will we make it out of the dark ages this year?

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This may finally be our year as Georgia nurses. A bill allowing prescriptive authority for nurses - Senate bill 603 - overwhelmingly passed the Georgia Senate yesterday and now has to go to the house for amendment/voting.

The house had previously voted in their own bill - HB 935 - but that bill was then surpassed by the Senate Bill. Lobbying efforts of the Georgia Nurses Association now are focusing on the Senate Bill.

This is the closest we have ever come. Georgia is currently the only state in the Union without any type of prescriptive authority for APRN's. Passage of this important legislation will not only increase the "stock value" of APRNs but will also improve access to care for hundreds of thousands of underserved Georgians in rural and urban areas.

Please cross a finger and say a prayer for us!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Prayers and good thoughts headed your way!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.

It will be nice but I am wary of the last minute "riders" they put on the bill such as requiring a criminal background check and making it a rule that an NP cannot hire a physician. Also check out the one about how NPs who work in general business establishments may not prescribe, that's a swipe at the "Minute Clinics". I guess those guys didn't have enough money to lobby against that, I guess they will be prepared to work on that on the next session.

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yes, Sharon, I too am very wary of the riders...but this is the farthest we have ever gotten - after years of not even making it out of committee(s) I consider it a victory albeit a small one.

I feel pretty confident that if not this year we will soon get it. There was a nice piece in the Op-ed section of the AJC the other day in support of us. I wish I had saved it.

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