Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are advanced healthcare practitioners with similar responsibilities, such as diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications. However, their training and paths toward certification differ in significant ways. This blog post unpacks the key differences between NPs and PAs to help you determine which career path best aligns with your goals. What Is a Nurse Practitioner? A nurse practitioner (NP) is a licensed clinician who provides comprehensive healthcare to patients of all ages. An NP can work in virtually any healthcare setting, diagnosing patient conditions and prescribing medications. As of October 2022, nurse practitioners have full practice authority in 27 states, meaning that they can practice Read more
Kathleen Polley-Payne, PhD, RN MSN PNP
Executive Director, School of Nursing
Dr. Kathleen Polley-Payne joined the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in December 2020.
Dr. Polley-Payne has been an early adopter of the online and blended teaching modalities. In 2004, working with seven community colleges in the metro Boston area, she developed and implemented the first online undergraduate degree offered by the University of Massachusetts Boston, the online RN-BSN Program. In 2007, she submitted and was awarded an $850,000 HRSA to develop a Diversity-focused Accelerated Baccalaureate which achieved a 100% first-time NCLEX pass-rate leveraging the educational technology employed by the online RN-BSN Program. Working in concert with her colleagues from the other four University of Massachusetts campuses, she was a C0-PI for a grant from the Sloan Consortium that considered Characteristics of Successful Local Blended Programs in the Context of the Sloan-C Pillars. Building upon that research she conducted research aimed at understanding the barriers to online learning for diverse learners with a grant from the Balfour Foundation. Working in collaboration with the 7 Community Colleges of New Hampshire to develop a seamless pathway from AND-MSN, she is the founding Chief Nurse Administrator of the nursing and health profession programs at Southern New Hampshire University achieving initial CCNE accreditation for both undergraduate and graduate nursing.
Dr. Polley-Payne’s interest lies with creating strategic partnerships that enhance patient outcomes with particular attention to Inter-professional collaboration through the leveraging of educational technology. Her clinical experience lies with the pediatric population having worked with acute care pediatrics, Pediatric ICU, Pediatric Bone Marrow and Oncology, and Pediatric Home Care and Primary Care, in the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Role.
