Week 5: Policy Context Important Note: Please use the media player below to hear an audio course introduction that will give you more background information about the course topic. Also provided is a
Peer reply DB2. W 2
1-Ariel:
Safe prescribing is the process in which healthcare professionals recommend medicines suitable for a given condition at the minimal risk of undue harm. Safe prescribing is key to the quality service offering. ARNPs have the role to safe prescribing while at the same time face barriers in their role as prescribers.
The Advanced practice registered nurses (ARNPs) have the role of safe prescribing and teaching the patients what to do regarding situations related to drug-taking. These nurses have great knowledge of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of drugs (Hain & Fleck, 2014). The familiarity is central to administering the correct drug for a given ailment.
ARNPs have the role of being aware of new drugs entering the market, label changes, and medication alerts. FDA approves new drugs annually and alerts send to healthcare providers (AAPN, 2015). The ever-changing drug info calls for the ARNPs to remain up-to-date in medical information.
State Practice and Licensure is a key barrier to ARNPs prescribing as it hinders nurses from practicing to the maximum after they are through with their education, as well as training. Laws vary from state to state meaning that the ARNPs authorities to diagnose, evaluate, interpret tests, and manage treatment that incorporates prescribing medications are not standard. These laws bar the ARNPs from prescribing.
Physician Related concerns are also a key barrier to ARNPs prescribing. Physician organizations like the AMA believe that ARNPs have less knowledge in relation to physicians and so undermine the nurse practice. The voice from such bodies limits the ARNPs from full practice which includes prescribing hence acting as a barrier for these nurses.
The third prescribing barrier for ARNPs in the undefined scope of the nurse professionals’ practice scope. The undefined scope leads to being undermined by other professionals like the physicians (FBN, 2016). This creates prescribing barriers because working together is key to the creation of knowledge wealth needed in prescribing.
To sum up, ARNPs are a vital part of the health care system. Their role in nursing is significant in ensuring quality health care provision. The barriers created for them hinder their opportunity to serve better.
2-jenny
Since APRNs have the privilege of prescribing medications, they must be careful when doing so to make sure the patients are not harmed. Part of safely prescribing medications is being aware of the other medications the patient takes and making sure that no interactions will occur. In order to do this, APRNs need to have a strong grasp of subjects like pharmacology (“The APRN’s role,” 2018)
Although it has been established that NPs can prescribe medicines, not all NPs in the country have the same level of medical autonomy. One of the prescribing barriers that affect NPs is that their practice can be restricted by state laws (Hain, D.; Fleck, L., 2014). Some states require NPs to be supervised in order to provide patient care or to collaborate with other health care professionals to provide care (Hain, D.; Fleck, L., 2014). Another big barrier to gaining practice autonomy is the lack of knowledge of the NP scope of practice. Medical associations and even physicians are often misinformed about NP scope of practice and believe that due to their different education they will not be able to safely prescribe medication (Hain, D.; Fleck, L., 2014). Lastly, another barrier to NPs’ practice authority is payer policies. Some payer policies don’t even recognize NPs as primary care providers, which makes them dependent on MDs. Moreover, NP as primary care provider historically receive lower wages and reimbursement fees that the doctors, for the same service. Even though it has been proved that NPs represents an important economic alternative for the health care system and patients, the lower payments make difficult for NP’s to financially sustain a primary care practice (Hain, D.; Fleck, L., 2014)
