The ethical implications of the removal of the scope of practice barriers recommendation .
Introduction
In 2011, the IOM released a report which contained eight recommendations concerning the way the nursing workforce can best deliver health care and meet health care needs in an era of the aging population and health care reform. One of the most outstanding recommendations was that scope of practice barriers should be removed. The paper discusses the ethical implications of this recommendation and what it means to the nurse, the patient, and the health care environment and system.The ethical implications of the removal of the scope of practice barriers recommendation .
The ethical implications of the removal of the scope of practice barriers recommendation and what it means to the nurse, the patient, the health care environment, and the system
One of the eight recommendations in the IOM report was that scope of practice barriers should be removed to enable nurses to practice to the full extent of their training and education. Restrictive scope of practice laws in combination with strict payer policies limits nurses to working as employees of hospitals, physician practices, and other health care organizations instead of their own independent practices. Bosse et al. (2017) given that nurses have the necessary qualifications and skills to act as primary care providers, removal of barriers that restrict nurses’ scope of practice might address some of the increasing concerns about access to care.The ethical implications of the removal of the scope of practice barriers recommendation .
Removal of scope of practice barriers can enable nurses to practice to the full level to which their training and education have prepared them and increase patients’ access to care. According to Bosse et al. (2017), removing the scope of practice barriers and granting APRNs full practice authority can be beneficial to patients, payers, and the health care system. In states when nurse practitioners have full practice authority, there are considerably fewer visits to the emergency room for non-emergency health care, lower rates of hospitalization, and expanded utilization of health care, especially among the most vulnerable. Also, care is provided at a reduced cost than medical doctors, including preventative care and there is increased teamwork between physicians and nurse practitioners in primary care organizations.
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