APRN practice is typically governed by the Board of Nursing and defined by the Nursing Practice Act. Besides, the method is impacted by various laws and regulations. According to Neff et al. (2018), although the rules may vary from one state to another, they all aim at securing the interest of the public health safety by regulating activities of APRNs health care professionals. They explicitly state that the variation existing between APRNs and related state rules and regulations brings the need for nurses to explicitly understand their scope of practice as defined by the laws and regulations of the said state. In light of this, the paper delves into giving an in-depth explanation of Georgia APRN Board of Nursing regulations, while comparing and contrasting with Ontario’s laws.
In Georgia, the Board of Nursing is the regulatory body for APRNs. These boards are responsible for evaluating applications for nurse licensure, disciplinary actions, issuance, and renewal of nursing licenses. On the other hand, the College of Nurses of Ontario is the governing and regulatory body for APRNs. Although the criteria the two organizations use to give credentials are similar, there are significant differences in the scope of practice in Georgia and Ontario. APRN practice laws in Georgia are the most restrictive in the whole of U.S. The regulations in Georgia require an APRNs to engage in a protocol agreement with a supervising physician actively, so that other supervision requirements are comprehensively mandated. Besides, the regulations do not allow APRNs to write prescriptions for schedule II medications, which lowers the ability of the nurse to order diagnostic tests (Bosse et al., 2017). The prescription laws and regulations in Ontario contradict the ones in Georgia. It is common to find an APRNs in Ontario prescribing medications to patients. The state laws of Ontario allow nurses to prescribe controlled substances provided they have completed approved substance education. The government of Ontario in 2017 recommended changes to the regulations under the Nursing Act 1991 that gave power to APRNs to expand their scope of practice. In essence, the Nursing Act of 1991 is one example of a law that regulates the magnitude of APRNs in Ontario.
The Georgia Board of Nursing through its licensure laws and regulations requires APRNs to hold an active Georgia registered nursing license before an individual can practice as a certified nurse practitioner in the state. On the other hand, APRNs that are considered independently licensed providers are supposed to work under protocol agreements, and Georgia Composite Medical Board controls their prescriptive authority. On the contrary, Ontario state licensure laws and regulations permit all NPs to exercise autonomy in practice. The nurse can assess patients, diagnose, order diagnostic tests, initiate and manage treatments, prescribe all medications, including control substances without a provider’s supervision after qualifying in Approved Substance Education. Allowing APRNs to have full practice access will enable an increase in experience and expand the talents inherent in nurse practitioners. Besides, it will encourage significant innovations in the nursing profession; it also motivates other NPs to spring up in filling the gap created by the shortage of providers in Canada.
In my practice, which is in Georgia, the state practice and licensure laws and regulations are restricting our ability as nurses to engage in at least one element of APRN practice. Besides, this regulation will ensure that all nurse in practice gets certification to practice as an APRN in Georgia. Moreover, the demand of Georgia states laws and regulations will ensure I appreciate career-long supervision, team management, and delegation to another health care provider so that as an APRN, I provide patients with quality care (Milstead & Short, 2019). In my practice, restriction of prescribing schedule III to V drug and substances is limiting the scope of practice of nurses. The prescriptive authority of a supervising physician by submitting a written protocol to the supervising physician and permission is granted, ensuring that nurse managers in my practice engage in supervision mandate. Georgia prescription laws and regulation demands are applicable in my training in the sense that we, the nurses, are required to prescribe both legend drug and Schedules II-V controlled drugs only after certification.
APRNs in Georgia can adhere to licensure laws and regulations by visiting the Georgia Composite Medical Board website after being authorized to complete licensure requirements. Besides, after graduating from a nursing education program, a nurse should look for licensure by endorsement as a registered nurse (Peterson et al., 2015). Further, a nurse should apply to evaluation. The Georgia Board of Nursing is
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