Practice acts (ie, what we are allowed to do legally) for Nurse Practitioners vary across the country. Many now have practice acts that allows Nurse Practitioners to practice autonomously, which is a good thing as NPs should be able to practice to the extent of the educations preparation and experience. Even the Institute of Medicine’s report attests to that.

However, Nurse Practitioners in Florida have been faced with lots of challenges. One of them has to do with prescriptive rights.

The following interview was done on a local Florida station interviewing Jennifer Scott, NP. Take a listen to what she has to say. Feel free to spread the word.

You can learn more about Jennifer and what’s going on in Florida at her blog www.ARNP.blogspot.com.

By the way, this years annual conference for the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the largest NP conference in the country is set to unleash thousands of NPs in Florida. The possibilities can be endless!

Professional Online Conduct

In today’s digital world, whether we want to or not, and even if we know it or not, we are online. It becomes imperative that clinicians control what is said about them and they know how to conduct themselves in an increasingly public online forum. In this article, I want to talk about what’s happening and in a future article; I’ll discuss ways in which you can have more control of your own online identity and maintain the best practices for professional online conduct.

In the March 21, 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a research letter by Dr. Greysen, et al, discussed findings of a small study they conducted in partnership with the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) looking at physician (MD/DO) conduct online. They found several violations which resulted in disciplinary actions by state medical boards including license restrictions, monetary fines, suspension and revocation of licenses to name a few.

Violations in the above study pointed to inappropriate patient communication online; online misrepresentation of credentials; use of the internet for inappropriate practice; failure to reveal conflicts of interest online; derogatory patient remarks; violations of patient confidentiality and depiction of intoxication and discriminatory language or practices.

Boards of medicine were alerted to these problems in a variety of ways, most commonly by patients and their families.

My question is: How well would we as Advanced Practice Clinicians (APNs and Pas) do in such a study? While we don’t have such a study (yet), based on what I’ve seen and what my colleagues tell me they’ve seen, I’m not sure we are doing much better.

I encourage you to take a look at your online behaviors in social media, blogging and video. Here are some suggestions that may help you assess your own risk for less than professional activity:

1. Assume that everything you do – especially in social media – is public and can be seen by patients, judges, the board of nursing and  your grandmother.

2. Ask yourself if you want any of these people to see that photo you posted, or should be hearing your discussion of a case or even a staff issue?

3. Think it through at least 3 times (or more) before you post anything or respond to someone’s post.

4. Never post in anger or frustration until you’ve thought it through (see #3) or at least counted to 25 (forget 10…at least 25).

5. And it’s worth repeating…assume everything online is public and can be found.

This is a topic that is worthy of a long discussion. Please share your thoughts below and how you might re-look at your participation in the online world and maintaining professional online conduct.

© 2012 Barbara C. Phillips, NP

Not many Nurse Practitioners can say they have been in business as long as Karen Zink, CNP, MS.  In 1989, she founded the Southwest Women’s Health Associates in Durango, CO. Karen’s dream was to offer quality primary care to women, provided by women, in a caring and comfortable environment, where listening and time were priorities.

Twenty years later, Karen and her team are still committed to the fundamentals of quality care. Due to Karen’s tireless work to improve health care and health care delivery in her community and beyond, the Durango Chamber of Commerce nominated Karen for Citizen of the Year in 2009.

Speaking with Karen is refreshing – from how she gives nurtures her staff to “own” the practice, to her down to earth business sense and desire to get NPs involved in their local and national communities and organizations. This interview will inspire you to take action – whatever that looks like for you.

Join us Sunday November 11th @ 5pm Pacific for this not-to-be-missed NP Interview.  To join us for this no-cost webinar, just register at  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/468743992

I was thrilled to participate in an interview with host Mimi Secor, MS, MEd, FNP, FAANP @ ReachMD XM Radio.  Click over, log on and listen to the interview.

Millions of people worldwide have Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. What do you need to know about today’s Internet-savvy e-Patient, who uses online tools to share information with their medical providers, search for medical information, and manage and cope with their medical conditions. Nurse practitioner Barbara Phillips, founder and CEO of NP Choice, LLC, joins host Mimi Secor to discuss how to connect effectively connect with your patients, and how to set up online policies and online identities.

Barbara C Phillips, NP on ReachMD

One of the challenges for any practice is collecting payments from payers, including our patients. However, most practices do not utilize all the options available to them.

