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
BACKGROUND
Dr. Amy Herrington has 30 years experience as a registered nurse. Her passion is patient safety and improving patient outcomes utilizing evidence-based solutions. This passion drove her practice as an Emergency Department Patient Care Manager and Staff Development Specialist at a large tertiary care facility in central Kentucky, which led to improved patient satisfaction, nurse satisfaction, and quality metrics through the establishment of stroke and myocardial infarction alert process as well as an active quality improvement committee. She is a Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) and she has presented at multiple forums and programs. Dr. Herrington has written and edited chapters in several emergency nursing resource manuals as well as nursing theory texts.
She has held multiple teaching positions in both the traditional and virtual educational settings and greatly enjoys working with and inspiring students to reach their full potential.
Professionally, she is a member of the Emergency Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau and the Kentucky Nurses Association where she serves as Chairman of the Government Affairs Cabinet. Additionally, she has served various roles that KNA Bluegrass District including president of the chapter.
