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
Edla Silva da Silva, PT, MSc, PhD is a results-oriented and multi-faceted, program coordinator in higher education and physical therapy industries. She was coordinator of the Physiotherapy department at University of Caxias do Sul – Brazil. Currently, she is online postgraduation program director at FisioWork – Brazil. She created three undergraduate and one graduate Physical Therapy programs all approved by the Ministry of Education and Heath of Brazil.
She completed a Master of Science in Neurology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil (2003) and her Ph.D. in Medical Science – Neurology at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil (2017).
Her main field of expertise has been post-stroke patients, muscle tone dysfunction, neuropsychomotor development in early childhood and cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. For 8 years, Edla was general director of neuropediatric outpatient clinic at La Salle University and since 2003 she has worked as internship supervisor in different hospitals.
As a researcher, Edla has developed several research projects showcasing subject matter expertise in supporting under graduation and graduate levels of education through the utilization of research-based and data-driven best practices. She was a reviewer of the Cippus (scientific journal) from 2014 to 2015.
