CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The question of whether advance-practice registered nurses should be able to expand their scope of practice in West Virginia turned into a dueling doctors debate in the Senate Health Committee Thursday.
Doctor and former State Senator Dan Foster of Charleston testified in favor of SB 516.
“I understand my medical colleagues and their sincere beliefs that enacting this type of legislation would conceivably affect their quality of care of patients in this state,” Foster said. “I just respectfully disagree.”
But Senator Tom Takubo (R-Kanawha), who is also a medical doctor, questioned whether it is the right move because of the difference in the amount of training doctors and nurses receive.
“Eight years of intense medical training versus six months… the guy with eight years of intensive training is going to be far better suited, prepared, experienced than (the person with) six months,” Takubo said.
The committee passed the bill on to the Senate Finance Committee.
Advance-practice registered nurses have been pushing for years to expand their scope of responsibilities, including the power to write prescriptions for pain medication.
Currently, APRNs can have their own practices, but they must have collaborative relationships with medical doctors. This bill would let them strike out on their own.
The APRNs argue they could fill in some of the provider gaps that now exist in West Virginia, but opponents worry about empowering another 300-plus medical professionals to write prescriptions for pain medication.