Nurses and Prescriptive Authority: A Legal and Economic Analysis

1989 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 245-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Harrison Hadley

This article identifies twenty-six jurisdictions where nurses have been granted legal authority to prescribe drugs. The jurisdictions are divided into two groups: those where nurses have authority to prescribe without the supervision of a physician and can therefore function as substitutes for physicians; and those where nurses may prescribe only in collaboration with a supervising physician, and are thereby limited to functioning in a complementary role.The issue of prescriptive authority is discussed within the context of regulating the practice of nursing, and more generally, the health care professions. The article reviews the history of Nurse Practice Acts, focusing upon the Connecticut statute and the economic implications of this statutory approach. It is argued that the law should promote the use of nurses as substitutes for physicians whenever appropriate.The article concludes with a two-part proposal for reform: an “authorized prescriber” statute requiring health care professionals desiring to prescribe drugs to pass an examination testing their knowledge of pharmacology and drug therapy; and the elimination of the “unauthorized practice” provisions of the statutes regulating all health care professions. The proposal promotes economic efficiency by eliminating artificial constraints on the substitutability of labor in the provision of health services.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Kuka ◽  
Jan P. Ehlers ◽  
Michaela Zupanic

Abstract Background In Germany academic degree programs for non-medical health care professions (nursing, physical, occupational and speech language therapy, midwifery) have been established only recently, even if they play a key role in today´s complex patient-centered health care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the development and current state of German education research in these professions as well as to conduct a comparison to international research activities in this field.Method To achieve these objectives a bibliometric and content-related publication analysis was performed from 2008 to 2017 in four international high-impact journals. Based on appropriate inclusion criteria (bibliographical and biographical criteria, focus on first and last author, original study) and their development into a coding scheme, articles were recorded systematically and results analyzed quantitatively and content-wise. Group comparisons between German and international health care professions as well as interdisciplinary comparisons between the individual professions were performed.Results On the whole, 11.891 articles were analyzed for participation of the respective target groups, either as first or as last author. Of these, 164 original studies met the inclusion criteria with 157 publications pertaining to international and only seven to German health care professionals. The majority of authors belonged to the discipline of nursing science (n=138). North America (36.63%), Australia (18.32%) and Asia (14.85%) rank among the regions that publish most frequently. Publications by German health care professionals are rare but showed an overall high level of quality.Conclusion International publication activities by non-medical health care professionals have been on the rise in recent years. Specific funding measures as well as transnational and interdisciplinary collaborations may be potential ways of strengthening and expanding education research in countries with only young academic experiences.


Author(s):  
Warren G. McDonald

Health care administration and opticianry are both health care professions, but moving in different directions and both in need of transformation. Opticianry, once a time-honored endeavor, is now floundering to find a direction for the future, while health administration has flourished and has a very bright future in the changing face of health care delivery. This chapter provides background and insights into the history of both fields and some of the recent changes in technology that have affected them that necessitates transforming the way future students are educated and trained. A review of the current literature of both fields provides ample evidence of the need for transforming curricula as technology and health professions continue to rapidly evolve. This technological evolution demands transformation of the educational process.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Choi ◽  
Julia S. Seng

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects 8% of pregnant women, and the biggest risk factor for pregnancy PTSD is childhood maltreatment. The care they receive can lead to positive outcomes or to retraumatization and increased morbidity. The purpose of this study is to gather information from a range of clinicians about their continuing education needs to provide perinatal care to women with a maltreatment history and PTSD.METHOD: Maternity health care professionals were interviewed by telephone. Network sampling and purposive sampling were used to include physicians, nurse practitioners, midwives, nurses, and doulas (n = 20), and results were derived from content analysis.RESULTS: Most providers received little or no training on the issue of caring for women with a history of childhood maltreatment or PTSD during their original education but find working with this type of patient rewarding and wish to learn how to provide better care. Providers identified a range of educational needs and recommend offering a range of formats and time options for learning.CONCLUSIONS: Maternity health care providers desire to work effectively with survivor moms and want to learn best practices for doing so. Thus, educational programming addressing provider needs and preferences should be developed and tested to improve care experiences and pregnancy outcomes for women with a history of trauma or PTSD.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1314-1320 ◽  
Author(s):  
César Carrillo-García ◽  
María del Carmen Solano-Ruíz ◽  
María Emilia Martínez-Roche ◽  
Carmen Isabel Gómez-García

