The Legislative Process and Healthcare Lobbying

Nurses in advanced practice roles require expanded responsibilities to serve patients effectively and accommodate their complex needs. This requires an understanding of different expectations set forth by patients and the healthcare community to support greater quality of care. Advanced practice nurses have acquired extensive training and guidance to support expanded responsibilities within healthcare organizations. Therefore, they must have the authority to prescribe medications to promote greater efficiency and quality of care to meet the needs of their patients at a high level. The purpose of this paper is to promote prescribing authority for advanced practice nurses across all 50 states to improve quality of care, support greater time efficiency, and strengthen patient outcomes and wellbeing.The Legislative Process and Healthcare Lobbying

ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL ISSUES
Advanced practice nurses have a responsibility to provide complex care and treatment to their patients in a variety of settings. This supports a critical understanding of the ethical and moral issues associated with prescribing medications at this practice level and to recognize the importance of political strength and advocacy in supporting this process (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2013). States who allow advanced practice nurses to legally prescribe medications to patients may have fewer regulatory limitations and recognize the value of this practice in promoting greater efficiency in healthcare organizations (Xue, Ye, Brewer, & Spetz, 2016).