Understanding the Medical Profession - An Overview
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Part 1: Understanding the Medical Profession
Unless you are living under a rock, everyone knows that the healthcare sector is an area of great need. The below (sourced here) highlights the employment trends in the healthcare space and the projected additional gaps in the space.
For many, healthcare offers an opportunity at secure employment. But the field is extremely diverse. There are several opportunities to get involved, including:
Nursing
Doctors
Physician’s Assistants
In our conversations, a lot of people get the roles confused, particularly when they are plotting their own career paths forward.
To help illuminate the differences, this post will:
Articulate the differences between the different medical roles
The different education requirements for each role
Nurses
There are countless variations of nurses:
Labor and Delivery
Surgical Assistance
Home Care
Although there are a variety of nurses, and the differences between them could be their own post, they can usually be grouped into one of three categories:
Nursing roles that require a certification or state education (e.g., certified nursing assistant)
Nursing roles that require an associate’s or bachelor’s degree (e.g., registered nurse)
Nursing roles that require grad school (e.g., a nurse practitioner)
Each classification of role comes with different responsibilities and roles, but the general rule of thumb is:
The less education required, the less autonomy the role has.
The more specialized the nursing role is, the more education and/or experience it will require
Some roles can appear the same in name but have different education levels (e.g., a registered nurse could be filled by someone who has an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree) - in these cases, there is a preference sometimes for someone to achieve a higher education
Nurses typically become specialized over time - for example, they usually do not transition from home care to being a surgeon assistant without significant additional training
Physician’s Assistant
The physician’s assistant role is an individual that is licensed to perform many of the same services as a physician within the primary care setting. This includes:
Performing physical exams
Diagnosing and treating illnesses
Prescribing medications
The role requires grad school, and typically works with a physician in an interdependent way.
One of the most common questions about physician’s assistants is how they differ from nurse practitioners. While the roles are similar, key differences are:
Nurse practitioners go to nursing grad school, while physician’s assistants get a master’s based on medical education
Because of that, nurse practitioners tend to be more specialized while physician’s assistants tend to have a more generalized understanding of medicine
Nurses also following a nursing model of healthcare, while physician’s assistants tend to follow the medical model of healthcare, which is the model used by doctors
In some states, nurse practitioners work independently, without the need of oversight from a doctor. A physician assistant always needs oversight from a physician
One is not inherently better than the other, but it is important to understand the differences in what the two roles do to make sure you are on the right path.
Physician/Doctor
The longest tenured and deepest medical knowledge resides with the doctor. One of the biggest questions pre-med students have is the decision to be an MD vs. DO. An MD is the doctor of medicine, while a DO is a doctor of osteopathic medicine. But what does that actually mean?
An MD:
Uses conventional or “mainstream” methods - x-rays, prescription drugs, and surgery
A DO:
Takes a more holistic view of healthcare - including mind, body, and spirit
Uses additional methods on top of the conventional methods used by MDs (e.g., prevention)
Tend to enter primary care and family medicine at a higher rate than MDs
Aside from this, there are not very many differences between the two. You have the option to go into specialties no matter which degree path you choose. It is more a matter of philosophy than a practical difference.
Summary:
If you are looking for an overview of the differences, see the chart below.
This should provide a high-level overview on the medical profession and various careers included.
Interested in knowing more? Upgrade to our paid subscription, where we will go through each of the various medical careers and document the specific education path for each.