We Support S.B. 263!

We are in support of S.B. 263. Senate bill 263 would move NPs solely under the Board of Nursing and create an advisory board of physicians, pharmacists, and nurse practitioners to advise the Board of Nursing. This would remove the requirement for physician supervision and would open up more access to care in some free clinics, rural clinics, and federally qualified health clinics that have been limited due to current statutes and regulations. A broader definition of the scope of NP practice would enable expansion of primary care services to better serve the healthcare needs of the nation. As nursing students, we believe this would positively impact individuals by providing more patient centered care, advice on self care and management and more preventative services leading to better patient satisfaction. In the article titled, “Nurse Practitioner: Reflecting on the Future” (2008) Health service researches have studied the effects of NPs as an alternate source of medical manpower and have found that “NPs have provided continuity of care, where care has previously been fragmented. NPs are generally well accepted by consumers and have provided a level of performance that compares favorably with physicians as judged by standards developed within the practice settings.” Senate Bill 263 could make Nurse Practitioners primary care more economically viable while devoting extra attention to patients whose insurance pays less leaving physicians free to see more patients who are commercially insured (Sherwood, Brown, Fay, & Wardell 1997).