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
Amy Kennedy, MS, OTD, OTR/L is a Doctoral Coordinator and Assistant Professor at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS) on the San Marcos, CA campus, where she teaches in the residential program for occupational therapy. She has been an occupational therapist for more than 20 years.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology in 1998 from Augustana College in Illinois and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy in 1999 from Washington University in St. Louis. In 2015, she graduated from A.T. Still University with her Doctor of Occupational Therapy, with an emphasis on prevention and population health.
Dr. Kennedy’s clinical experience includes working across the continuum of care and across the lifespan focusing on occupational performance in neurological populations such as stroke, traumatic and acquired brain injury, Parkinson disease and dementia. In addition, Dr. Kennedy has experience in clinical management as a director of rehab in skilled nursing.
She has served in academia as contributing faculty and an assistant professor since 2011 at the master’s and doctoral levels. Her research and scholarship interests include educational methodology for development of critical thinking skills, healthcare outcome measurement tools and prevention of intimate partner violence. She joined USAHS in 2019.
