You really need to get your information correct. The PA today has to have pretty much a premed bachelor's degree and then has a 3 year program that about half of it is spent with an MD learning how to practice, just like interns do.
The NP has a BSN and in a few places they can add years to their schooling if their degree is not in nursing to give them the science that nurses have. The current program is a Doctorate of Nursing Practice which is done in 3+ years with classroom amounting to 2 years and 1 year under the direct supervision of an MD. The reason they have doctorate degrees is that the amount of time they spend in clinical practice far exceeds the amount of time most PhD's spend in their doctoral programs. I managed a massive outpatient program where I had many NP's under my supervision and where money was tied to patient outcomes. My NP's usually exceeded their outcomes in much larger numbers than did the PA's and some MD's in the program. The outcomes were very specific like patient's hypertension within a certain range, blood sugars in a certain range, etc, etc etc. Each of those providers have their place in the medical field and for every example of a bad NP, I can probably give you 10 examples of really bad MDs.
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