North Carolina's Scope of Practice for Nursing Practitioners

Kindly reply to the below discussion post.
Discuss your state NP community in terms of scope of practice. Include your state’s scope of practice for NPs, including:
Level of independence of practice
In North Carolina, nurse practitioners are required to practice under the supervision of a physician. The nurse practitioner must be approved by the Board of Nursing and the Medical Board and receive approval to practice allowing you to work as a nurse practitioner (Logic, S., 2022).
Prescribing authority
In North Carolina, nurse practitioners can prescribe drugs and devices allowed in the collaborative practice agreement that the supervising physician has provided the nurse practitioner (Logic, S., 2022). Controlled substances may be prescribed by the nurse practitioner with the supervising physician's approval and the nurse practitioner's DEA number (Logic, S., 2022).
Any limitations of practice
After passing the board certification test, the nurse practitioner must be approved by the North Carolina Board of Nursing and the North Carolina Medical Board. The nurse practitioner must apply for approval to practice. The nurse practitioner must sign a collaborative practice agreement with the supervising physician of the practice where the nurse practitioner will be working. The nurse practitioner must follow the rules provided in the collaborative practice agreement (Logic, S., 2022).
Process for obtaining licensure in your state.
To obtain a license in North Carolina, the nurse must hold a current non-restricted North Carolina or Compact license. The nurse must complete an accredited master’s in nursing or a related field with a primary focus on nursing (Logic, S., 2023).
Certification and education requirements for licensure.
After completing the master’s in nursing requirements and passing the board exam, the nurse practitioner must receive approval to practice by the board of nursing and the medical board. Once the nurse practitioner receives approval to practice, they must obtain fifty hours of continuing education every two years. Twenty of those hours must be related to advanced practice nursing in the nurse practitioner role. Those twenty hours have to be approved by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) (Logic, S., 2022).
If you live in a restricted or reduced practice state, how has patient care been impacted in your local community by these barriers? For instance, is the ED used for primary care? Are the EDs overcrowded with long wait times? Are there urgent care clinics readily available? Is there adequate access to primary care? If you live in a full practice, how has an independent practice of the APN resulted in improved patient access to healthcare?
Working in the emergency department, I have heard numerous patients say that they called their primary care provider, and they advised them to go to the emergency department because they could not get them into the clinic. My area's limited number of primary care providers does not allow patients to see them on time. Some have told me it may take up to two months to see a patient with a follow-up from an emergency department visit. Our emergency department is overcrowded almost daily, with wait times reaching six to eight hours and as high as twelve. One of the most significant factors is the number of patients unable to follow up with primary care providers for their chronic problems. Some of the bigger towns in my area have at least two urgent care providers; however, in the smaller towns, there are none. The town closest to me has two primary clinics with at least five thousand residents close to them. Some about nine-thousand residents reside in the zip code that I live in. Some of the other four thousand are closer to bigger towns with more providers (People in ZIP 28383 (Rowland, NC) n.d.).
How does access to NPs impact any healthcare disparities?
Nurse practitioners could help care for patients with limited providers allowing the practice to see more patients (Whitehurst, L., 2023). Some providers I have talked to said they see around fifteen patients per day in the clinic with one provider. They have said that they are about three months out from follow-up appointments. Rural areas need more access to providers so they do not have to wait longer than necessary to receive the care they need.
A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question each week.
References:
Logic, S. (2023, August 11). Advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) requirements: North Carolina Board of Nursing. Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Requirements | North Carolina Board of Nursing.
Logic, S. (2022, December 28). Nurse practitioner laws & rules: North Carolina Board of Nursing. Nurse Practitioner Laws & Rules | North Carolina Board of Nursing. 
People in ZIP 28383 (Rowland, NC). (n.d.)
Whitehurst, L. (2023, January 30). Nurse practitioner FPA reduces health disparities in underserved communities, study finds. Nurse.org.