This article describes the results of a survey conducted of nurse leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean about their perception and knowledge of advance practice nursing. The results show that the majority of nurse leaders recognize a need for APRNS in order to create better access to care, however, the nursing education and legislation in the majority of the countries does not support APRN practices. This is an interesting introduction of APRNs in Latin America and the Caribbean for anyone who has interest of working in these areas.
This article is an interesting read about the policy change in North Dakota that brought independent prescriptive privileges to advanced practice nurses. The nurse leaders behind this policy change have shared the experience with other states with the goal of providing an example of an effective model of change.
In this article, author Lugo discusses the findings of her study relating limits on full practice authority for APRNs to issues of gender equality. She investigated the link between state support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and laws in these states allowing APRNs full scope of practice and prescribing rights. Her study showed that states that have historically and currently supported the ERA in fact allow greater APRN scope of practice, and thus she draws conclusions about attitudes towards women's equality and the regulation of advanced practice nursing, which remains to be a woman-dominated profession.
In this May 2016 article published in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, Dr. Nancy Rudner Lugo argues that advanced practicing nursing viewed through a gendered perspective due to nursing's history as a predominantly female profession; because of this, APRNS in states that are less accepting of women's equality have a more narrow scope of practice. There is not currently a national-level evidence based method used to determine APRN scope, and is instead decided at the state level. The author seeks to explain the cause of the discrepancy between differing APRN scopes of practice in different states by comparing the APRN scope of practice between states that did and did not vote to pass the Equal Right Amendment, positing that states with cultural attitudes that are more equitable between genders reflect this at the legislative level, thus explaining the wider or full practice authority given to APRNs in these states. In conclusion, Lugo advocates for increasing the number of women in legislative positions, forming relationships between women's equality organizations and groups working towards expanded health care access, and emphasizing the skills and competency of APRNs in achieving positive patient health outcomes.
Very interesting read.
This article provides evidence on why healthcare organizations should hire nurse practitioners based upon the education and training that they receive within their speciality as opposed to their previous RN experience. Many hospitals are struggling with this dilemma: Do we hire the APRN who has previous nursing experience in this area (who is not certified in this area) or do we hire the APRN who is certified to work in this area based on their formal training/education but is a new graduate? This article describes how prior nursing experience with a specific population does not qualify a nurse practitioner to practice without the population-focused education and certificate.
This article details the age and scope of practice for Pediatric Nurse Practioners based on NAPNAP guidelines. This helps to guide both institutions and practioners with an age related scope of practice.
This article describes past and current barriers to APRN prescribing abilities in the state of Georgia. While legislation has been passed in the state to allow APRN's to prescribe medications to their patients under a collaborating physician, Georgia remains one of the most restrictive states for APRN prescribing. A descriptive study was conducted to analyze the efficacy and safety of APRN prescribing and found that out of approximately 8000 prescriptions written by APRNs, only 0.003% of those were changed by the supervising physician. The study recommended that more data be collected to support the argument for full-prescriptive authority for APRNs in Georgia.
Pediatric NP's began training in 1965 in order to enhance the role of the pediatric nurse; however, since then PNP's are seeking increased autonomy from MD's in order to work to the full extent of the knowledge and skills. The article describes how PNP's are aptly trained to assess kid's who are abused, exploited, neglected, or need immunizations. As a result, PNP's have a unique role, separate from MD's, to enhance any practice.
This article discusses the limitations in scope-of-practice caused by state regulation of health professions. It also stresses the importance of allowing APRNs to practice within their full-scope as supported by various research and defined by national regulating organizations in order to improve primary care.
This article describes the similarities between Midwifery practice and palliative care. The authors state that historically Midwives have been involved in the "cradle to grave" process. They argue Midwives are well suited to provide palliative care.
