strong pride in the profession. For your own reasons, you think being a PA is better, so they feel that they have to come to their profession's defense unnecessarily. Maybe they are of the opinion that you think being an NP isn't good enough for whatever reason.

 

I have dealt with a whole lot of MDs debating that I should go to med school over becoming a PA (all of them men, interestingly - all of the women say go for PA). I look at each conversation as an opportunity to hone my arguments for why PA school is a better fit for me than med school. As frustrating as it is now, the conversations might just help later when you're sitting in an interview.

[kphelps248]

It's funny that you say this. Most of the nurses I work with enjoy their job, but many have told me that if they could do it over again, they would have taken a different route to get into the medical field. A few have mentioned that a nice aspect of becoming a NP is that you have an RN degree to fall back on in case of emergency.