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. 2022 Jan 20;6(1):27-31.
doi: 10.1089/heq.2021.0113. eCollection 2022.

Mapping Nurse Practitioners' Scope of Practice Laws: A Resource for Evaluating Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Prescriptions

Sheila Salvant Valentine  1 , Neal Carnes  1 , Joseph Caldwell  1 , Deborah Gelaude  1 , Raekiela Taylor  1
Affiliations

Mapping Nurse Practitioners' Scope of Practice Laws: A Resource for Evaluating Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Prescriptions

Sheila Salvant Valentine et al. Health Equity. .

Abstract

Context: Reducing the number of new HIV infections will require addressing barriers to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) access and uptake. Nurse practitioners (NPs) may help increase PrEP access and uptake. State scope of practice laws determines NPs' ability to work independently and their authority to prescribe PrEP, a legend nonscheduled medication. Methods: This analysis applied legal epidemiology methods to analyze the laws of the 50 states and the District of Columbia that govern NPs' scope of practice as they may apply to prescribing legend nonscheduled medications. These laws were extracted from Westlaw Next between April and June 2019. Results: As of June 8, 2019, 17 states had laws that allowed NPs to both practice independently and prescribe legend nonscheduled drugs without restriction. Conclusion: The role that state scope of practice laws plays in potentially limiting NPs' ability to prescribe PrEP should be considered. Increasing PrEP access and uptake is essential in reaching national HIV prevention goals. This analysis can inform further studies and polices on barriers to PrEP access and uptake.

Keywords: HIV; PrEP; nurse practitioners; scope of practice.

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Conflict of interest statement

The submission for publication of this article has been approved by all authors and cleared by the institution where the study was conducted. There are no conflicts of interest to declare. The material has not been published nor is being considered for publication elsewhere.

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Map of nurse practitioner scope of practice and prescribing authority in 2019.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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