week10 discussion
Discussion 5
Alina Alonso
Advanced Primary Care of Family Practicum I-DL-MSN41
Leonor Perez Aquino, DNP, AGACNP-C, AGPCNP-C, AOCNP, BMTCN
Jun 30, 2021
According to the currently revised and enacted laws in the Florida bill, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses can significantly participate in the prescription of a controlled substance in health facilities. However, several revisions and adjustments were justified to realize this milestone. For instance, the psychiatric advanced practice registered nurses were charged with the mandate of prescribing psychiatric medications to minor patients, with no 7-day restriction to the prescription of the psychiatric medications to the other patient cohort (Scott & Counsel, 2018). In addition, the bill clearly outlined that these advanced practice registered nurses must have graduated from recognized or rather accredited institutions offering programs that lead to a doctoral or master's degree. Therefore, the prescription of the controlled substances would be available to these advanced practice nurses.
The prescriptive authority for controlled substances was thus a necessary enacted policy to curb the coherent substance abuse initially rampant in the state, especially those involving opioid analgesics (Garofoli & BCGP, 2020). Enhanced health outcomes were thus the intended outcome among the patients, drug addicts, and other stable citizens in the state who were on the verge of becoming substance users. Psychiatric patients would be comprehensively cared for upon withdrawal of the previous restrictions and limitations that had to befall the advanced practice registered nurses and the physician assistants (Weissing, 2019). The doctoral and master's degree programs would motivate the nurses to further their education, besides the recommended thirty hours of continuous education.
The recommended involvement of physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses in the prescription of controlled substances is still another loophole for increased substance abuse among patients relying on opioid and nicotine analgesics. Despite the formulary to be implemented to allow the certified registered nurse anesthetists to order bulk of these controlled substances as they conduct obstetric and surgical procedures through the administration of anesthesia, the possibility of abuse remains high.
References
Garofoli, M., & BCGP, C. (2020). Florida Validation of Controlled Substances Continuing Education–FL APPROVED.
Scott, J., & Counsel, F. G. (2018). Florida’s new law on controlled substance prescribing. Fla Med Mag, 1-5.
Weissing, L. (2019). Barriers and Implications of Controlled Substance Prescribing for Florida APRNs.