Description
** please respond to each DQ peers response separately add citations and references to each separately**
Response one: In 2018, the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act became law, this act falls under the Comprehensive and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) which granted permanent authority for nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants to prescribe buprenorphine through medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Clinical nurse specialists (CNS), certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA) and certified nurse midwives (CNM) were given the MAT prescribing authority for a period of five years. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) supports making this MAT prescriptive authority permanent for all four APRN roles and broader utilization of telehealth for substance use disorder treatment.
Nurses see firsthand the devastating effects of the opioid crisis on their patients, communities, and perhaps even themselves or their families. ANA members have been forthcoming in their stories about the barriers to access, treatment, and the pain they have dealt with each day working to fight this crisis. Mant treatment options are available to health care practitioners when working with patients suffering from a Substance Use Disorder including medication-assisted treatments, prescription drug monitoring programs, and voluntary monitoring programs. An understanding of the methodologies, benefits, and drawbacks of each approach is of critical importance for nurses.While clearly a society-wide issue, the effect of the opioid epidemic on the nursing profession has been profound, and ANA has made advocating top-level solutions to alleviate the situation a high priority. Law-makers are actively engaged in introducing legislation related to opioid dependence, and ANA is fully focused on ensuring that the interests of nurses are taken into account when deliberating new legislation.
References
American Nurses Association retrieved from,
https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/opioid-epidemi
National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Retrieved from,
https://www.ncsbn.org/federal.htm
Response two: According to the Florida Nurses Association’s (FNA) website they are the “only nursing organization representing all of nursing regardless of specialty or practice” and they represent nurses in Tallahassee and other regulatory bodies (n.d.a.). In 2017, the FNA sponsored House Bill 1207 that was submitted by Rep. Daisy Baez concerning the “assault/battery against healthcare workers” (FNA, n.d.b.). Per the mid-session report the bill cleared the first “committee of reference” in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on March 28, 2017, with a unanimous vote (FNA, n.d.b.). Apart from sponsoring the bill the FNA rallied its members to begin an email writing initiative asking lawmakers to vote in favor of this the bill (FNA, n.d.b.).
The bill would allow for increased legal “protection for health care workers by” increasing the degree of an assault/battery on a provider if the crime occurs at their place of employment (Schweers, 2017). This bill is desperately needed due to “21 percent of registered nurses and nursing students reported being physically assaulted and over 50 percent verbally abused in a 12-month period” (Schweers, 2017). Unfortunately, after passing the first committee the bill died in the Justice Appropriations Subcommittee in May 2017 (Lobbytools, n.d.). Thus, renewed attention to this extremely important topic must be addressed until, we as providers, feel safe and supported to continue to treat all our patients.
FNA. (n.d.a.). The Florida nurses association: Mission & vision. Retrieved from https://www.floridanurse.org/page/MissionVison
FNA. (n.d.b.). Legislative update April 2017. Retrieved from http://cqrcengage.com/fln/legislativeupdateapril2017
Lobbytools. (n.d.). Bill summary: HB 1207 Assault or battery on health care providers (2017 Session). Retrieved from https://public.lobbytools.com/index.cfm?type=bills&id=45315&utm_source=publisher&utm_medium=js&utm_campaign=content_share
Schweers, J. (2017). Healthcare workers get extra protection on the job. Retrieved from https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/03/28/healthcare-workers-get-extra-protection-job/99744080/
Response three: Currently in Wisconsin if a nurse is the victim of workplace violence by someone who has intentionally caused bodily harm in any setting besides the emergency room this is considered battery. Victims of battery such as fire fighters, jurors or EMT’s assailants are charged with a class H felony (Workplace Violence, 2019).
Assembly Bill 175 in Wisconsin recently (October 19, 2019) passed the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Safety enhancing the penalties for people who commit violence against nurses, making battery to a nurse a felony instead of a misdemeanor (Workplace Violence, 2019).
I believe this Bill has already been passed by the Wisconsin Senate.
Nurses should not have to be afraid at work. They should be able to do their job and not fear for their safety. Everyday nurses are assaulted-verbally, physically, and sexually. I am not sure how society got to the point that people think it is OK to take out their frustrations and anger with the health care system on nurses and other health care workers. It is ridiculous that the current laws in Wisconsin state that intentionally causing bodily harm to any health care worker in any medical setting outside of the emergency room can only be classified as a misdemeanor. I hope this bill continues to work its way through the legal system to pass into law that harming medical workers is a felony crime and perpetrators can be charged as such with appropriate punishments.
References
Workplace Violence. (2019, October 19). Retrieved from Wisconsin Nurses Association: https://www.wisconsinnurses.org/education/workplac…
