Nurse practitioners have been faced by several challenges in their line of duty for quite some time. This has been evident in most of the states in the country as many regulations and limitations have been put in place which have hindered their normal practices. With the continuous increase in the size of population that needs medical care, the Nurse Practitioners are needed in large numbers. But due to the set hindrance in each state, the level of work among the group has decreased in the recent years.
One of the limitations on the nurse practitioners is put in place by the State’s Nurse Practice Act. These acts in every state will show to what extend the nurse practitioners can offer their services to the people. In some states, the Act has specified that for the Nurse Practitioners to serve, they must work together other physicians as partners so as to provide the needed services to the clients (Apold, 2007). This reduces their level of efficiency as they can as well serve the people without the consent of the physicians since they have a wide range of knowledge that gives them the go ahead to serve the population in need of medical services.
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The Act put in place also controls the level to which the nurse practitioners can administer to their patients. Some states have limited the level to which the nurses can serve the people. This is evident through the limitation put in place so as to stop the practitioners from prescribing medicine to their clients (O’Connor, 2011). Other states have put in place measures that allow prescription of medication but with the consent of either a medical physician or the nurse practitioner must have enough experience in the field to be allowed to administer the prescription to the patient.
Restraint of trade is also seen in the practice of the Nurse practitioners as some of them are denied some of privileges that physicians get. This will include house allowance and other allowances that the nurse practitioners are denied since they work off the hospital. This will be a hindrance to their service delivery as they may end up not being available when needed in the medical facilities.
In conclusion, the level of demand for medical services in the country is increasing on a daily basis. The demand for medical care has also increased and hence the nurse practitioners should also be given a fair treatment to offer services to the patients without many limitations.
References
Apold, S. (2007). Fighting the Scope of Practice Partnership. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 3(2), 72.doi: 10.11016/l.nurpra.2007.01.007
O’Connor, A. B. (2011). Nurse practitioners’ inability to prescribe Buprenorphine: limitations of the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 23 (10), 542-545.doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7599.2011.00656.x
