The prescriptive emergency nurse practitioner: an analysis to substantiate ENPs' inclusion within current legislative proposals.
The argument for the inclusion of Emergency Nurse Practitioners (ENPs) within current prescribing legislation is proposed in this paper. The formal recognition of community nurses as highly-skilled practitioners as the basis for prescribing medicines is challenged. A comparison is made to ENPs in supporting the necessity for formal bodies to also recognize their highly specialized and unique skills. By reflecting upon the ENP role as providers of 'complete' care for patients, this facilitates the view that medicinal support and subsequent medicinal advice is integral to the quality ENP service deliverance. This is ratified by evidence provided from US and Australian nurse prescribers to demonstrate this point. This paper highlights how excluding ENPs from formal recognition restricts the development of the ENP role, making the specific role of 'complete' care provision 'incomplete'.
Durand
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Accident and Emergency Department, Barnet General Hospital, Hertfordshire, UK.
D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D013222:State Medicine / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006113:United Kingdom