All nursing specialties are constrained by legislations and regulations that restrict the scope of their respective areas of practice. One of the nursing specialties that has been especially impacted by legislation and regulation at the state and federal level is nurse anesthesiology. Nurse anesthetists are described as “vital” in their roles in service delivery and quality of care (Greenwood & Biddle, 2015, p. 498). Yet legislation has until recently prevented nurse anesthetists from fulfilling their potential as members of the healthcare team. As of 2018, though, a revised proposal would seek to reclassify Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists as Advanced Practice Nurses—a move that will significantly alter the role and responsibilities of this critical care position (Tregaskis, 2018). Discussions are currently underway, but if this new legislation passes at the federal level, it would effectively override many of the state-level restrictions on nurse anesthetists. Ideally, the move will improve overall quality of care by empowering nurse anesthetists in a wide range of care settings, including ambulatory and outpatient care as well as inpatient care.
Standardizing patient care across the nation would also increase consistency in care delivery, ensuring continuity of care among patient populations. Furthermore, the effective upgrading of Nurse Anesthetists to an advance practice role changes the nature of nurse education. Nurse anesthetists will have enhanced care competencies, but this would also place a greater onus of responsibility on nurse educators and professional organizations to monitor the quality of training and certification programs available for nurse anesthetists. After all, the proposed legislation is part of an attempt to overhaul the Education Law to change the ways nurse anesthetists receive training and upgrade their skills (Tregaskis, 2018). The resources available to nurse anesthetists is abundant, including professional organizations and also nursing research. In fact, research has unearthed new metrics that can help nurse educators and practitioners to properly evaluate how state and federal laws have impacted scope of practice, offering evidence-based critiques of existing and proposed legislation (Greenwood & Biddle, 2015).
References
Greenwood, J.E. & Biddle, C. (2015). Impact of legislation on scope of practice among nurse anesthetists. Journal for Nurse Practitioners 11(5): 498-504.
Tregaskis, D. (2018). Nurse anesthetists hope to expand their scope of practice, under budget bill. The Legislative Gazette, 26 March, 2018, http://legislativegazette.com/nurse-anesthetists-hope-to-expand-their-scope-of-practice-under-budget-bill/