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the influence of gender and age on the quality of the professional lives of health care professionals at a university hospital. METHOD: a total of 546 professionals completed a general questionnaire that measured sociodemographic variables and evaluated job satisfaction using a scale adopted from the NTP 394 Job Satisfaction scale and translated into Spanish. RESULTS: overall, 77.2% of the professionals surveyed were satisfied with the work they perform. With regards to gender, we found overwhelming evidence of the feminization of practically all health care professions included in the study, with higher levels of job satisfaction among women than men. Regarding age, 20-30-year-olds and professionals over 61 years old showed higher satisfaction levels than did middle-aged professionals. Higher levels of dissatisfaction were reported by professionals between 41 and 50 years old. CONCLUSIONS: we were able to detect the influence of gender and age on the level of job satisfaction, finding significant associations between job satisfaction and both of these variables. Generally, women expressed more satisfaction than men, and elderly professionals showed higher satisfaction compared to younger professionals. Management policies should focus on taking action to correct the conditions that produce dissatisfaction among certain groups of employees.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 189-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa S. Jutte ◽  
Fredrick R. Browne ◽  
Marie Reynolds

Context: Interprofessional education (IPE) is encouraged in health care education in the hope that it will improve communication among future health care professionals. In response, health professional education programs are developing IPE curricula. Objective: To determine if a multicourse interprofessional (IP) project impacted students' knowledge and views on other health care professions, as well as their attitudes toward IPE. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Four university classrooms. Patients or Other Participants: Eighty-one undergraduate students (32 men, 49 women) from 4 introductory courses (2 athletic training sections, 41 students; 1 health administration section, 19 students; and 1 nursing section, 21 students) participated in 2 surveys and an IP project. Main Outcome Measure(s): Participants completed a modified Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) questionnaire. The faculty assigned students to an IP group with representation from each discipline. Groups were instructed to produce a presentation on an assigned health care profession. After completing the project, students completed the same modified RIPLS questionnaire. Means and frequency were calculated. Quantitative data were analyzed with analysis of variance followed by Tukey post hoc testing when appropriate. Results: After the IP project, students from all disciplines reported an increased knowledge regarding nursing, health administration, athletic training, and other health care professions in general and how their discipline differed from other health care disciplines. All students agreed that they should practice communication with other health care disciplines. Other perceptions related to IPE did not change. Conclusions: Undergraduate athletic training, health administration, and nursing students who completed an IP project reportedly increased their knowledge of health care disciplines and increased their appreciation for practicing communication among health care disciplines. Future studies should assess how increasing basic knowledge of health care professions may impact the integration of advanced IPE concepts later in one's professional education.


2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prabhat Chand ◽  
Naveen Jayaram ◽  
Pratima Murthy

<p>Tramadol, either alone or in combination with paracetamol, is a commonly prescribed opioid analgesic in routine clinical practice. It has reportedly low abuse potential. There are, however, a few reports of tramadol misuse among health care professionals and persons with a family history of addiction. We describe the clinical profile of three women developing addiction to tramadol. In all these cases tramadol was initially prescribed for pain by the physician. Physicians should not only prescribe tramadol cautiously and for a limited time period but also be trained in identifying misuse (self‑use, over the counter procuring, using for mind altering<br />properties) and dependence (craving, withdrawal symptoms etc.).</p>


Author(s):  
C. Jeiziner ◽  
K. Suter ◽  
U. Wernli ◽  
J. M. Barbarino ◽  
L. Gong ◽  
...  

Abstract Implementation of pharmacogenetics (PGx) and individualization of drug therapy is supposed to obviate adverse drug reactions or therapy failure. Health care professionals (HCPs) use drug labels (DLs) as reliable information about drugs. We analyzed the Swiss DLs to give an overview on the currently available PGx instructions. We screened 4306 DLs applying natural language processing focusing on drug metabolism (pharmacokinetics) and we assigned PGx levels following the classification system of PharmGKB. From 5979 hits, 2564 were classified as PGx-relevant affecting 167 substances. 55% (n = 93) were classified as “actionable PGx”. Frequently, PGx information appeared in the pharmacokinetics section and in DLs of the anatomic group “nervous system”. Unstandardized wording, appearance of PGx information in different sections and unclear instructions challenge HCPs to identify and interpret PGx information and translate it into practice. HCPs need harmonization and standardization of PGx information in DLs to personalize drug therapies and tailor pharmaceutical care.


1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret G. Marron ◽  
James E. Thompson

The authors, co-instructors in a health sciences technical writing course, investigated the expectations and needs of audience in the health care professions. They desired to know if health care professionals had expectations significantly different from other audiences. Through interviews, they determined the audience's reading habits, the document qualities desired by the audience, and the audience's intended use of the documents. Some of the health care professionals' expectations are similar to those of all technical writing audiences, but some are specific to health care. The authors have applied this knowledge to the teaching of their course.


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