Should nurse practitioner prescribing practice be allowed in rural area?

This essay discusses the benefits and challenges of allowing nurse practitioners to prescribe medication in rural areas.

Running head: ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
Should nurse practitioner prescribing practice be allowed in rural area?
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors note:

1ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
Introduction:
Shortage of health workers in Australia have been a concern for some moment. A
number of researches highlighted the fundamental necessity of developing a healthcare
workforce that is more viable, sensitive and committed to high performance safety. There is
an increase in the number of health workers. However, demographic shifts, like population
aging and multiple healthcare workers have coupled with growing healthcare requirements to
exacerbate issues linked to shortages (Jolly 2019). Australians have one of the largest life
expectancies in the globe; however, rural and distant Australia's health outputs are worse in
comparison with their urban counterparts. With the geographical distance, the rates of
possibly avoidable illnesses and preventable hospitalizations are rising considerably
(Australian Institute for Health and Welfare 2018). The death rate for females and males in
very distant regions is considerably greater than in significant towns (COAG Reform
Council 2012). These results represent both an elevated percentage and unequal access to
quality health facilities including main health care, for those residing in rural and distant
groups, for the socioeconomically poor and for the Aboriginal-and Torres Straits Islanders.
People residing in remote or extreme distant regions face a reduction in access to a wide
spectrum of health facilities in comparison to the overall population of significant towns and
are probable not to have a general physician (GP). The study by Institute of Health and
Welfare Australia also revealed that individuals residing in main towns have a periodic
general practitioner (89 per cent, compared to 81 per cent and 69 per cent), while those
residing in the core national regions have a more frequent general practitioner (92 per cent),
opposed to those residing in rural or remote Australia, respectively
(Australian Institute for Health and Welfare 2018).
Federal authorities have implemented a range of projects including legislative
constraints and incentive payments, with a view to addressing healthcare labour shortages in

2ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
principle and healthcare labour shortages in specific. Some of the programs concerned
supporting the growth of nursing specialization exercise (Jolly 2019). The word nurse is
usually used for skilled staff working in particular medical procedures. Nursing in Australia
has traditionally been a way for nurses to meet family obligations by participating in part-
time jobs that do not involve shift job. Australian surveys show that the use of nursing
facilities in particular exercise can be significantly improved. Nevertheless, many challenges
need to be addressed in creating the best possible practice nursing (Jolly 2019). In addition to
that, there has been an ongoing debate whether should the nurse practitioner prescribing
practice be allowed in rural area in Australia.
The author of this essay argues that the nurse practitioner should be allowed
prescribing practice in rural area in Australia. Therefore, in the following section the benefits,
advantages and impact of this procedure will be discussed in detail.
Discussion:
These opinions on nursing have changed in latest scenarios. The reason is that
combined to bring growing pressure to bear on the delivery of efficient care are a mixture of
variables like the lack of the general practitioners ' workers, rising patient requirements and
the rise in the number of seniors and sick clients. In order to address this pressure, creative
alternatives have been attempted for more effective main care delivery. One of these
alternatives recognizes the capacity to improve and enhance the delivery of services in this
setting by health care workers in particular exercise (Zhao et al. 2013). According to British
analysts, providing this expanded position to nurses can produce many beneficial results.
Overall, the quality of overall service procedures can be improved. This can also ensure
secure replacement of facilities supplied earlier by physicians alone, lowering demand for
physicians. Furthermore, it is cost-effective, since nursing costs less than medical facilities.
Some of these are covered. For instance, a documented role definition of the specialization

3ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
was created in combination with competency norms for the specialist in going forward
towards the recognition of exercise medicine as a specialty by itself (Lavergne and Kephart
2012). These include providing official training for nursing exercise and providing
professional and organisational assistance for nursing practitioners. Patient characteristics of
employee particular procedures affect the functions played by nurses. The function of a
practical nurse is most probable to concentrate on immunization and children health problems
in a field with a big percentage of youthful parents, for instance. The role played by health
care professionals within the overall practice setting is also influenced by Government
policies and main care financing (Fong et al. 2017).
Recent studies have tried to combine proof on the connections between care and
performance of nurses, access and expenses of care, and the connections between nursing,
workload and the workplace, patients ' morbidity and death (Laurant et al. 2018). A Cochrane
study investigated the effect on results and care and use procedures, including quantity and
price, of caregivers operating as replacements for primary-care physicians (Laurant et al.
2018). This review study consisted of randomized studies to evaluate the results of physician
replacement infants and was restricted to main health facilities providing initial and
continuous attention for clients with all kinds of health issues, excluding mental health.
Studies evaluating nurses to supplement main care physicians have been omitted. 18
randomized studies were defined by the writers to evaluate the effect of physicians’
replacement nursing. In a middle-income nation, one survey was performed and in all other
high-income nations (McKenna 2019). Often in study, the skill mix of the nurses was
unclear and varied. Studies examined first contact staff (including emergency care); physical
complaint continuity and acute patient follow up, such as arthritis. In many research, a
physician could help or advise patients additionally. Primary care nursing replacement and
main health schooling were less well researched (McKenna 2019). The overall signal from

4ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
the proof was that care provided by staff produced comparable or superior health results for a
wide spectrum of patient circumstances relative to the care provided by physicians.
The proof indicates that main nursing led care is not less than medical led care. There
were mildly enhanced blood pressure results and other clinical or wellness results were
comparable, with significantly greater customer fulfilment in main nursing care than the
quality of life. Although the results are good, many of the research examined have problems
with the performance (McKenna 2019). A Meta analysis of 32 systemic review studies
considered the socio-economic advantages of long-term circumstances, mental health, and
role replacement in nursing, and midwifery care (Caird et al., 2010). Health checking,
lifestyle counselling and health schooling in particular exercise health professionals for risk
variables for heart illness have been shown to exert a higher positive effect relative to regular
blood pressure and nutritional fat consumption care. The advantages of nursing care
including decreased cost and increased patient happiness were recorded through individual
research (Dunn et al. 2010).
There are many possibilities for nurses to have a bigger effect on health and medical
enhancement, but there is a need for stronger proof as to where and how investing and
creating health care can have an important benefit. Most of the journals in this report
compare nurses with physicians, with evidence pertaining to urban regions. The findings all
indicate that the effect is not simple to generalize (Dunn et al. 2010). All portray beneficial
effects in particular conditions and for specific populations on performance, access to
facilities and value for cash. Many surveys report on the benefit of care across the various
environments of households, groups and hospitals, government and clinical health. It is
essential to understand the effect of nurses operating at macro-level in rural and distant
regions. This case study found that a healthcare professional had the position of "maxi nurse
not mini medic" within a nursing structure (Henry, 2016). These functions must be

5ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
acknowledged as an alternative to cost-effective and effective care. It is also essential to
avoid the immediate replacement of healthcare by medical professionals for nursing positions
including nurse professionals.
In addition to that it indicates that the Australian medical community has adopted
nurses unambiguously as a feasible instrument for increasing general practitioners' facilities.
One reason for this recognition can be asserted that there is currently no indication that the
jobs of clinicians will diminish the position of general professionals in the provision of main
care facilities (Jolly 2019). The medical sector, on the other hand, considers nurses a danger,
at least in part, to substitute general professionals. The New South Wales Department of
Health defines nurses as staff providing health care by collaborating with a comprehensive
knowledge and skill level of clinical decision-making expertise (Jolly 2019). The medical
community's continued involvement in the growth of practical healthcare in Australia is
essential to that approach. It is clearly probable that contentious discussions will occur in
connection with the scale of care practices, such as those on law enacted in the United
Kingdom, when physicians are crucial in the establishment of norms of schooling and
related rules (Jolly 2019).
However, everything is not alright regarding this matter. There are few challenges as
well for the implementation of this type of nursing practice. A coherent topic throughout the
literature is the obstacles to prescription practice that may result in clinician anger and
prospective deficits in the provision of patient care. In the UK for instance, studies have
proposed that the prescription of regulated medicines for pain leadership by the patient
prescriber is restricted, comparable to those in Canada (Fong, Buckley and Cashin 2015). In
Australia, studies show that Nursing practitioners who prescribe obstacles to the exercise of
drug subsidies have linked to regulatory and policy obstacles, such as access to
Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme. Some of the obstacles seem to have been resolved globally

6ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
with UK prescribers having been given complete access to the British National Form in 2006
and laws in Australia allowing Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme reimbursement of nursing
practitioner’s prescriptions (Fong, Buckley and Cashin 2015). By comparison, obstacles to
prescription in American literature were not obvious, likely reflecting the length of nursing
practitioner’s prescription in the United States of America. Further study on the
organisational and economic conditions or climates prescribed by nursing practitioners would
appear to be required throughout the nations assessed. Nursing practitioners are usually
practice in different situations and require system literacy for complicated processes to
provide care. Such study may improve the knowledge of the real prescriptive capability of
nursing practitioners as well as advise potential policy prescriptions of nursing practitioners
(Fong, Buckley and Cashin 2015).
Conclusion:
Remote and rural populations still have lower health results than many town
inhabitants. The health results of the nurses can be improved. The infants are well placed to
tackle the need for holistic care recognizing the cultural determinants of health because of
their schooling, their abilities and principles. Incorporating healthcare and illness avoidance
into groups enables staff to create healthier decisions and empower people and relatives
through the assistance and work with local populations. In groups, nurses can generate
understanding, abilities and trust in their health and assist build health resilience. The
function of the nurse as cultural promoter of health as well as supplier is of invaluable value
in the present environment of increased health stress associated with acute circumstances and
multi-morbidity. Care must be at the core of strategy and planning in order to attain
improvements in remote and rural health outcomes. The government should increase
consciousness of the health care possibilities and possibilities build political engagement and
set up a growth support mechanism. It is a tragic event that nurses get lost if they are unable

7ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
to operate fully, and the chance of joint engagement that they are not kept in employment is
lost. Many care workers are generally small, unknown to the broader globe and must be much
better known for their personal effect, capacity and ability.
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be stated that the nurse practitioner
should be allowed prescribing practice in rural area in Australia.

8ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
References:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018. Potentially preventable hospitalisations in
Australia by small geographic areas, Overview - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Available at:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/primary-health-care/mhc-potentially-preventable-
hospitalisations/contents/overview [Accessed 31 May 2019].
Caird, J., Rees, R., Kavanagh, J., Sutcliffe, K., Oliver, K., Dickson, K., Woodman, J.,
Barnett-Page, E. and Thomas, J., 2010. The socioeconomic value of nursing and midwifery: a
rapid systematic review of reviews. London: Institute of Education Social Science Research
Unit.
COAG Reform Council, 2012. Education 2011: Comparing Performance Across Australia:
Report to the Council of Australian Governments. COAG Reform Council.
Dunn, S.V., Cashin, A., Buckley, T. and Newman, C., 2010. Nurse practitioner prescribing
practice in Australia. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 22(3),
pp.150-155.
Fong, J., Buckley, T. and Cashin, A., 2015. Nurse practitioner prescribing: an international
perspective. Browse Journal, Nursing: Research and Reviews, 5, pp.99-08.
Fong, J., Buckley, T., Cashin, A. and Pont, L., 2017. Nurse practitioner prescribing in
Australia: A comprehensive literature review. Australian critical care, 30(5), pp.252-259.
Henry, H., 2016. Time to market nursing. Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great
Britain): 1987), 30(44), pp.27-27.

9ESSAY ON NURSING PRACTICE
Jolly, R. 2019. Practice nursing in Australia. Aph.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/RP0708/08rp10 [Accessed 31 May 2019].
Laurant, M., van der Biezen, M., Wijers, N., Watananirun, K., Kontopantelis, E. and van
Vught, A.J., 2018. Nurses as substitutes for doctors in primary care. Cochrane Database of
Systematic Reviews, (7).
Lavergne, M.R. and Kephart, G., 2012. Examining variations in health within rural
Canada. Rural & Remote Health, 12(1).
McKenna, L., 2019. Improving health outcomes in rural and remote Australia: Optimising the
contribution of nurses. Collegian.
Zhao, Y., You, J., Wright, J., Guthridge, S.L. and Lee, A.H., 2013. Health inequity in the
northern territory, Australia. International journal for equity in health, 12(1), p.79.