Week 1: Barriers to Practice Discussion 53 Read the assigned Hain & Fleck article, and discuss the following:  What are the barriers to APN practice identified in the article? Describe these barriers in your own words.  What are your impression of the barriers to APN Practice? (Are you surprised by these barriers? Is this new information to you? Have you ever been involved at the legislative level in nursing? Do these barriers concern you or motivate you toward becoming an APN?)  Do these barriers represent Restraint of Trade? Why, or why not?  Your thoughts on how nurses can influence these barriers. Class, Advanced practice nursing has become a rapidly growing nursing specialty. These nurses are seen in hospitals, nursing homes, home health care agencies and community health care centers. Advanced practice nurses also practice in other outpatient settings like doctor’s office. These nurses are registered nurses who have received additional education in the following levels, masters, post masters and doctoral (Mannella & Heering 2017). They practice according to their specialized training and work hand in hand with other professionals in the health care industries. Although advanced practice nursing is an industry that has been constantly growing, it is also experiencing barriers to practice. These barriers prevent the advanced practice nurse from practicing to the full extent. Although nurse practitioners (NP) are pare part of the team that provides health care to the population, they have some restrictions that is makes it difficult for them to become independent. Some of these barriers are:

1. State regulations: in some states Np’s are not allowed to practice to the full extent of their education, instead, there are restrictions placed on their practice and licensure (Hain and Laureen, 2014). These restrictions make it difficult for nurse practitioners to carry out independent care to the millions of people who do not have access to health care. 2. Another issue that creates barrier to nurse practitioners are physician related issues, this is because, many physicians do not believe that nurse practitioner are competent enough to carry out a quality patient care because of their education (Hain & Laureen, 2014).. These