MAT program

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I am a acute care nurse practitioner who has been offered a job to join a program that helps people with drug addiction (opioids). It is an outpatient clinic that has several physicians and NP who are waivered to treat opioid addiction with Buprenorphine and naltrexone. Would a acute care nurse practitioner be out of her scope of practice to work in the clinic?

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absolutely within your scope of practice! I have worked with the drug, patients in SNF's are resistant to taking it, they have preferred the opiods.

Good luck!

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15 hours ago, glogirl said:

I am a acute care nurse practitioner who has been offered a job to join a program that helps people with drug addiction (opioids). It is an outpatient clinic that has several physicians and NP who are waivered to treat opioid addiction with Buprenorphine and naltrexone. Would a acute care nurse practitioner be out of her scope of practice to work in the clinic?

Debatable on scope of practice. ACNP should be working in acute settings which long term out patient drug rehab is not. PMHNP may be the technical better fit or an np trained in long term management of chronic illness. Especially because many of those addiction cases have a range of other chronic conditions you may be holding the bag on.

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I will not be working in a long term facility or a rehab facility. It is an outpatent clinic. But it is connected with outpatient behavioral health because of the psychotherapy and counseling requirement. I would not be involved in any psych services except referring patients to them. The program is called MAT (medicated assist treatment). For opioid addiction.] That's for your quick response.

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1 minute ago, glogirl said:

I will not be working in a long term facility or a rehab facility. It is an outpatent clinic. But it is connected with outpatient behavioral health because of the psychotherapy and counseling requirement. I would not be involved in any psych services except referring patients to them. The program is called MAT (medicated assist treatment). For opioid addiction.] That's for your quick response.

You asked if as an acnp is out of their scope in an out patient drug treatment practice. I supplied reasons why you might be depending on the state and local rules. Buprenorphine and other long term therapies aren't prescribed in a bubble and there are real considerations regarding other chronic illnesses this population is at high risks for that ACNP isn't exactly a good fit if going by consensus model thoughts. A better fit imo would be either agpcnp or PMHNP.

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Medical Intensive Care.

I have to agree with @djmatte, PMHNP would be a better fit for this patient population as it doesn't quite line up w/ the consensus model for AGACNPs.

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I wouldn't recommend an ACNP working in this environment. This sounds like it's in the PMHNP wheel house.

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if you all recall, this person was OFFERED the job. Why do you think that you need special certification to detox outpatients? It is not like the NP is a peds specialist going to work with adults in detox.

Maybe you could reach out to the NP already in the practice and get more insight?

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2 hours ago, JMAJ said:

if you all recall, this person was OFFERED the job. Why do you think that you need special certification to detox outpatients? It is not like the NP is a peds specialist going to work with adults in detox.

Maybe you could reach out to the NP already in the practice and get more insight?

People offer positions all the time because to many employers an np is an np is an np. But there are real liabilities to consider with how you are trained to the job you plan to do. It wouldn't take a lawyer long to look at the setting an acnp is educated for and simply ask what makes them qualified in out patient. The op came here and asked about scope of practice concerns and we just gave a litany of thoughts on the subject. The op will certainly need special certification for the drugs they will be prescribing. But the question is about scope and if the state is a consensus model state, then it is out of the OPs scope.

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Medical Intensive Care.
6 hours ago, JMAJ said:

if you all recall, this person was OFFERED the job. Why do you think that you need special certification to detox outpatients? It is not like the NP is a peds specialist going to work with adults in detox.

Maybe you could reach out to the NP already in the practice and get more insight?

If anyone is going to prescribe methadone or buprenorphine for opioid addiction, then they will need a waiver from the DEA. AFAIK, addiction medicine isn't part of the AGACNP curriculum but is for PMHNPs. It is important for us an NPs to know our scope of practice and not rely on employers because as @djmatte mentioned, many think an NP is an NP is an NP.

SECTION VI – OPIOID (NARCOTIC) ADDICTION TREATMENT PROGRAMS

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ty

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