Nurse practitioners agreement in the state of Mississippi

Nurse Practitioners' Collaboration Agreement

A nurse practitioner (NP) in Mississippi must enter into a collaboration agreement with a trained and competent physician in the field where the NP is specialized. The agreement addresses some of the issues listed below. The nurse must care for the patient and refer their cases to the doctor. The agreement should address the NP and physician's disagreement over disease diagnosis and therapy. It also requires that all patient records be preserved for three months (Buppert, 2015). After stabilizing the situation, the nurse practitioner is obligated to report any emergency circumstances. If they cannot stabilize the crisis, they are expected to record the failed occurrences (Hamric, A. B., Hanson, C. M., Tracy, M. F., & O'Grady, E. T. 2014).

Collaboration Issues Between Nurse Practitioners and Physicians

Scott & Lindsey (2014) identify some collaboration issues between the nurse practitioners and physicians. One of the issues is that sometimes a physician is very mean and rude to patients and this creates fear. Hence a nurse practitioner has to approach the physician on behalf of the patients. The physician, in turn, yells to the nurse directly making them not to communicate again. The second issue is that the physician exhibits authority to nurse practitioners, hence nurses have believed that doctors are above them, which has created a sense of isolation.

Barriers to NPs' Practice

Hain & Fleck (2014) identify some barriers to NPs' practice. These include the situation where physicians feel threatened by NPs in their area of work in a power struggle. There is also the lack of financial support for the NPs, which makes it hard for the practice. The health care system does not take care of the welfare of the NPs sufficiently. The Medical Practitioners (MPs) are not fully aware of the roles of the nurse practitioners and appreciate their level of education in that they can handle minor illness and chronic diseases. Complex cases are supposed to be taken care of by the Medical Practitioners. The NP autonomy is an issue in that NPs have a limit to prescribing or ordering diagnostic tests; therefore, increasing the workload of MPs, hence this does not create a good relationship between the two parties (Thomas et al., 2014).

Eliminating Barriers and Improving Collaboration

For barriers to be eliminated, Scott & Lindsey (2014) point out that there must be mutual respect and understanding between the MPs and the NPs. The NP and MP must have confidence towards each other, hence creating an excellent collaborating relationship. Hain & Fleck (2014) urge that everybody must realize their limit and ask for help where it is needed. Having differences will lead to difficulty when dealing with patients. Also, the hierarchical structure must be eliminated; this, in turn, will make collaboration easy.

References

Buppert, C. (2015). The Employed Nurse Practitioner. In Nurse Practitioner’s Business Practice and Legal Guide (5th ed.). (323-336). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

Hain, D., & Fleck, L. (2014). Barriers to nurse practitioner practice that impact healthcare redesign. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 19(2).

Hamric, A. B., Hanson, C. M., Tracy, M. F., & O’Grady, E. T. (2014). Leadership. In Advanced Practice Nursing: An Integrative Approach (5th ed.) (266-294). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders

Scott, T., & Lindsey, M. (2014). Collaboration and Supervision in Advanced Practice Nursing. Clinical Scholars Review, 7(1), 57-62.

Thomas, A. C., Crabtree, M. K., Delaney, K. R., Dumas, M. A., Kleinpell, R., Logsdon, C., Nativio, D. G. (2012). Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies. Retrieved from http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/competencies/npcorecompeten ciesfinal2012.pdf