Limited Scope of Practice of Nurse Practitioners in California

Limited Scope of Practice of Nurse Practitioners
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California being one of the first nations to take the Nurse Practitioner Role, it has abided by these laws that limit NPs’ scope of practice. The NP's in the state have been embraced as medical practitioners. However, their practice has been limited by the following laws that guide the scope of practice for these nurses. The NP's supervision laws require that the nurses practice under the physician's supervision. One physician can only supervise a maximum of four NPs. The prescribing laws allow the NP’s to prescribe drugs but only under a physician’s supervision. The other laws restrict nurses in California to sign death certificates (MidlevelU, 2013).
The major impact the limit to the scope of practice has is increased cost of living and medical and limited access to health care. The limitation to full practice has been attributed to poor quality health care delivery. Poor quality health care delivery consequently results in poor health outcomes of the patients. Most health care institutions have limited number of qualified physicians. Waiting for a physician who would be probably held with another patient, to attend to a patient will deteriorate the patient’s health and their morale to fight on.
California is currently facing a severe shortage of physicians. Increasing the number of physicians rapidly is not possible. This is due to the huge amount of investments that the government will require to hiring foreign physicians. Limiting the scope of practice for NP’s means that; more money will be cashed out of the citizens in the form of tax. The increase in taxes renders the community poor. This is because increased taxes lead to a high cost of living. The cost of health care will also be high.
California’s population is set to increase substantially. What this implies is that the need for more medical practitioners will also rise subsequently. Statistically, the number of NPs in California rose to 17,000 in 2008, from 8,240 in 2004. Despite the increase as the years go by, the report by Resources and Services Administrations show that by 2020, the number of NPs would have increased by 30% (Vleet & Paradise, 2015). The current number of physicians is nothing compared to this. This means that there is a substantial amount of resources wasted on the way by these restrictions. Delays in the hospitals would not be an issue if the NPs were given a full scope of practice.
The major stakeholders in the healthcare industry in California that could change these regulations include the following. The Government is one of the key stakeholders when it comes to this issue. They are categorized into four; the policymakers, the payors, the providers and the patients. The policy makers include the ministry of health (the government). The procurement team forms the basis of the payors' category. The providers are the health care medical practitioners that deliver care to the patient. The physicians, Registered Nurses, NPs among others fall under this category. The patient is the ultimate beneficiary of the services offered in the system. The major stakeholders, however, who are directly associated with the issue in question, are mostly the policymakers.
The policymakers that is, the ministry of health have the power of regulating the scope of practice of NPs through enacting laws. The power to grant the NPs with a full scope of practice is equally is in their hands. Other bases of power include the Nursing Board. The Board has the power to push the policy makers to change the laws that will favor full scope of practice for nurses. Other associations such as the California Primary Care Association and Health Science Institutions such as the Western University of Health Sciences also form the basis of power. Patients are one of the informal bases of power.
‘Reforming Scope of Practice’ suggested by the Citizen Advocacy Center is one of the existing public policies. It was written by Rebecca Lebuhn who is the Board Chair and David S...