Introduction
The Florida Nurse Act is put in place to ensure advanced practice nurses meet every minimum requirement for high-quality and safe practice. The Act governs the responsibilities of certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, certified nurse anesthetists, and clinical nurse specialists. This paper compares and contrasts these population-focused roles. It also analyzes the existing barriers to practice in Florida.
Comparing and Contrasting the Roles
The Act indicates that advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs) must obtain adequate training or education. These nurses can offer treatment, perform minor surgeries, and prescribe drugs depending on their specialties. To begin with, nurse practitioners in Florida diagnose and manage various medical conditions. They examine patients, offer to counsel and prescribe medications (Xue, Ye, Brewer, & Spetz, 2016). They can offer services in clinics, schools, hospitals, and private practice. The roles of certified nurse-midwives are limited to women’s health needs. They serve women by providing pregnancy services and care during and after childbirth. Their health services are critical beyond menopause. This means that their roles differ significantly from those of nurse practitioners.
Clinical nurse specialists in Florida are expected to work with medical practitioners to optimize patient support. They can evaluate existing health practices, provide adequate staff or patient education, and engage in consultations. Their skills are tapped to improve care delivery and empower different practitioners. This analysis indicates clearly that the roles differ significantly from those of nurse practitioners and uncertified nurse-midwives. However, these specialists and nurse practitioners can offer quality education to patients and family members. The roles of nurse anesthetists outlined by the Act include collaborating with anesthesiologists and podiatrists to ensure anesthesia is administered efficiently (Sasse, 2014). Similarly, such duties are quite different from those of midwives, clinical specialists, and nurse practitioners.
Barriers to Practice
Several hurdles discourage different population-focused nurses from achieving their potential. To begin with, nurse practitioners are supervised by physicians whenever providing patient care. This issue explains why they cannot practice independently (Rudner & Kung, 2017). Specific controlled substances cannot be prescribed by nurse practitioners. Nurse anesthetists encounter similar obstacles since they are supervised by doctors. Nursing education does not equip these professionals with adequate competencies. This barrier limits the quality and nature of services available to their patients.
Certified nurse-midwives have not been empowered to have full practice capability. This gap has made it impossible for them to provide primary medical support to more women. Their roles are also limited to women’s health needs. Additionally, nurses must acquire high levels of training before being allowed to practice. These issues explain why many nurse-midwives in the state do not realize their full potential. Finally, clinical nurse specialists’ roles have not been clearly defined (Sasse, 2014). This is the case their roles are similar to those of physicians. The decreasing number of these specialists in Florida has led to heavy workloads. Lack of resources and inadequate support continue to affect the effectiveness of such professionals.
Conclusion
ARPNs are certified and empowered to work in different units where they offer advanced patient care. They diagnose, treat, and offer patient education depending on the nature of their specialties. The above barriers explain why nurses operating in these specialties have been unable to improve patients’ health outcomes. Moving forward, the state should develop better laws to ensure all ARPNs can practice in accordance with their potential and education.
References
Rudner, N., & Kung, Y. M. (2017). An assessment of physician supervision of nurse practitioners. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(4), 22-29.
Sasse, R. (2014). The role of certified registered nurse anesthetists and the need for new models of care. Clinical Scholars Review, 7(1), 3-11. Web.
Xue, Y., Ye, Z., Brewer, C., & Spetz, J. (2016). Impact of state nurse practitioner scope-of-practice regulation on health care delivery: Systematic review. Nursing Outlook, 64(1), 71-85. Web.