May 8, 2016 3 min read

This week is National Nurses Week. As we take time to show our appreciation to nurses for all they do to keep us healthy and protect us when we are sick, there is no better time to grant nurse practitioners in Pennsylvania full practice authority, and, in doing so, help individuals, families, and communities to reach their highest levels of health by improving their access to primary health care across the state.

There is overwhelming evidence that full scope of practice for nurse practitioners would improve health in Pennsylvania. A study by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and Duke University School of Nursing concluded that granting Pennsylvania’s nurse practitioners full practice authority would benefit Pennsylvanians by increasing access to comparable or better health care at lower costs and would save Pennsylvanians at least $6.4 billion within the next 10 years.

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who have earned a master’s or doctoral degree and who have advanced clinical expertise. The majority of us receive some of our health care from nurse practitioners. They are in doctors’ offices and in easy-access clinics in your community pharmacy. They are available outside of standard work hours when care is often needed and without you having to miss work or school. Studies have consistently demonstrated that nurse practitioners deliver high quality, patient-centered care and chronic illness management.

Pennsylvania is a national leader in the education of nurse practitioners. Yet, because of our state’s regulations restricting their practices in ways that interfere with good care, many of the nurse practitioners educated in our state leave to practice in other states to the detriment of residents of Pennsylvania. Of recent graduates from the nine schools of nursing in the Greater Philadelphia region, 20 percent left the state because they could not practice to the full extent of their license.

There could be no better way for Pennsylvanians to honor the work and commitment of nurses this week than to join the 21 other states across the country that have improved health in their communities by allowing full practice authority for nurse practitioners.

Jaqueline Dunbar-Jacob

Pittsburgh

Antonia M. Villarruel

Philadelphia

Paula Milone-Nuzzo

State College

Dunbar-Jacob is the dean of University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Villarruel is the dean of University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and Milone-Nuzzo is dean of the Penn State College of Nursing.