Women's Health NP working in Primary care with Men?

[Tinabeanrn]

Hi, I am working in a primary care office (holistic family practice) and there is a Women's health NP working there as well part time. She was hired to do the gyn care for women. Cool..makes sense right? But now she is seeing follow up pts and seeing any and everybody (not kids). Granted the Doc we work for is excellent and gave her 6 weeks of orientation. But in my mind she shouldn't be seeing pts that are outside of her scope of practice. I asked her about it and she says that Women's health NPs work in Urology offices seeing women and MEN and she doesn't have a problem seeing primary care pts as she received additional on the job training. I am very puzzled by this.

I am a FNP so I feel I can work in just about any area. I have a class mate that is working in the OR with a Neurosurgeon helping to perform brain surgery...granted we did not learn that in school either, but he trained her for 6 months and there is no real scope of practice in my state. So is it okay for a Women's Health NP to work in primary care or with men if she/he has received additional training??

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Nope. You have to have the certification to back it up. For instance, I'm an adult health CNS. My boss wanted me to see kids. Boss says its ok. But, BON says go back to school as you have no education to back it up with.

[Tinabeanrn]

Right! That's my understanding as well. I think that ppl just like t to take advantage of situations.

[Psychcns]

I understand that it varies by state and some state BON's leave it up to the practitioner if they have enough training and supervision to expand their scope.

I also understand that most malpractice suits against APRN 's are those who were working outside their scope.

For myself, I tend toward a conservative interpretation of scope.