Restraint of Trade
Introduction
Restraints of trades are actions that interfere with free and healthy competition in business as well as commercial transaction. Such restraints restrict production and affect prices as well as market control. Restraint of trade affects the NP practices interfering with the provision of quality healthcare and affordable services by NP. Importantly, it affects the NP as they try to expand as well as work within their full practice scope. Restraints of trade against the NP can be categorized into two classes. For starters, there are attempts to limit the competition in addition to the quality of care provided by NP (Miller, 2010). NPs have the capability of providing equal and better care as compared to physicians and, therefore, restraint of trade is based on false assumptions. Second, most healthcare organization believes that by employing more physicians, the revenue generated increases because they are better than NP.
The arguments against and for removing the scope of practice barriers are complex and are deeply rooted in professional politics. Most physician organization advocates that the level of training between NP and physicians is different. Physicians have more knowledge and are determined to provide quality care to the patients compared to NP. Therefore, they argue that the scope of NP should be limited. Some healthcare organizations argue that the scope of practice barriers should be removed to ensure the effective and efficient provision of quality and affordable care to the patients. Notably, others argue that the role of NP in primary care should be enlarged (Fairman, 2012). The issue has continued to be debated although the solution lies in establishing the uniform practice scope for physicians and NP. In America, almost a half of the country has allowed NP to practice independently. In other areas, the NP practices are significantly limited (AANP.org, 2016).
Conclusion
Some of the organization seeks the practice of NP regulated. Importantly, it depends on the qualification of the individual, skills, and experience. Protocols and process need to be put in place to ensure that NP who are qualified and more experienced are allowed to practice as independent practitioners. The organizations should focus on ensuring the provision of quality medical and healthcare services to the patients in an effective and efficient manner.
References
American Association for Nurse Practitioners (2016). State practice environment. Retrieved from https://www.aanp.org/legislation-regulation/state-legislation/state-practice-environment
Fairman, J. (2012). The future of nursing. Mdadvisor: A Journal For The New Jersey Medical Community, 5(4), 20-25. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.chamberlain.edu:8080/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=a6b517f4-466d-4c0c-9f1f-7b0d3581f3f1%40sessionmgr4008&hid=4105
Miller, K., (2010). Restraint of trade: patient advocacy, or simple turf guarding? The Journal of Nurse Practitioners, 6(9), p.700-702. doi: 10.1016/j.nurpra.2010.07.002
