Analysis of APN Practice Regulations in Delaware and New Jersey

Analysis of APN Practice Regulations (Delaware and New Jersey)
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Analysis of APN Practice Regulations (Delaware and New Jersey)
Introduction
APN or APRN mainly entails nurses who have attained advanced levels of skills, training, and certification. These nurses have years of experience in their profession and also happen to have acquired a master’s degree in nursing. There are four types of APRNs, including certified nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, and certified registered nurse anesthetists (Campaign for Action, 2019). APRNs are a crucial piece of the healthcare sector and perform different roles that help to enhance patient outcomes. ANA (2022) notes that APRNs offer primary care to patients, help manage chronic diseases, and offer healthcare education to patients. In some states, APRNs have the authority to diagnose, treat, and offer prescriptions to patients. Their role in the healthcare sector is critical and greatly impacts the quality of care offered (Woo, Lee, & Tam, 2017). Further, the researchers add that patient satisfaction levels are higher, and healthcare costs are reduced for both patients and healthcare organizations. Htay and Whitehead (2021) echo similar sentiments and further add that APRNs also reduce admission and readmission rates in healthcare organizations. However, like every other profession, there ought to be rules and regulations governing APRNs’ conduct and service provision. So, provided in this paper is an in-depth analysis of Delaware’s APN or APRN’s practice regulations in contrast with New Jersey’s APN or APRN’s practice regulations. Some of the issues that will be addressed include board certifications and renewal, collaborative agreements, prescriptive authority, restrictions for APRNs, hospital privileges, nursing compact, and palliative end-of-life.
Background Information
Concerning nursing and APRNs, Delaware makes a case for one of the most progressive states in the U.S. First, Delaware was already a member of the original Nurse Licensure Compact before it transitioned to the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact or the eNLC (Fink, 2018). Secondly, Delaware already signed and became a part of the APRN Compact as of the 4th of August 2021 (NCSBN, 2021). From these two statements above, Delaware appears to seemingly be quite progressive and with a commitment to helping enhance the state’s and nation’s public health. Further, Delaware also granted APRNs full practice authority to prescribe medication and establish treatment plans for patients, which is also a testament to the state’s progressive nature. On the other hand, New Jersey has been slow to react to the changes that have been happening. It took more than 20 years for New Jersey to join the NLC. According to NCSBN (2021), New Jersey joined the NLC in November 2021. Considering the bureaucracy and slow progress it took for New Jersey to join NLC, the chances are high that the state will take a bit of time before joining the APRN Compact. Therefore, APRNs in New Jersey will be forced to move to other APRN Compact states for them to acquire an APRN multistate licence.
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