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
Dr. Hernandez has many years of experience as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and academician. She has developed graduate nursing curricula and taught online advanced nursing courses for many years. Dr. Hernandez has extensive experience with development and implementation of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and expanding the use of simulation in nurse practitioner education. Dr. Hernandez has an extensive history of teaching graduate nursing courses, but she especially enjoys teaching the core primary care FNP courses and foundational pharmacology, health assessment, and pathophysiology. Her content areas of expertise are pharmacology, advanced practice nursing, leadership, chronic disease and medication management, evidence-based practice, and primary care.
Dr. Hernandez has been certified as an FNP by ANCC since 2002. Her FNP background includes working several years in the specialty of nephrology/internal medicine and the last several years in primary care family practice. She holds multi-state APN licensure in her role providing virtual healthcare to patients across the country. She also practices in a primary care clinic caring for patients across the lifespan.
Dr. Hernandez has served as a member and vice-chair of a select panel of content experts which oversees the ANCC Family Nurse Practitioner National Certification Exam. She also holds an appointment on the Texas Nurse Practitioners Education Committee and serves as a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She is passionate about preparing the future nurse practitioners and nursing leaders to provide quality care in an increasingly complex health care system.
