Introduction

There is a need for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to have expanded ability to offer comprehensive complete care to the public. Republican Senator Cary Pigman who is also a medical doctor has recognized the necessity of this need. He has put forth a bill that would enable nurse practitioners the ability to practice without restrictions within the scope of their practice. He has introduced this bill as well as others to support the ability of nurse practitioners to offer comprehensive care to their patients. All Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners need to support these efforts so that we can provide needed primary care services within Florida. HB 547 expresses many changes that are needed in Florida today in medical care. The bill requests the reduction of supervision required for nurse practitioners. One major point in the bill is that nurse practitioners would be enabled to provide care independently of a physician. This bill also would enable nurse practitioners to prescribe medication including narcotics independently. This would alleviate the need for primary care providers to seek other treatment that they may require if nurse practitioners were able to fully treat their patients without restrictions’. There is a primary care shortage in Florida and nurse practitioners routinely fill that void and with this bill enacted it would enable those patients to receive comprehensive care by one provider instead of multiple visits to specialists to obtain the same result.
Evidenced Based Guidelines There are many guidelines that support the full authority of nurse practitioners to practice without restriction. There are currently twenty-two states that allow nurse practitioners to practice unrestricted and without any supervision from physicians (Saunders, 2014). When nurse practitioners have the ability to care for their patients in