Understanding the legal scope of nurse has a lot of significance to the patient and the nurse alike. Understanding the extent of the penalties that one risks facing due to some behavior ensures nurses do not act in a way that will put them in jeopardy. It also safeguards patients’ welfare and health. The other issue that the practice of stringent nursing is that the training allows people to perform at their optimum level of training. This is important in ensuring that nursing practitioners work in accordance to the training, which in turn presents the patients with a chance of obtaining the best care (Wilkinson & Treas 2012). The regulations also look at modes of ensuring that the nurses do not enter into practice without proper licensing. The legal framework also seeks to defend the occurrence of a scenario where another persons’ mistake is leveled against the other person that is in the same working environment with the nurse. The most common victim of shifted blame is a physician (Wilkinson 2011). The regulations also seek to attract the reactions on the patients to treatment and care on the nurse. This applies to all sorts of reactions whether positive or negative.
Nurses receive their certification from the board of nursing. In Florida, nurses are also governed by regulations stipulated in chapter 456 and 464 of the statutes of Florida State. The legislation goes beyond the scope of practice (Wilkinson & Treas 2012). They state the protocol that a nurse has to follow in the daily life while in the profession. Among the things that stand out is that the laws prohibit the prescription substances that can be termed as illegal in the society (Wilkinson 2011). In the event that the nurse goes against the statutes, he/she is can be found guilty of a criminal offense.
Nurses have to stick to their scope of work as stipulated in the statutes, specifically in the roles of a registered nurse practitioner which include; monitoring and altering the drug therapies that are prescribed by a physician (Stamatakis et al 2007). Nurses can also initiate appropriate therapies for some minor conditions. Registered nurses can also perform any addition procedures in accordance to the law or as stipulated in any other law of the land. Finally, nurses have the ordering for diagnostics test on the patient as well as physical and occupational therapies (Wilkinson & Treas 2012). These rules do not act in isolation. This is because, at the time of adopting the rules, there were some other rules that the statutes adopted that were pursuant thereto.
The rules that apply in Florida allow a nurse to initiate drug programs and alter them if it is necessary. However, some of the drugs are to be administered by a physician. The practice is that nurses operate under the watch of a physician. This is because of the fact that the statutes allow for prescription of drugs by a nurse while he or she is under the strict supervision of a practitioner (Wilkinson & Treas 2012). The statute goes ahead to define the ‘practitioner’ as a physician who has the license. This could also include a dentist, a vet, an osteopathic, or a naturopath. The condition for the prescription to be legal is that the doctor must be in position of a valid license from the federal government.
A comparison between the scopes of a medical doctor and a nursing practitioner indicate that there is a slight or not difference between the scope of a doctor and that of a nurse. The law in Florida indicates that the nurse has the roles of diagnosing, treating and prescribing drugs. A physician has a similar role (Stamatakis et al 2007). However, some of the practitioners in the physician associations attempt to differentiate medical practitioner from the nurses. This motive comes out in the statutes of Florida (Wilkinson 2011). The statutes indicate that physicians made a move that ensured that there is a difference between the medical practitioners and the ANPs. This is a classic example of a fight for superiority.
All medical personnel practicing in Florida have the responsibility of reporting to the authorities in the event that they witness a practitioner violating the statues. In the event that a practitioner does not report the issue, the later realization of knowledge of the misconduct makes him or her prosecutable (Wilkinson & Treas 2012). After a report on the misconduct is filed in the department of health, hearings on the proceedings get started.
There are different levels of qualifications that an ANP has to meet. In Florida, a nurse ought to have some experience in the nursing field having worked the way up from the registered nurse practitioner level to an ANP. The other qualification that the nurse should have is a specialization in a certain area of nursing. Some of the areas that one should look into include aesthetics or midwifery. ANP also have the power of performing some procedures that are more advanced compared to registered nurses. Whenever an ANP nurse is performing the procedures, they must be under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner (Wilkinson & Treas 2012). However, sometimes nurses do not have to stick to the rule since some of the procedures that they carry out may be carried out in the absence of the medical practitioners. The procedures that can go on in the absence of the practitioner are stipulated in the protocol agreement that is drawn between the nurses and their supervising practitioners.
The ascertaining of the nurses competitiveness in their respective fields of specialization is under the domain of the department of health in Florida. The laws cater for this in section 494 of the statutes that apply to nurses (Wilkinson 2011). The process of certification includes an application by the interested party to the department (Stamatakis et al 2007). The other step that is conducted by the department is cross checks on whether the interested candidate has the interest to be a certified and licensed nurse in the state. The certificate must also be valid in Florida since some of the certifications are not recognized by the law. The applicant must also have the requisites credentials after having completed at minimum one year of formal nursing training in another environment outside a learning institution (Wilkinson 2011). The applicant must also have finished basic training in the educational background. The one-year course ensures that the nurse has a foundation on the area of specialization (Stamatakis et al 2007). The person must also include a completion and graduation from a master’s degree program. The completion of a master’s degree is compulsory for the people that wish to specialize in aesthetics.
In my case am still in the process of moving towards the realization of ANP status. This is because I am in the course of doing my master’s degree (Wilkinson & Treas 2012). This will make me a viable candidate for the registrations by the board as an advanced nursing practitioner. I have the other competencies such as the one-year informal training as well as the additional education. I would like to specialize in aesthetics. This makes it compulsory for me to graduate in the master’s degree.
Given the specialization that I wish to take, I will be working mainly in the Operations Theater and in a ward. However, the bulk of my work will be in the theater since my role will be assisting surgeons during surgeries. The environment will include the surgeons. I will be working in the city hospital where by the number of patients will be high because its services relatively cheaper compared to other hospitals. I will work with some of my peers at graduate school. Services in a public hospital setting are often regarded as poor by the public. This is because most employees in public hospitals have other commitment in private hospitals or their own private practice (Wilkinson 2011). The change that I will like to put in place is ensuring that I do not conform to the trend of moving to the private hospitals in pursuit of more money. I will ensure that I work for the good of patients and not in pursuit of money. The other change that I will enact is ensuring that the treatment of the patients is a priority.
References
Stamatakis, C. M., Norton, J. C., Raust, N. A., Butenhof, A. N., McGuffin, S. D., & New Hampshire Bar Association (2007). New law on health care advanced directives. Concord, N.H.: New Hampshire Bar Association.
Wilkinson, J. M., & Treas, L. S. (2012). Pocket nursing skills: What you need to know now. Philadelphia: F A Davis Company.
Wilkinson, J. M. (2011). Nursing process & critical thinking. Boston: Pearson.
