Critically analyse the trend towards incorporating nurse practitioners Essay

Critically analyse the trend towards incorporating nurse practitioners into healthcare systems has been evolving over the past several decades in Australia - Essay Example This evolution in advanced nursing practice in Australia and other countries is because of increasing demands on the health care system and changes in the delivery of health care which include the growing cost of acute health care; the increasing number of specializations in health care; the greater avoidance by medical practitioners of particular client groups such as people in rural and remote communities, those with chronic illness, and low socio-economic groups; and the extensive upgrade of nursing education and training. These factors fuel the development and extension of the scope of nursing practice and the consequent increase in the allocation of clinical discretion, responsibility and autonomy to nurse practitioners (Pearson & Peels, 2002). The value of nurse practitioners will be fully realized only when they also focus on advocating for changes to the social and economic conditions that are at the root of many of the medical conditions they will be required to manage. This paper proposes to analyze the development of the role of the nurse practitioner in Australia from a socio-political perspective. The nurse practitioner is defined as â€Å"a registered nurse with appropriate accreditation who practices within the professional role. The nurse practitioner has autonomy in the work setting and has freedom to make decisions consistent with his/ her scope of practice, and the freedom to act on those decisions† (NSW Health Department, 1998). By the turn of the century after several years of struggle and conflict with the medical profession to crystallize the importance of the nursing role in health care, legal recognition was proclaimed for nurse practitioners in New South Wales, Ausrtralia. This brought about legislation, authorization, acceptance and implementation of the advanced professional role and status of nurse practitioners (N.P.), practice privileges, and protection of the N.P. title in five states: New South Wales,