Nurse Practitioner Practice Issues (Essay Sample)

Nurse Practitioner Practice Issues
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Nurse Practitioner Practice Issues
In response to the growing demand for primary care, countries introduced a certification program to equip nurses with the skills to provide primary care to underserved populations. Since the program of Nurse Practitioner (NPs) certification was initiated, it has grown to include specialty roles, gerontology, neonatal, and women’s health with minimum requirements of doctoral or master level. This led to a growth in the number of nurse practitioners. However, some barriers limit Nurse Practitioners practicing independently.
Nursing practitioners are impacted by policy and regulation initiatives, which include Accreditation, Education, Licensure, and Certification (Hain & Fleck, 2014). The first barrier involves state practice and licensure. State licensure and practice laws for NPs have become a barrier for NPs to practice to the fullest extent of their education and training (Hain & Fleck, 2014). Study shows that the state laws and licensure overly restrict the NPs scope of practice. The laws limit NPs practicing independently to practice.
Another form of barrier involves physician-related issues. The American Medical Association and other physician professional organizations hold the belief that physicians have a more rigorous training than NPs and that nurse practitioners are incapable of providing safe and quality services independently (Peterson, 2017). The belief that nurse practitioners lack the competence to provide quality care is, therefore, one of the obstacles to independent NP practices.
The third barrier to NPs practicing independently is payer policies. The paper policies have an impact on the ability of the NPs to practice to the fullest extent of their training and licensure. The restrictive scope of practice creates stricter payer policies that limit the NPs ability to practice independently. For example, the low payments that nurses receive may make it difficult for NPs to financially sustain an independent primary care practice (Hain & Fleck, 2014).
Addressing Nurse Practitioner Practice Issues
For the U.S government to limit or remove the barriers to NPs practicing independently, they need to create policy initiatives that will allow NPs to practice to the fullest extent of their education and training. This can be promoted by allowing nurses to become members of nursing organizations at