Family Health - Week 9 Discussion 1st REPLY

Jessica Alper

The state of Florida has its own scope of practice that any nurse practitioners in Florida should abide by. Nurse practitioners have a wide variety of skills that can be performed. The 2022 Florida Statutes state that NPs are allowed to place special peripheral, central, venous, and arterial lines for blood sampling and monitoring. I was not aware that they were able to place central lines as usually the doctors are the ones to do so. Alexandrou et al. (2019) state that “nurse-led vascular access teams have also demonstrated improvements in hospital efficiency”. Having nurse practitioners perform these tasks along with having appropriate follow ups for consultation and education have been crucial in reaching positive outcomes in the population. 

 

An additional skill that I recently learned about is that nurse practitioners can assist in certain surgical procedures, but they typically cannot be the main provider. Working as a NICU nurse, we often have to go to c-sections as there can often be negative effects on the newborn. This is where I realized that a nurse practitioner could help with the c-section but could not be the main provider making the cut. They are more specifically an assist to the main provider who usually is a medical doctor, such as an OBGYN. The NPs can help keep the cut wide open, reach for the baby, as well as assisting with cleaning the wound and suturing. However for vaginal deliveries, they can be the main provider, which means they can deliver the child, and help with other small procedures, such as performing episiotomies or suturing any tears (Core Competencies, 2020). 

 

Lastly, I learned about nurse practitioners leading their own private offices, which proves that that nurse practitioners can be independent. It is great to know that NPs can finally be on their own, depending on their state of residence, without having to report to any higher up. It is however important to note that NPs who are willing to open their own practice must follow the requirements laid out by the board of nursing for each state. In the state of Florida, an NP who wants to open his/her own practice must first have an active and clear FL APRN license, must have completed at least 3,000 clinical hours under the supervision of a physician in the last 5 years, must submit proof of 3 graduate-level semester hours in differential diagnosis and pharmacology in the last 5 years, and must not have been subject to any disciplinary action in the last 5 years (Autonomous Advances, 2022). 

 

 

References

 

ACNM core competencies for basic midwifery practice. (2020). American College of Nurse Midwives.  https://www.midwife.org/acnm/files/acnmlibrarydata/uploadfilename/000000000050/ACNMCoreCompetenciesMar2020_final.pdf

 

Alexandrou, E., Frost, S. A., Spencer, T. R., & Hillman, K. M. (2019). Nurse led central venous catheter insertion: An integrative review. Australian Critical Care, 22(1), 61.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aucc.2008.12.053

 

Autonomous advanced practice registered nurse. (2022). Florida Board of Nursing.  https://floridasnursing.gov/licensing/autonomous-advanced-practice-registered-nurse/