The full version of this post is on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health blog.
I read recently in The New York Times about Murlene Osburn, a cattle rancher and psychiatric nurse, who will finally be able to start seeing patients now that Nebraska has passed legislation enabling advanced practice nurses to practice without a doctor’s oversight.
Osburn earned her graduate degree to become a psychiatric nurse after becoming convinced of the need in her rural community, but she found it impossible to practice. That’s because a state law requiring advanced practice nurses to have a doctor’s approval before they performed tasks—tasks they were certified to do. The closest psychiatrist was seven hours away by car (thus the need for a psychiatric nurse), and he wanted to charge her $500 a month. She got discouraged and set aside her dream of helping her community.
I lived in Nebraska for seven years, and I know firsthand that many rural communities lack adequate health services. As a public health nurse supervisor responsible for the entire state, I regularly traveled to small, isolated communities. Some of these communities did not have a physician or dentist, let alone a psychiatric nurse. People are forced to drive long distances to attain care, and they often delay necessary medical treatment as a result—putting them at risk of becoming even sicker, with more complex medical conditions.
Read the rest of Hassmiller's post on the Culture of Health blog.
