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
Tina McNulty, PhD, OTR/L is an educator, researcher and clinician energized by occupational therapy’s ability to positively change the lives of people with complex conditions. Dr. McNulty earned her occupational therapy bachelor’s degree at Pacific University and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Colorado State University. She worked clinically over 10 years in psychosocial occupational therapy and geriatric rehabilitation.
She has taught at the University of New Mexico, Pacific University and the University of Utah prior to joining the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in 2021. At each of these occupational therapy programs, she has taken the lead role in teaching the psychosocial occupational therapy curriculum with a strong focus on facilitating students’ success in emerging and traditional clinical sites. She led the development and implementation of the occupational therapy standardized client assessment programs at the University of New Mexico and the University of Utah. In addition, she has contributed to interdisciplinary grant initiatives focused on staff education related to people with dementia and another on the use of the screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) in the health professions.
Dr. McNulty has published and presented on topics focused on community living abilities of people with psychosocial conditions and older adults, cognitive strategy use of people with Parkinson’s disease and an occupational therapy intervention for people with tics. Her current scholarly interests include occupational therapy’s use of the comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics and early intervention occupational therapy for people with mental health conditions.
