FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) are two agencies that regulate each nurse’s practice concerning patient advocacy and patient safety. In case a patient requests an alternative form of therapy, each of these organizations has some implications. In FDA, patient advocacy is realized through the patient education network (“About the FDA patient education network,” 2018). The nurse’s role is to provide patients with all the necessary educational and communication materials that may help to solve patients’ problems and may refer them to alternative therapy. The FDA Patient Education Network defines the scope of nurses’ duties. The major role of a healthcare provider in the situation when a patient requires help is to offer them help and information (“About the FDA patient education network,” 2018). With the help of nurses’ advocating support, patients will be able to choose the most suitable therapies.
The role of a nurse as a patient advocate in CMS is close to the functions defined in FDA’s regulations. In this agency, the nurse also serves as an advocate by providing customers with all the necessary information the knowledge of which can give them better access to essential services (“Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services,” 2018). The motto of this organization is “We’re putting patients first,” and nurses do their best to adhere to this mission (“Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services,” 2018). Because the agency deals with health insurance, patients may address it if they want to change therapy options. The nurse’s duty in such cases is to offer the most convenient options to the patients to provide them with the most affordable and accessible patient-centered care.
Functional Differences Between the Two Agencies
- FDA focuses on drugs while CMS concentrates on providing people with managing the costs of their prescription;
- CMS develops programs for offering patients better healthcare opportunities whereas FDA takes care of regulating the quality of food and drugs;
- FDA deals with guaranteeing the security and efficacy of drugs whereas CMS offers citizens information related to the harm of the excessive use of some medications such as opioids (“About FDA,” 2018; “Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services,” 2018).
The Impact of Regulatory Agencies on Professional Nursing Practice
The influence of the FDA is reflected in its regulating character. The agency provides nurses with the most current data on food and drugs that are safe and deal with patients’ health issues in the most effective way (“About FDA,” 2018). Thus, it simplifies nurses’ work in that they have a solid base of medications to choose from for their patients.
What concerns CMS, it helps nurses to arrange coordination within the healthcare facility, which leads to better patient outcomes (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). The improved coordination enables nurses to provide high-quality care to their patients and reduce hospitalization and testing costs (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017).
References
About FDA: What we do. (2018). Web.
About the FDA patient education network. (2018). Web.
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses. Silver Spring, MD. Web.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. (2018). Web.
Florida nurse practice act. The Florida nurse practice and the scope of nursing. (2008). Web.
Hunt, D. D. (2015). The nurse professional: Leveraging your education for transition into practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
New York nurse practice act. Education law: Article 139, Nursing. (2010). Web.
Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare transformation and changing roles for nursing. Orthopedic Nursing, 36(1), 12-25.
Weberg, D., Porter-O’Grady, T., Mangold, K., & Malloch, K. (2018). Leadership in nursing practice: Changing the landscape of health care (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.