Shoes Anyone? States grant nurse practitioners full practice authority

Is it really about diabetic shoes? No, it’s not! That’s a strawman argument for the granting of full practice authority (FPA). Ordering diabetic shoes has nothing to do with FPA. FPA is a goal of nurse practitioner (NP) groups. Often militant in nature, these groups arbitrarily throw around words such as:

“Nurse practitioners are cheaper to educate, and quality studies show they provide equal care. There’s not a lot out there that a nurse practitioner can’t do that a physician can do.”

“There’s a mountain of evidence showing the care provided by nurse practitioners is completely safe and very good,”

            Often these studies are misinterpreted, poorly designed, outdated, and riddled with bias. These statements in this article aren’t even cited as is most often the case. I actually emailed the author to try to obtain the references for these statements. I doubt there will be a response. Throw around the old “….. studies show…” is crap. Like a crapshoot I wrote about in my last blog: https://authenticmedicine.com/2020/06/crap-shoot-ftc-supports-bills-bolstering-advanced-practice-nurse-autonomy/

            More lies are quoted by interviewees in the article such as roadblocks that hamper patients’ access to care providers.” Don’t be fooled by this lie as the average lay patient or person will. As a former NP, this nonsense needs to stop, there are no roadblocks blocking patient care. Practicing on physician led teams as the original intent of the role of an NP allows NPs to practice as intended. Requiring collaboration is safer, smarter, and makes sense. Now here comes the militant members of my former profession and their vitriol attacks. 

Next the statements about “practicing to the full extent of their training,” or “practicing at the top of their license.” These two statements aren’t even valid. They carry no meaning. I can’t find anywhere that they are explained. What do they even mean? It’s again, strawman for FPA. 

the Veterans Administration and Indian Health Services — already grant NPs the right to practice to the top of their education without physician oversight.

            Lastly, the primary care physician shortage is a PHYSICIAN problem to solve. No one asked the nursing profession to solve the problems of another discipline. NP’s never asked PHYSICIANS if it would be ok for them to solve the PHYSICIAN problem. Stay in your lane and let PHYSICIANS solve the PHYSICIAN shortage and the shortage in primary care. To insert oneself into the problems of another discipline is like an opportunist infection. I wrote about this in a prior blog as well: https://authenticmedicine.com/2020/05/opportunistic-infection-how-to-expand-the-app-role-in-a-crisis/

“There is a primary care shortage, and nurse practitioners are a great way to fill that gap,”

            A better idea would be for NPs to stay in the nursing lane and all the DNP’s out there solve the bedside nursing shortage, poor quality online diploma mill NP education, and quality of life problems of bedside RNs. I’m not anti-NP or anti-nursing. My nursing career was good to me and for me. I’m just about truth telling, quality research, and stopping the lies being perpetrated by my former profession. I’ll probably be attacked for writing this as is typical modus operandi for my former profession, but the truth must be told. 

            Have a blessed day!

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