Is a physician assistant above a nurse practitioner?

A physician assistant is a mid-level health care provider. A physician assistant is also called a physician associate and performs a number of different tasks in the medical field. Some of these include taking medical histories, performing examinations, diagnosing illnesses, analyzing test results, and developing management plans for the care of patients.

The majority of physician assistants work in the office of a licensed physician. They can also work in outpatient care centers, hospitals, and other general medical facilities. It typically takes two years of specific medical education to become a physician's associate or assistant.

A nurse practitioner, or NP, is a more specialized nurse role that services specific groups. NPs work directly with patients and are typically responsible for providing urgent, primary, and specialty care to a specific population of people.

This includes groups such as children, women, or geriatrics, among others. Their duties include recording and tracking patient medical histories, collecting patient samples and data, ordering lab tests, and many other direct patient tasks.