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Professional Policies And Practice Issues Essay

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Professional Policies and Practice Issues
Legal Regulations and Mandates that Guide Scope of Practice in California In the practice of nursing there are governing bodies that set policies that healthcare professionals have to follow. The legal mandates that regulate nurse practitioners are there for a multitude of reasons, namely, to ensure that proper licensing is acquired, ensure that nurses are practicing at their training and education level, to avoid legal issues, and to include Nurse practitioners as primary care providers among other things (Buppert, 2014). The state laws that govern nurse practitioners in their respective states have the most authority over their practice, however, private organizations and government agencies may also have policies that influence the scope of practice for nurse practitioners, and some professional nurse organizations and societies have taken on other components that are part of the scope of practice for nurse practitioners. This paper discusses the regulating bodies at the state and federal level that guide nurse practitioners, the impact of the Nurse Practice Act on NP scope of practice, and the legal mandates that allow nurse practitioners to practice in California. In California, the regulations that govern the scope of practice of nurse practitioners is the Business and Professional Code which is approved by the California Board of Nursing. The Business and Professional Code was developed because the definition of nurse

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