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. Vickie Skinner has more than 25 years of experience in operations and training with the U.S. Army Reserve. As a Lieutenant Colonel, she serves the 11th/ 108th Training Battalion with responsibility for instructing, training, educating and developing mid-career officers in leadership and strategy to be agile, innovative and adaptive leaders. Dr. Skinner received her Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York and a Master of Arts from the University of West Florida before earning a Doctorate in Health Administration at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), School of Health-related Professions.
She currently serves as the director of the Division of Continuing Health Professional Education (CHPE) at University of Mississippi Medical Center. CHPE plans, administers and issues continuing education credit to professionals in medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, physical and occupational therapy, psychology, social work and athletic training. CHPE awards more than 35,000 continuing education credits annually across all disciplines. She has been with UMMC since 2013 and worked within the Office of Faculty Affairs with a focus on faculty development and professionalism before joining CHPE. Prior to joining UMMC, Dr. Skinner’s roles included Assistant Professor of Military Science at the University of Southern Mississippi and Chief of Operations for Medical Soldier Readiness Processing at Camp Shelby, MS.
Dr. Skinner joined the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in January 2019.
