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Senate OKs bill expanding role of nurses
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Posted on Nov 27 2008
The Senate has passed a bill expanding the duties of local nurses, in a bid to increase access to health care in the Commonwealth.
The bill cleared the Upper House by unanimous vote earlier this week and is now with the House of Representatives for a similar approval. It will become law once passed by the Lower House and signed by the governor.
The legislation proposes to increase the autonomy of advanced practice nurses and thus put them on the front lines for delivering health care services.
Currently, advanced practice registered nurses can only treat patients with a supervising physician. The Senate Committee on Health and Welfare Programs, which reviewed and recommended passage of the bill, notes that, because of the shortage of physicians, health care on the islands, especially Rota and Tinian, “can, and has been, severely disrupted to the point of nonexistence.”
According to the committee, advanced practice registered nurses must undergo extensive training in order to be licensed in the United States and the Commonwealth. The committee also notes that nurse practitioners are increasingly being used as alternative health care providers in many rural areas in the United States. At least 12 jurisdictions—Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming—require absolutely no physician involvement with the prescribing aspect of nurse practitioners’ practices.
“[T]he availability of professionally trained and educated local nurse practitioners who can provide quality health care services, will improve access to quality health care in the commonwealth if current restrictions are relaxed,” the committee said.
