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PA = Physician's Assistant. My understanding is these are folks who graduated with pre-med bachelor's degrees, but didn't go to med school for whatever reason (the cynic says they couldn't get in, the polite person assumes they wanted a family instead of another 9 years of intense schooling.) In my experience, they only see patients for a brief time before the MD comes in, and take general information. They can't prescribe meds or diagnose in any way. There is also a thing called a "medical assistant," who work behind the scenes gathering lab results and calling in prescriptions that the doctor has written. These people don't have to have any schooling at all, technically, the doctor can choose to hire who he wants, although there is a certification program if one wants to pursue it.
NP = Nurse Practitioner. These are RNs who also have a master's degree in nursing and have passed a certification test. They have their own prescription pads, and are generally given appointments with patients where the doctor does not come in at all, the MD just reviews their cases with them at the end of the day to make sure nothing's out of line. Often there will be an additional letter at the beginning indicating a specialty--Family Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Nurse Practioner, Gerontology Nurse Practitioner, etc.
I don't know what an FMC is--Family Medical Counselor? Focused Mental Conditioner?
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