Bill would free up Oklahoma nurse practitioners from doctor supervision [View all]

OKLAHOMA CITY — A bill introduced this week would make it easier for some medical professionals to work more independently, which some people believe could help alleviate the state’s health-care shortage.

The legislation would allow nurse practitioners and other advanced practice registered nurses to work without a supervising doctor.

Toni Pratt-Reid, a nurse practitioner who is president-elect of an association that is pushing for the law, said there is a misunderstanding among patients that high-level nurses take every case back to a doctor for approval. She described the mandatory agreements as collaborative.

“There’s no oversight to our practice on anything other than prescriptive needs,” Pratt-Reid said. “There might not even be a physician that communicates with us for two years.”

Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/government/bill-would-free-up-oklahoma-nurse-practitioners-from-doctor-supervision/article_4cba9a13-9122-5139-9ad1-f3bc35973589.html