[Nurse Practitioners and Physician Associates in Swiss Healthcare]

Physician Associates (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are healthcare professionals with advanced clinical skills who play a key role in strengthening integrated care and mitigating physician shortages. PAs hold a CAS or MAS (15-60 ECTS) and support physicians by taking on specific responsibilities (task shifting) to improve efficiency and ensure high-quality care. NPs have a Master of Science in Nursing (90-180 ECTS), and work with physicians (task-sharing) to care for a defined population, establishing diagnoses, managing treatment, and providing self-management support. PAs and NPs work in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Their training, competencies and scopes of practice differ; allowing them to complement each other. National regulation and tariff structures are necessary for both professions to reach their full potential.