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
Kaelee Brockway has eight years of practice experience across 13 different clinical and non‐clinical practice settings. Most of her experiences are in post-acute rehabilitation focusing on organ transplant rehabilitation and complex chronic disease management.
Dr. Brockway held positions on the Board of Directors for APTA Michigan and the Michigan Physical Therapy Political Action Committee and served in the APTA House of Delegates from 2015 -2018. She was a heart and lung transplant educator for a large hospital system and now practices in acute care and academia, primarily teaching pharmacology, geriatrics, and cardiovascular and pulmonary courses.
From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Brockway achieved the Advanced Credentialed Exercise Expert for Aging Adults (A-CEEAA) certification from APTA Geriatrics. In 2017 Dr. Brockway became a Board‐Certified Clinical Specialist in Geriatric Physical Therapy (GCS) and was the recipient of the APTA Emerging Leader Award. She is currently an Item‐Writer for the Geriatric Specialty Exam, the APTA Geriatrics CSM Programming Co-Chair, and recently completed contributions on geriatric considerations for exercise to the widely utilized Musculoskeletal Interventions textbook.
