Nursing practitioners are limited to serve the patients depending on various factors. One of the factors is the independence of nurses that is not guaranteed since nurses have to act based on the nurses’ association. The other scope of nursing practice is prescribing to the patients. In the nursing practice, the doctors prescribe the treatment that should be taken by the patients. There are limitations in the nursing practice that also affect working. These limitations include the level of education of the nurses that allow them to be accommodated in practice (Fairman et al., 2011). The process of acquiring licenses on nursing may be requiring academic and legal requirements hence making it hard to get into the practice easily. Finally, certification and licensure of a nurse practitioner is a master’s degree, postmaster’s certificate, and doctoral degree. Individuals require once to complete clinical work and courses in pharmacology, diagnosis, and prevention of diseases.
These restrictions on the scope of nurse practitioners have profoundly affected patients care in the community. Services on the patients are highly delayed since nurses are not allowed to perform some roles like prescribing. Also, due to the long process of certification, few nurses are used in the primary patient’s care. The community lacks adequate access to quality care because of the scarcity of nurses and other barriers (Fairman et al., 2011). The emergency departments lack optimized services for the patients hence increased mortality rates. Independent nursing practice is important in ensuring that patients access quality healthcare and promoting healthcare in the local community. Nurse practitioners should be provided with the independence to ensure that optimal quality care is offered to the patients.
Health disparities have continued to affect a large number of population in the nation. For instance, the rural areas in the United States have suffered healthcare disparities through shortages of primary care. Access to nurse practitioners ensures that many healthcare providers are deployed to rural areas to offer primary healthcare (Fairman et al., 2011). Nurse practitioners improve healthcare and reduce healthcare disparities.