Advanced Practice Nursing

Advanced practice nurses (APN) have a vital role in the future of health care, especially since the enactment of the Affordable Health Care Act. With more citizens having health insurance coverage they will be seeking health care providers, and there are not enough physicians to care for them all. According to Letiziam (2014), advance practice nurses are licensed autonomous health care providers that have been trained to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients and their conditions. Advanced practice nursing is an umbrella that covers four separate roles of nurses, this includes: the certified nurse midwife (CNM), certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), certified nurse practitioner (CNP), and certified nurse specialist (CNS).

According to Lampe (2013) a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) is a graduate prepared advanced practice nurse that provides expert clinical care in a specialty population and practice in a variety of settings. Generally speaking their practice is specialized in a clinical area that can be identified in terms of: population, setting, disease or medical subspecialty, type of care, or type of problem. The main difference between a CNS and NP is that the CNS practices in a specialty population, and the NP can treat a larger population. Rules and regulations vary for CNS depending on the state in which they choose to practice. Rights for prescribing medications to patient range from independent prescribing authority to no prescribing authority. In some states they can only prescribe when collaborating with a

From the research, it is believed by the author, that since the licensing is done at the state level, this is where changes in America should be implemented. APNs need lobbyists to advocate for the changes needed. It appears that in the states where there APNs have restricted practices, it is due to lobbying by the state’s medical board. The legislators should be presented with the facts, APNs provide safe and cost effective care to the patients. Citizens should get involved and write letters to make the legislators aware of the problem. APNs should be allowed to practice to the full extent of their education, and if they were, all of the states in America would allow full practice for their