Requirements: 

  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 
    • 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?   
  3. How does access to NPs impacts any healthcare disparities?  
  4. A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question each week.

Solution

After years of opposition from the Florida Medical Association and seven years of passing in the state House but not in the Senate, the bill to allow Floridian Nurse Practitioners full practice authority has finally been passed. Starting in July 2020, advanced NPs who have accumulated at least 3,000 hours of experience under physician supervision will have the right to independently operate primary care practices in Florida without an attending doctor. To qualify, they will also have to complete minimum graduate level course work in differential diagnosis and pharmacology. Under the new law, signed on March 11 by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, qualified NPs will be able to independently practice family medicine, general pediatrics and general internal medicine (“Florida Association of Nurse Practitioners,” 2020).  Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs) can prescribe controlled substances listed in Schedule II, Schedule III or Schedule IV as defined in s. 893.03 Florida Statutes, beginning January 1, 2017. An ARNP who is certified as a Psychiatric Nurse may now prescribe certain controlled substances pursuant to HB 977….Kindly click the purchase icon to purchase the full solution at $5