Introduction
Admittedly, nurse practitioners (NP) are critical in ensuring that different populations get quality healthcare within today’s changing healthcare reforms. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), there is a need for advanced nursing practitioners to bring their best in taking care of patients regarding their education and training in the field. However, barriers exist that prevent NP from advancing their nursing practice progressively. This paper aims to explore barriers that have slowed the progress of advanced practice nursing and make recommendations for possible solutions to mitigate these barriers.
Physician Related Issues
Physician-related issues arise due to the physician shortage and the low number of primary care physicians. Due to this shortage and a low number of NPs, physician-related issues have created challenges for advanced practice nursing. It has resulted in NPs relying heavily on physicians for a large part of their practice. It has led to a lack of knowledge about the essential role that NPs can play in healthcare. Another challenge is the lack of regulation that governs the work of NPs. Due to this challenge, there is no clear guideline on how NPs can navigate the current healthcare system (Hain & Fleck, 2014). Many efforts have been made to bring clarity to this situation but with no concrete outcome. NP organizations have also been affected by physician-related issues with limited success.
Lack of Access to Information and Data
Access to information and data is a challenge that has plagued the advanced practice nursing sector. This challenge has come to a standstill after the enactment of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. This act allows all Medicare-certified professionals, such as NPs, to access EHR systems. However, it is observed that in most hospitals, the option to access the EHR system is available only to physicians. Lack of access to the EHR system affects the practice of NPs in several ways (Altman et al., 2016). This includes inadequate data to help guide the practice of NPs.
Additionally, the lack of access to the EHR system has led to a lack of accountability. Therefore, there is no assurance that EHR data is accurate. Lack of access to the EHR system has also led to a lack of transparency between NPs and the hospital where they practice.
Lack of Policy and Regulation Change
The lack of policy and regulation change is a significant barrier that has hindered the advancement of advanced practice nursing. This barrier has been observed deeply in how the healthcare system is currently organized. The current system has been designed with the idea that only physicians can practice in the healthcare system. Therefore, the concept of regulation has been designed to protect physicians only. All the regulations that govern the practice of NPs have been designed to protect physicians (Altman et al., 2016). This has resulted in a severe challenge to advancing advanced practice nursing. This challenge has been mitigated by enacting the National Health Care Reform. This act provides a guideline that directs the development of regulations for the practice of NPs. However, this act is not enough to resolve the challenge due to the lack of policy and regulatory change.
Lack of Role Model Nursing Leaders
The lack of role model nursing leaders is a primary concern among all the nursing professions. This has led to a challenging situation where all nursing leaders are from the medical field. This has created an expectation that only physicians can lead the healthcare system. This has led to the expectation that only physicians care for people’s health and well-being. This expectation has created a complex situation where people have started to see advanced practice nursing as a threat to the healthcare system. Advanced practice nursing has been held responsible for the increasing cases of healthcare costs and declining health outcomes (Hain & Fleck, 2014). It has led to mistrust among people towards the advanced practice nursing sector. Therefore, there has been a need to bring role model leaders from the advanced practice nursing sector.
Strategies to Overcome the Barriers
The strategies to overcome the barriers that have slowed the advancement of advanced practice nursing include establishing an infrastructure that supports the growth of advanced practice nursing. It includes developing a collaborative environment that facilitates the exchange of information, resources, policies, and regulations. Second, ensuring that all the regulation that governs the practice of NPs is clear and precise (Hain & Fleck, 2014). Also, creating awareness among the physicians, patients, and the public that NPs can play a critical role in healthcare delivery—and lastly, creating awareness among the organizations that have hired advanced practice nursing professionals as leaders.
Conclusion
Advanced practice nursing is a critical part of our healthcare system. However, several factors have contributed to the slow progress of this sector. The most important of these factors include the challenges associated with physician-related issues, the lack of access to information and data, the lack of policy and regulation change, and the lack of role model nursing leaders. The above strategies can overcome these challenges and help advanced practice nursing advance. Advanced practice nursing can improve the quality of healthcare delivery. The practical implementation of evidence-based practices can achieve this. Advanced practice nursing can also be used to reduce the overall cost of healthcare delivery.
References
Altman, S. H., Butler, A. S., Shern, L., & National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Removing barriers to practice and care. In Assessing Progress on the Institute of Medicine Report the Future of Nursing. National Academies Press (US).
Hain, D., & Fleck, L. (2014). Barriers to nurse practitioner practice that impact healthcare redesign. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 19(2).
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