Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility
Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is to identify the scope of practice in one’s state, including level of independence of practice, prescribing authority, any limitations of practice, process for obtaining licensure in your state, certification, and education requirements for licensure. Next, students will discuss how the level of independence of practice in their state, i.e., reduced, restricted or full practice, affects patients’ access to care in their local community.
Activity Learning Outcomes:
Through this discussion, the student will demonstrate the ability to:
-Understand NP practice as defined by law (CO2)
-Determine legislation as defined by legislation, statutes and regulations (CO2)
-Identify barriers to ensuring patient’s rights (CO3)
Preparing the Discussion:
1. Discuss your state (I am located in Virginia) NP community in terms of scope of practice. Include your state’s scope of practice for NPs, including:
- Level of independence of practice **In California, NPs are required to practice under Standardized Procedure Guidelines. If CA is your intended practice state, please provide details on how Standardized Procedures Guidelines are developed in California and an example of a California SPG.
- Prescribing authority
- Any limitations of practice
- Process for obtaining licensure in your state
- Certification and education requirements for licensure.
2. If you live in a restricted or reduced practice state, how has patient care been impacted in your local community by these barriers? For instance, is the ED used for primary care? Are the EDs overcrowded with long wait times? Are there urgent care clinics readily available? Is there adequate access to primary care? If you live in a full practice, how has an independent practice of the APN resulted in improved patient access to healthcare?
3. How does access to NPs impact any healthcare disparities?
4. A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question each week.
Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility
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Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility
Introduction
Across the United States, each state has diverse nursing scopes. States are divided between full practice, decreased practice, and restricted practice. Virginia is a restricted-based practice state, where factors including professional experience and nursing specialty influence the Scope of Nursing (SOP). As adoring winners of quality care, nurse practitioners are steered by clear guidelines on the scope of care they can provide, ensuring they perform to their optimum and the limits of the regulations. This analysis reflects on Virginia's SOP of nurse practitioners (NPs).
Question 1
Virginia follows the restricted SOP for all nursing practitioners. However, in 2018, a bill was passed that permitted NPs to practice independently for at least five years of work, the same as in their certification (Smith et al., 2020). Due to the decline in physicians compared to the population of individuals in the country, NPs are expected to shift scale toward balancing to offer quality care to the public. Unfortunately, the deprived practice prevents the scope of practice of NPs in Virginia who lacks the supervision that a physician should administer.
A committee consisting Joint Board of Nursing and Medicine publicized regulations adjustments which led to the elimination of the NP requirement to acquire or uphold a distinct prescriptive (Rx) authority license (#0017). These modifications steered to a sole NP license (#0024). Moreover, NPs with prescriptive (Rx) authority were excluded from compulsory renewal of their prescriptive authority license (#0017) on the 4th of March. NP-restricted prescription fails to enhance baby death rates but surges provision costs for well-baby appointments (Bae & Timmons, 2022). Nonetheless, those with prescriptive (Rx) authority would continue complying with the continuing competency requirements and other valid laws.
Being among the restricted states, Virginia demands supervision, team management, or delegation by a different physician for the NP to offer patient care. Such limits hold its quest to utilize NPs in meeting healthcare requirements to the availability and supply of physician workforce, thus limiting the number of NPs who could diagnose, evaluate, and treat patients. Virginia State demands the NPs to practice for five years before qualifying for an autonomous practice where the limit is 2-3 years.
If a person desires to undertake advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), they are supposed to have acquired a registered nurse license. If you do not own one, you must apply to the Board of Nursing to go over National Certification Licensing Examination (NCLEX) to obtain a license. On the other hand, if you own a license from a non-compact state, you must apply for a license via endorsement. You can get a license via examination for graduates from board-certified nursing programs while waiting to be licensed as RN in the state. You can also obtain a license through endorsement if you are a graduate of a different state.
Learners looking forward to becoming an NP in Virginia are supposed to undertake complex school courses, especially science, English, and math. Furthermore, students must complete education and training at least to be baccalaureate-prepared registered nurses. Learners with baccalaur...
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