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
Corey Oshikoya is the assistant athletics director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer at Loyola University in Chicago. Prior to joining the university, he served as an assistant athletic trainer for the Denver Broncos from 1999 to 2015 to provide care and management of athletic injuries. He also previously worked as an intern athletic trainer at the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys.
He has presented frequently at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association annual symposium and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Trainers’ Association’s symposium. Oshikoya received the 2014 West Virginia University Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series award and the 2010 Tim Davey Assistant Athletic Trainer of the Year award, which was presented by the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society. Oshikoya is currently in his second term as the president of the Colorado Athletic Trainers’ Association and is also the Colorado representative to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Trainers’ Association.
Athletic Training Course Instruction
Oshikoya is the creator of the Cultural Competence course for the program. Not only does he bring his elite athlete clinical experience from the NFL Denver Broncos to the classroom, he brings a cultural and spiritual sensitivity to his instruction, fostered by life experience and his current pursuit of a master’s degree in Theology. The course will focus broadly on understanding the multilayered athlete-patient and appreciating cultural differences across sport populations; students will have the opportunity to learn to pair those differences with effective tools to promote best practice prevention and care.
