Role of the Nurse Practitioner
Licensure and Certification Requirements
For this assignment, you will research state (Washington DC) specific and national
licensing and credentialing mechanisms specific to nurse practitioners. All of the links you
will need have been provided under resources below. Research each mechanism and
provide a description of the process in the right hand column next to the appropriate
mechanism.
Unit 1 Assignment
Role of the Nurse Practitioner
Licensure and Certification Requirements
Description of Licensure/Credentialing
Mechanism and Process
. A nurse practitioner in order to get licensure must
firstget education from a nationally education
standard institution to show competencies for
programs to help them in their role. NPs must also
attend to the education process, of whichhas to
graduate with master’s degree or postgraduate
certificate that are accredited by the
WashingtonDepartment of Education and/or The
Council of Higher Education Accreditation. The
third process is passing professional nursing
certification program that is psychometrically
sound, legally defensible, and which meets the
overall nationally recognizedaccreditationstandards
for certification programs.
Washington DC’s State Board of Nursing
requirements for NP Licensure are that all NPs are
supposed to hold state licenses as RNs. In addition,
NPs should have masters’ degrees. Moreover, NPs
are required to get national certification. In
Washington DC, a NP should have a completion of
a formal advanced nursing education meeting the
Washington Administrative CODE 246-839-305
(Institute of Medicine (U.S.) & Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, 2011).The other description is
that, for licensure, there should a documentation of
initial certification credential granted by the national
certifying body recognized by the commission,
approved ARNP specialty whose certification
program is approved by the commission and
subsequently maintain currency and competency as
defined by a certifying body.
Unit 1 Assignment
Role of the Nurse Practitioner
Licensure and Certification Requirements
Special state requirements for
prescriptive authority
Prescriptive authority in Washington DC requires
APRN to have an initial thirty hours of contact of
education in pharmacootherapeutics within the
applicant’s SOP obtained within the two years
period immediately prior to the application. An
advanced pharmacology course taken as a part of
the graduation program meets the requirement if
application is made within the two years of
graduation (Lentz, 2013). The other requirement is
that there should be renewal of Rx authority every
two years that requires 15 hours of
pharmacotherapeutic education within the area of
practice. ARPNs are legally authorized to request,
receive, and dispense pharmaceuticals samples.
Prescriptionsare labeled within the ARPNs name.
State Board of Nursing
variations between CNS and
NP scope of practice (e.g.
diagnosing, prescribing
therapeutic treatments, etc.
NPs in Washington undergo the first process of
completing a preceptorship that is at least one year
long to be allowed to function as a NP.The process
of becoming CNS in Washington DC is by first
completing at least 3 credit hours or 30m contacts of
pharmacology and clinical management of drug
therapy or pharmacotherapeutics within 5 years of
applying for APRN certification. This course must
relate accordingly with the scope of practice. CNS
must also complete a preceptorship that is at least
one year long. This is because, In Washington DC,
NPs’ scope of practice includes family care,
diagnosis, psychiatric care, pediatric care,
pharmacology primary health care, and adult care.
On the other hand, CNS in Washington have a
scope of practice that comprises the management of
health and psychiatric problems, therapeutic
methods band techniques, and involvement in
innovation in the specialty area(Houck & Siegel,
(2010).
Unit 1 Assignment
Role of the Nurse Practitioner
Licensure and Certification Requirements
Process for obtaining DEA
number for prescriptive
authority
General authority in Washington DC is to prescribe
evidence of prescriptive authority by inclusion on
the prescription of the prescriber’s title and state-
issued Rx#. For an APRN to obtain DEA number in
Washington DC, he or she must first fill an online
DEA form that allows payment using VISA and
MasterCard. Thisis mainly registration of an APRN.
The second process is that the applicant is asked
information about schedules of drugs. The third
process is that the applicant is asked to mark the
drugs schedules (Schedule III narcotic, Schedule III
Nin Narcotic, Schedule IV and Schedule V).
Thefourth process is that the applicant to have the
Washington DC’s licensenumber(In Stanhope & In
Lancaster, 2014).
Process for obtaining an NPI
number
The applicant APRN in Washington DC submit a
paper to Health and Human Services, aNational
Provider Services with data on name, mailing
address, one practice address, licensenumber, and
gender. The National provider Services will check
the information for consistency as well as
standardizing the addresses. It also validates social
security numbers and validates dates of birth. Upon
passing this process, the applicant will receive
permanent identifiers(Maurer & Smith, 2013).
ANCC certification title and
description of requirements
and process for acquiring
certification
One of the requirements to obtain ANCC
certification is that APRNs should first hold an
active RN in Washington DC. An APRN should
hold a master’s degree, postgraduate or doctoral
degree from a practitioner program accredited by
the Commission Nursing Education (CCNE), or
Accreditation Commission for education in Nursing
(ACEN). The program must not limit 500 faculty-
supervised clinical hours.
APRN may apply for this computer-based test year
round and test during a 90-day window at a time
and location convenient to him or her. The exam
allows 4 hours to answer 200 questions (175 scored
Unit 1 Assignment
Role of the Nurse Practitioner
Licensure and Certification Requirements
plus 25 pretest questions that are not scored(Rapini,
2012)
Professional Liability
Insurance (Insurance
provider, description of policy
and annual cost to NP)
.
In order for an APRN to obtain professional liability
insurance, he or she must first become an APRN by
profession. He or she must have a license based on
Washington DC. On top of that, APRN will have to
present his or her NPI and DEA numbers. In
emphasis, the insurance cover will depend on the
scope of practice of the APRN.The mechanism can
be that the NP can obtain professional liability
insurance for the nurse practitioner through the
employing clinic, personally. Costs for professional
liability insurance policies differ depending on the
NPs scope of practice, the type of coverage, and the
policy limits. Annual premium costs range from
$600 to over $5,000 depending on the location of
the practitioner, policy limits, and the NPs scope of
practice(In Cherry& In Jacob, 2014).
References
Houck, M. M., & Siegel, J. A. (2010). Fundamentals of Forensic Science.Burlington: Elsevier
Science.
Institute of Medicine (U.S.).,& Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2011). The future of
nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, D.C: National Academies
Press.
Unit 1 Assignment
Role of the Nurse Practitioner
Licensure and Certification Requirements
In Cherry, B., & In Jacob, S. R. (2014). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management.
In Stanhope, M., & In Lancaster, J. (2014). Public health nursing: Population-centered health
care in the community.
Lentz, Sydney. (2013). Advanced Practice Nursing: Setting a New Paradigm for Care in the 21st
Century. Authorhouse.
Maurer, F. A., & Smith, C. M. (2013). Community/public health nursing practice: Health for
families and populations.St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier/Saunders.
Rapini, R. P. (2012). Practical dermatopathology.Edinburgh: Elsevier/Saunders.