On Sunday June 13th, we will be talking with Nurse Practitioner Carolyn Zaumeyer. She has combined her expertise in Independent Practice and Patient Payment Options – which will be the topic of our discussion.  Carolyn’s goal is to help you along the way to success in your practice which means, showing you ways to keep more of your hard earned money.

She has authored two books on Independent Practice for Nurse Practitioners. She has also written over 27 publications and has given over 73 presentations at national and international conferences.  Zaumeyer is a pioneer in the field, establishing and operating her own Women’s Health Watch, in Ft. Lauderdale in the early 90′s.

You are invited to join us on Sunday June 13, 2010 @ 5pm Pacific, to evesdrop on our conversation, ask your own questions, and expand your knowledge about the business of practice.

If you have not been receiving our notices for these interviews, sign up at www.NPInterviews.com to receive your special link to this interview.

My first job as a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner was in a long term care facility, otherwise known as a nursing home. Back then, it was not as an independent provider, but as an employee. In those days, there were few NPs working independently.

Fast forward to 2003 when Elizabeth Smith, NP began her business contracting to long term care facilities. She has expanded it from there to create a wonderful business for herself and providing much needed services to her patients, their families and the faclities that serve them.

On Sunday April 11th at 5pm Pacific (check www.time.gov for your time zone), you are invited our conversation with Elizabeth and explore the possibility to doing this for yourself.  If you already receive notifications for these interviews, just check your email. If you’d like to get signed up, do it today at NP Interviews.  I’ll look for you on the call!

Join us on Sunday, February 21, as we interview Louann Hart DNP, ARNP, FNP-BC, NP-C. Clinician, educator, and researcher, Dr. Hart’s focus for the past six years has been the assessment and management of chronic pain. As such, in November of 2007, Louann founded Partners in Healthcare, PLC, a referral based only practice with a primary focus on the medical management of chronic pain.

You will not want to miss the pearls Louann will share with us in how to protect yourself and your patients. If you prescribe scheduled medications at all, you will not want to miss this interview.

If you are on our notification list, you’ll be receiving you link to the teleseminar. If not, you can sign up to be notified about this and future interviews @ www.NPInterviews.

What do you do when you are suddenly without a job, and have no prospects of any acceptable employment? And you need to make it happen within weeks? Oh yes, and you are trying to do this post hurricane?

You do as Nike® says…”Just Do It”! And that is exactly what our next guest on NP Interviews did. Learn how this Nurse Practitioner, who was not thinking about being an entrepreneur, just picked up the pieces and ran with it, developing a very successful practice.

Join us Jan 10, 2010 for the first NP Interview of the year when we talk with KC Arnold, ANP . You’ll be inspired and will be sure to come away wth some ideas for your own practice.

All Nurse Practitioner Interview begin at 5pm Pacific/8PM Eastern. If you have not already signed up to get your special link to this call, you can do so at www.NPInterviews.com.

Meet our next NP entrepreneurs. Educators, authors, speakser, clinicians and entrepreneurs.

Carolyn Strimike, RN, MSN, APN-C  and Margie Latrella, RN, MSN, APN-C  are board certified nurse practitioners specializing in health and wellness promotion and disease prevention. They have over 40 years of nursing experience between them.  They are dedicated to addressing the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual components that promote good health.

In July 2007, they established Heartstrong, LLC a healthcare education and consulting business.  They have co-authored Take Charge: A Woman’s Guide to a Healthier Heart and Take Charge: A Man’s Roadmap to a Healthy Heart.

They have lectured extensively to healthcare professionals, community groups and corporations about healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.

This is the final interview for 2009! Please join us on Sunday, December 6, 2009, at 5pm Pacific/ 8pm Eastern. If you are not currently receiving notices to these interviews, you may sign up for notification @ www.NPInterviews.com

Join me as we speak with Susan Scanland, MSN, CRNP.  She is the CEO and founder of Dementia Connection LLC™ (formerly known as GeriScan) provides geriatric education to health care providers and health consumers.

She has provided over 500 geriatric presentations in 40 states and is a published author. If you are at all interested in, or work with geriatric clients, you have likely come across her monthly newsletter which goes out to nearly 10,000 health care providers.

Join us on Sunday November 15th at 5pm Pacific to as we talk with Susan about her 10 years in business, how she has seen the field evolve and what she sees as the future for NPs in Business.

If you are not already on our notification list, be sure and sign up at NP Interviews so you can get your own personalized link to this interview. Not sure of your time zone? Visit www.Time.gov.