Role of the Nurse Practitioner as Prescriber Legal and Professional Issues in Prescribing
Introduction.
Nurse Practitioners play a key role in facilitating the provision of health care in Texas. Usually, the Nurse Practitioner undergoes thorough clinical training so as to be able to provide a wide range of health services. Apart from clinical training, Nurse Practitioners are taken through advanced graduate education to enable them to perform their duties efficiently. The Board of Nursing in Texas is the legally mandated state agency to regulate the practice of Nurse Practitioners. It is worth noting that it is illegal for an individual to practice nursing in Texas if the person is not licensed.
Nurse Practitioner Practice in Texas
In Texas, Nurse Practitioners undergo training that is aimed to make them become healthcare professionals that are independent while discharging their duties. During their compulsory graduate degree programs, the Nurse Practitioners are equipped with skills that allow them to prescribe medication to patients, sign death certificates and at times they even order laboratory tests to be conducted on a particular patient so as to ascertain what in particular is ailing the patient and whenever the patient condition requires special attention the Nurse Practitioner can refer the sick person to specialists so as to handle the situation (Buppert, 2017).
The Board of Nursing of Texas regulates the entire practice of nursing professionals in Texas. For one to be eligible for a license as a registered nurse, he/she must demonstrate excellent professional character, satisfactorily pass the examination approved by the Board of Nursing which will determine the fitness of an applicant to practice as a professional nurse and also be able to pass jurisprudence exam that is usually approved by the Board of Nursing.
Texas State Laws Related to Nurse Practitioner Prescribing.
Texas Nursing Act posits that Nurse Practitioners ought to have a written collaborative agreement from his/her supervising physician to be able to offer medical prescription (Gadbois, et al 2015). Under this Act, a doctor was supposed to be on site so as to oversee Nurse Practitioners as they execute their mandate. It is only recently that Texas relaxed the condition of having a doctor to monitor how the Nurse Practitioners prescribed medicine.
Continuing Education Hours Requirement for Nurse Practitioners in Texas
Continuing education refers to the programs designed beyond the basic preparation of Nurse Practitioners aimed at promoting the knowledge and improvement of skills that have the net impact of enhancing the nursing practice which in turn leads to improving health care provision to the public (Hing, & Hsiao 2015).
Nurses in Texas are required to successfully complete 20 hours of continuing education for their license renewal (Watson,2015). The 20-hour Continuous Education commences the month after the license has been renewed until the following renewal period two years later. However, an exception to this requirement exists when a nurse moving to Texas from another state renews the license for the first time.
Importance of Being Aware of the Specific Laws Pertaining to Nurse Practitioners Prescribing Medication.
An understanding of the specific laws dealing with Nurse Practitioners prescribing medication equips a practising Nurse Practitioner with a wide history on the evolution of prescriptive authority in Texas. For instance, 71st Texas Legislative Session was the beginning Nurse Practitioners gaining prescriptive authority, that was in 1988. Also, an understanding of the Texas laws on medical prescription enables a Nurse Practitioner to undergo the necessary training so as to be able to prescribe medication after approval by the Board of Nursing (Nieswiadomy & Bailey,2017).
References
Buppert, C. (2017). Nurse practitioner’s business practice and legal guide. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Gadbois, E. A., Miller, E. A., Tyler, D., & Intrator, O. (2015). Trends in state regulation of nurse practitioners and physician assistants, 2001 to 2010. Medical Care Research and Review, 72(2), 200-219.
Hing, E., & Hsiao, C. J. (2015). In which states are physician assistants or nurse practitioners more likely to work in primary care?. Journal of the American Academy of PAs, 28(9), 46-53.
Nieswiadomy, R. M., & Bailey, C. (2017). Foundations of nursing research. Pearson.
Watson, M. (2015). Basic principles to consider when opening a nurse practitioner‐owned practice in Texas. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 27(12), 683-689.