Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility

Discussion: The purpose of this assignment is to identify the scope of practice in ones 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.

Discussion: Week 6 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 patient’s access to care in their local community.

Activity Learning Outcomes 

Through this discussion, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

1. Understand NP practice as defined by law (CO2)
2. Determine legislation as defined by legislation, statutes and regulations (CO2)
3. Identify barriers to ensuring patient’s rights (CO3)
   

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Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility Requirements: 

(State virginia)

1. Discuss your state NP community in terms of scope of practice. Include the 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 from 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 independent practice of the APN resulted in improved patient access to healthcare? Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility
3. How does access to NPs impacts any healthcare disparities?
4. A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question each week.

DISCUSSION CONTENT
Category	Points	%	Description
Scope of practice and NP requirements	30	30%	Provides relevant evidence of scholarly inquiry of their state’s NP scope of practice. Uses valid, relevant, and reliable outside sources to contribute to the threaded discussion.
Practice barriers and access to healthcare	30	30%	Provides relevant evidence of scholarly inquiry of whether their state is a reduced, restricted or full practice state and the impact on the local community with respect to healthcare access. Uses valid, relevant, and reliable outside sources to contribute to the threaded discussion.
Healthcare disparities	15	15%	Provides relevant evidence of scholarly inquiry of how access to NPs impacts healthcare disparities. Uses valid, relevant, and reliable outside sources to contribute to the threaded discussion.
	75	75%	Total CONTENT Points= 75 pts
DISCUSSION FORMAT
Category	Points	%	Description
Interactive Dialogue	20	20%	4 Required Elements: Responds a minimum of two other posts to peers and/or faculty in the threaded discussion; Responses to peer/faculty are substantive (adds importance, depth, and meaningfulness to the discussion) Responds to all direct questions from faculty (if no question asked directly, student responded to questions posed to the entire class) Summarizes what was learned from the lesson, readings, and other student posts for the week. The summary could be included in one of the three minimum posts.
Grammar, Syntax, Spelling, & Punctuation	5	5%	Grammar, syntax, spelling, and punctuation are accurate.
	25	25%	Total FORMAT Points=25 pts
			DISCUSSION TOTAL=100 points

Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility Sample

Every state has a Board of Nursing that regulates licensure, the scope of practice, and the general practice of nurses. This discussion focuses on the board of nursing regulations for the Nurse Practitioners in Virginia and their impacts on access to healthcare and healthcare disparities.

In Virginia, nurse practitioners are only allowed to practice freely after being under supervision for at least five years. They must work under licensed physicians in collaboration and consultation within a relationship called the patient care team. The two must have a written protocol whereby the nurse practitioner is evaluated regularly through case reviews and patient care outcomes. After five years of supervised experience, the nurse practitioners adopt full practice authority. The nurse practitioners allowed to practice in Virginia include nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, nurse aides, clinical nurse specialists, and medication aides (Board of Nursing, n.d). Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility

Licensure in Virginia is both by examination and endorsement. Nurse practitioners from the state take the NCLEX examinations, while the Board of Nursing endorses nurses from other states if they have an existing license. Licensed nurse practitioners prescribe schedule II-VI drugs. However, they cannot prescribe certain controlled substances unless they have to prescribe authorization from the board. Licensed nurse practitioners only practice on the scope of their training, experience, and knowledge.     

The full practice authority in the state has improved patient access to healthcare. Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility It has helped increase access to primary care for patients in the state. Licensed nurses open private healthcare facilities closer and more easily accessible. Nurse practitioners are best positioned to provide primary care to the community (Neff et al., 2018). Also, full practice authority encourages the employment of more nurse practitioners who would have otherwise been kept away by the scope of practice regulations. The presence of many healthcare providers, especially in rural areas, improves access to healthcare.    

Access to Nurse Practitioners reduces healthcare disparities, especially in rural areas where healthcare institutions are not easily accessible. Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility Better Health outcomes in special populations, especially in rural areas, are realized in primary care provided by nurse practitioners (Ortiz et al., 2018).

The full practice authority for NPs in Virginia eases the accessibility of healthcare for the patients. It has also helped reduce the health disparities of special populations, especially in rural areas. Boards of nursing should lift the scope of practice restrictions in their states to improve Patients’ healthcare accessibility.      

Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility References

Board of Nursing. (n.d). Virginia Department of Health Provisions. Accessed 1^st June 2022 from https://www.dhp.virginia.gov/Boards/Nursing/PractitionerResources/LawsRegulations/

Neff, D. F., Yoon, S. H., Steiner, R. L., Bejleri, I., Bumbach, M. D., Everhart, D., & Harman, J. S. (2018). The impact of nurse practitioner regulations on population access to care. Nursing Outlook, 66(4), 379-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2018.03.001

Ortiz, J., Hofler, R., Bushy, A., Lin, Y. L., Khanijahani, A., & Bitney, A. (2018, June). Impact of nurse practitioner practice regulations on rural population health outcomes. In Healthcare (Vol. 6, No. 2, p. 65). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6020065 Discussion: Week 6 Scope of Practice and Patient’s Healthcare Accessibility