Exam 2

711 Words2 Pages

Nurses in some parts of the world have been prescribing for decades. Why has this been such an elusive privilege in the United States? Nurses have too often in the past not spoken or lobbied with one voice. Name recognition for the advanced practice nurse (APN) was a huge issue in the beginning. Many people question whether APNs are nurses or mini doctors. Decades of APNs struggles with licensing, certification, scope of practice, and recognition by others in the healthcare field added to delaying and expanding prescription authority for all APNs (Berg & Roberts, 2012). Doctors have traditionally had the domain of prescribing medications. Advanced practice nurses have had some prescription authority in the United States since 1969, yet this has varied from state to state. The American Medical Association (AMA) has lobbied for years to limit the scope of practice of the APN (Kuntz, 2011). In 2009, the AMA disseminated scare tactics around the country, concerning the health and safety concerns of allowing APNs to expand their scope of practice. Finally, in 2014, the APN role is being expanded to include more autonomy and expanded prescription authority in all states. As discussed in Joel (2013), how can APNs best educate legislators and regulators about prescriptive authority? Educating legislators and regulators about prescriptive authority has been an ongoing battle for APNs. Developing curriculum guidelines for APNs to follow in pharmacotherapy has alleviated some of the fear of allowing APNs to practice with prescriptive authority (Klein, 2012). The American Medical Association can no longer use the fear that APNs do not have education in pharmacotherapy as a scare tactic. Advanced practice nurses should foll... ... middle of paper ... ...e be teaching nurse prescribers today? Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 24(5), 297-302. doi:10.1111/j.1745- 7599.2011.00687.x Kuntz, K. (2011). 'Deadly spin' on nurse practitioner practice. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 23(11), 573-576. doi:10.1111/j.1745-7599.2011.00667.x Pearlman, S. A. (2013). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Impact on mental health services demand and provider availability. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 19(6), 327-334. doi:10.1177/1078390313511852 Reinhard, S. C. (2012). Money Follows the Person: Un-burning bridges and facilitating a return to the community. Generations, 36(1), 52-58. Shaffer, E. R. (2013). The Affordable Care Act: The value of systemic disruption. American Journal of Public Health, 103(6), 969-972. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.301180

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