Nurses in advanced practice roles require expanded responsibilities to serve patients effectively and accommodate their complex needs. This requires an understanding of different expectations set forth by patients and the healthcare community to support greater quality of care. Advanced practice nurses have acquired extensive training and guidance to support expanded responsibilities within healthcare organizations. Therefore, they must have the authority to prescribe medications to promote greater efficiency and quality of care to meet the needs of their patients at a high level. The purpose of this paper is to promote prescribing authority for advanced practice nurses across all 50 states to improve quality of care, support greater time efficiency, and strengthen patient outcomes and wellbeing.
ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL ISSUES
Advanced practice nurses have a responsibility to provide complex care and treatment to their patients in a variety of settings. This supports a critical understanding of the ethical and moral issues associated with prescribing medications at this practice level and to recognize the importance of political strength and advocacy in supporting this process (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2013). States who allow advanced practice nurses to legally prescribe medications to patients may have fewer regulatory limitations and recognize the value of this practice in promoting greater efficiency in healthcare organizations (Xue, Ye, Brewer, & Spetz, 2016).
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Furthermore, this practice may facilitate greater safety for patients who rely on different medications, including those with a potential risk of abuse, as advanced practice nurses may facilitate expanded knowledge of these medications and their risks to ensure that patients have the appropriate information when these medications are prescribed in this manner (Schirle & McCabe, 2016). However, it is also likely that with greater autonomy and prescribing authority, additional challenges may be incurred which could impact advanced practice nurses in the context of higher levels of stress and potential burnout in some cases (Park, Athey, Pericak, Pulcini, & Greene, 2016).
Opinion on Political Issues
From a political perspective, allowing expanded prescribing authority for advanced practice nurses is the appropriate choice. This allows nurses to have greater responsibility for treating patients, and since they have the training to perform in this capacity, they are fully qualified to meet the expectations of this role. Furthermore, states who permit this authority are likely to have healthcare organizations with greater efficiency and quality of care. Furthermore, expanded authority to prescribe medications supports the need for physicians to have greater balance in managing their duties and to focus on other responsibilities where their time will be used more wisely towards more complex issues. This process enables nurse practitioners to have a high level of autonomy and strength in supporting patients and in recognizing the need for efficient practices across all areas of healthcare.
In conclusion, it is important to develop an understanding of the benefits of expanded prescribing authority extended to advanced practice nurses to support the qualifications and experience of these individuals within this capacity. It is important to acknowledge that patient care needs and expectations rely on efficient and high-quality care that is delivered by nurses. Therefore, those with advanced practice credentials should be legally permitted to prescribe medications to patients to promote greater safety and time management for nurses, along with allowing physicians to have the time required to manage other duties. It is important for all 50 states to permit this practice and to give advanced practice nurses this authority to ensure that they can effectively manage the needs of their patients and create an environment where change and progress can be made to support high quality patient care in a timely manner without significant delays or disruptions.
- Burkhardt, M.A., & Nathaniel, A. (2013). Ethics and Issues in Contemporary Nursing, 4th Edition. Delmar Cengage Learning.
- Park, J., Athey, E., Pericak, A., Pulcini, J., & Greene, J. (2016). To What Extent Are State Scope of Practice Laws Related to Nurse Practitioners’ Day-to-Day Practice Autonomy?’Medical Care Research and Review, 1077558716677826.
- Schirle, L., & McCabe, B. E. (2016). State variation in opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions between independent and nonindependent advanced practice registered nurse prescribing states.’Nursing outlook,’64(1), 86-93.
- Xue, Y., Ye, Z., Brewer, C., & Spetz, J. (2016). Impact of state nurse practitioner scope-of-practice regulation on health care delivery: Systematic review.’Nursing outlook,’64(1), 71-85.
