The Primary Care Physician Shortage

First, the state licensure regulates NP practice and it has been a big issue since NPs are not able to practice to the fullest extent despite of their education and training. NPs practice is regulated by state licensure and only about one-third of the nation has adopted full practice authority licensure and practice laws for NPs (Hain & Fleck, 2014). The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) reports that, under a full practice authority model, NPs are still required to meet

The APRN Consensus Model was released in July of 2008 to define advanced practice registered nurse, identify the titles to be used by APRNs, and define specialty area of practice. The Consensus Model also describes population foci, suggests a process for recognition of new APRN roles, and recommends requirements for implementation (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2010). The APRN regulatory model helps uniform scope of practice of APRN across the United States, which benefit individual APRN, enhance patient outcomes, and improve the quality of care. Consensus Model consists of Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Education. The Education criteria in LACE Consensus Model relate to all APRN programs regardless of master’s or doctoral

This paper explores the perception of clinical practitioners to the change in policy related to the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) full practice authority. The author conducts a one-on-one, open-ended interview of 5 nurse practitioners and 5 physicians licensed to practice in Maryland on their perceptions of the recent passage of the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Full Practice Authority. A literature review was conducted in a policy report by the professional nursing organization, and discussion within the peer-reviewed article supported an overview, regulatory differences among 50 states, including the District of Columbia. Their policy implication for enhancing APRNs role nationally. The author discusses a critical component

While the demand of healthcare need increasers the United States facing a physician shortage. In recent years the number of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) has significantly increased and they are taking the part in providing healthcare cervices to the majority of patients. I believe nurse practitioners and physician assistants can practice independently from doctors and be free of oversight. Expanding the scope of NPs and PAs is essential to overcome the healthcare crisis we are facing; it will increase patient satisfaction and stabilizing the healthcare economy.

According to the Pearson Report, there is a total of 147,295 Nurse Practitioners throughout the United States (Pearson, 2009). However, for NPs in some states the battle continues over some forms of prescriptive authority or physician involvement in NP prescribing, such as the state of Pennsylvania. State regulatory approaches to NP prescribing range from no authorization for prescribing (in Georgia, 2006 legislation passed which recognized NPs as prescribers, but the rules have not been approved at the time of this writing) to unencumbered prescriptive authority (Arizona, DC, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming) (Lugo, O’Grady, Hodnicki & Hanson, 2007).

by a nurse equivalent is equivalent to care provided by a physician.. In addition, the

Since the inception of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) role in the 1960s, NPs have thrived in the delivery of primary healthcare and nurse case management. Despite patient satisfaction with NPs ' style of care, nurses have been critical of NPs, while physicians have been threatened by NP encroachment on MD practice. Balancing assessment, diagnosis, and treatment with caring defines NPs ' success as primary care providers. Understand the role and Scope of Practice of NPs is sometimes difficult for some to understand. The purpose of this paper is to define the role and history of NP, compare and contrast licensure versus certifications, understand NP Scope Of Practice and Standards of Care, discuss how the State Practice Acts regulate FNP practice, discuss credentialing and privileging, and differentiate between legislative and regulatory processes.

Attending the Texas Nurses Association District 8 annual meeting was educational, remarkable, and inspirational. Meeting the new officers for the coming year and the recognition for outgoing officers had a sense of camaraderie, which envelops nursing. The legislative updates and highlights included a significant bill to APRN’s, House Bill 1415. Although left pending in committee, this bill will allow APRN’s full practice authority. TNA has partnered with coalitions to assist in the passing of this bill. While there has been opposition to this bill by physician based associations, the impact of the passage and implementation of this bill is beneficial to the state, medical community and most importantly, our patients.

Healthcare reform continues in a time where a new president has taken office and is attempting to change or “bridge gaps” in health care policy. Currently, NPs are focused on a new shift to prevent disease rather than to solely cure or treat it which is the major difference between physician practice and the nursing profession. NPs receive extensive schooling and clinical practice to achieve full practice rights, however, the restrictions continue. The Florida Association of Nurse Practitioners (FLANP) monitors Florida legislative sessions on regards to the scope of NPs. As of March 7th, 2017, Bills of interest that affect full practice authority in the state of Florida are: “HB 7011 which introduces independent practice for NPs; CS HB129: which allows NPs to be medical directors and gain signature authority; SB 96 which allows NPs to be medical directors and S634/HB 645 which allows NPs to sign Certificates of Involuntary Commitment (Baker Act)” (Florida Association of Nurse Practitioners (FLANP), 2017). If these bills are finally approved all bilingual NPs can address many patients in need of healthcare without any barriers as to which provider they can see.

We have an aging physician population that are reaching the age of retirement. It takes three to seven years to fully train a new

Regardless of the many factors influencing the supply of physicians such as movement away from managed care, increase in the number of female physicians, lifestyle preferences, population growth, and increase in average lifespan, there still continues to be a physician shortage here in the United States. In order to fill these available positions in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and clinics due to the physician shortage, we are using IMGs, or international medical graduates.

As resistant as some states’ legislative and regulatory bodies are to grant APNs autonomy of practice, the damage being done by over-regulation is clear (Safriet, 1992). Physicians are forced into a position to either supervise the APN’s practice or be constantly consulted for approval of their practice decisions. Safriet (1992) described that in and of itself, this constant supervision may appear to patients that the APN is not competent to provide adequate or care equivalent to that of a physician. If the role of the APN is to bridge gaps in health care by relieving the medical establishment of some of the patient load by performing the same function as a physician in a primary care setting, it seems wholly unnecessary to restrain their scope of practice in those areas. This type of restrictions affect cost and patient care accessibility (Safriet, 1992). This was a problem stated in the article, however 25 years later, populations of patients remain unseen or cared for and APNs continue to be underutilized (Safriet, 1992). Rigolosi and Salmond (2014) cite the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) when they state that not utilizing nurse practitioners due to practice restrictions costs $9 billion annually in the US (p. 649).

There is an increasing demand for nurse practitioners, which makes this a crucial period in the development of their practice and profession. Nurse practitioners must face increased opportunity and continuing opposition towards independent practice all while defining their role in health care delivery and establishing their connections. The practice of nurse practitioners still varies widely across the states. These inconsistencies make it difficult for nurse practitioners as well as patients when practice

The Advanced practice nursing began to take shape in the mid-20th century in United States. Nurse Anesthetists and nurse midwives were established in the 1940s, followed by psychiatric nursing in 1954. The present day concept of the APRN (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse) as a primary care provider was created in the mid- 1960s, spurred on by a shortage of medical doctors. The first official training for nurse practitioners was created by Henry Silver,a physician, and Loretta Ford, a nurse, in 1965, with a vision to help balance rising healthcare costs, increase the number of healthcare providers, and correct the inefficient distribution of health resource.

Building a healthcare workforce pipeline is vital to offsetting the looming primary care physician shortage. In Tennessee, there are multiple approaches to addressing that issue. The Tennessee Rural Partnership (TRP), an operating subsidiary of the Tennessee Hospital Association, actively exposes high school students, medical residents and other healthcare students to rural often; so that they may understand the varied levels of rural that will help them later make informed decisions about living and practicing in rural community.