When supervisory physicians can train nurse practitioners

Q: If physician assistants can be trained based on the privileges of their supervisory physician, is this true for nurse practitioners too?

Carol Cairns, CPMSM, CPCS: Yes, it is. But it depends on the state law and how tight the state licenses its Nurse Practitioners (NP) toward their training area. Let’s say, for example, you are in Texas and you are trained as an NP in pediatrics or neonates. If the neonatologist wants to train you to do circumcisions, then that would be very appropriate. The organization should have a policy regarding whether this type of training is allowed, and if so, how the training would be accomplished. The organization would and then follow that policy. If, however, you are in Texas and a geriatric NP wanted to care for neonatal patients, that is a crossover in specialty areas, and in Texas that wouldn’t be allowed by licensure. That restriction is a very uncommon requirement of states, but it has become more of a focus. Basically in most states, a physician could train the NP into the various specialty areas that they practice in, and that would encompass the procedural privileges that they have as well.

Source: News & Analysis