News and Commentary
The Boston Herald reports that Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, is seeking to create a police certification process in his state. The article says that Massachusetts is one of six states that currently has no certification requirement for police officers despite having occupational licensing for more than 50 other professions.
Ryan Cooke reports for CBC News that a new app launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador Government that connects individuals needing urgent care with nurse practitioners is receiving backlash from the province’s medical association which contends that their are major concerns with this app being disconnected from family practices. However, John Haggie, the province’s Liberal health minister and a physician himself, refutes the medical association’s claims arguing that no group of healthcare providers has a monopoly on healthcare delivery.
A new article in Invision Magazine discusses a forthcoming ballot measure being proposed in Arkansas that would overturn a recent law enacted by the state legislature that expands scope of practice for optometrists. The ballot measure is being supported by Safe Surgery Arkansas, an ophthalmologists’ group.
Kelsey Bolar writes for the Independent Women’s Forum that states’ decisions to lift occupational licensing requirements for nurses has helped save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cole Lauterbach writes in The Center Square about a new law signed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, that requires occupational licensing boards in the state to have more civilian members to ensure that boards aren’t adding requirements that only benefit their profession at the expense of consumers.
A press release from the office of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, asserts that the state legislature’s recent resolution ending the governor’s disaster declaration is void and outlines that if the declaration was to be ended that burdensome occupational regulations would be reinstated, harming the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eugene Volokh writes in a column The Volokh Conspiracy about a recent decision from the U.S. Appeals Court for the Fourth Circuit that found that Charleston, South Carolina’s attempt to require occupational licensing for tour guides to be in violation of the First Amendment.
The Journal of Clinical Pathways published an interview with Dr. Sandra Leal, president-elect of the American Pharmacists Association, in which they examined the changing role of pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for pharmacists to gain prescriber status.
New Research
A new article published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing explores current Australian nurse practitioners’ models of prescribing used and medicines prescribed within their scopes of practice. It finds that NPs appear to engage in several modes of prescribing as relevant to their context of practice with most NPs prescribing using all models of prescribing at different times.
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