The medical field is among the largest and fastest growing career fields, especially when dealing with physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs). In the 1960s, when the physician shortage began, the medical field created PA and NP positions to fill the gaps (Curren, 2007, p. 404). This issue has opened up numerous questions as more and more PAs and NPs enter practice, especially regarding their level of education. Many patients fear that they will not receive the right care. PAs/NPs benefit everyday life by providing patients with the skills needed to successfully treat them. Current Research How the Program Began When the physician assistant (PA) and nurse practitioner (NP) career fields first began, the training was much different than it is today. In the 1960s, when the first wave of doctor shortages hit the United States, doctors found themselves struggling to fill the gaps. The medical field has been looking for ways to fill the gaps with the best possible options. Jill Curren (2007), a nurse practitioner, points out that this meant they needed highly certified healthcare professionals who could do the work of a doctor, but these healthcare professionals had to be trained in half the time it would take to become a doctor. (p. 404). Doctors working at Duke University began to notice a pattern among combat medics. Many of the doctors and medics who had served in Vietnam had little or no medical training, and most of their medical training occurred on the job. Therefore, the PA program was born with its roots tracing back to the military world. “They started the first PA training program, training these doctors similar to the way the physical… middle of paper… rained down for specialty studies. Two-thirds of today's PAs work in specialty care. This, therefore, leaves NPs working in general practice (p. 828). Woolsey and Cutter (n.d.) seem to have a different opinion stating that “PAs are generalists while NPs may be [specialists or generalists] depending on the area of ​​medicine they practice” (para. 5). They go on to explain that PAs are trained to generalize, so they can jump from one area to another (Woolsey & Cutter, n.d., para.5). APs have the ability to specialize if they complete a residency program, but one important thing to note is that an AP is still documented as a generalist regardless of whether they have specialized or not (Woolsey & Cutter, n.d., para. 5). Woolsey and Cutter (n.d.) then note that NPs often must have national certification in a nursing specialty before they can practice within a specialty (para.5).