Gov. Jack Markell (D-Delaware) signed a bill Tuesday modernizing the title of Advanced Practice Nurse to Advanced Practice Registered Nurse.
Currently, advance practice nurses must operate under a collaborative agreement with a physician or a health service.
"It made it complicated sometimes, you can’t always run down the hall and get a signature. So it slowed up care. It slowed up access. Particularly in a rural area in the state," said State Senator Bethany Hall-Long, who sponsored the bill. The new law stipulates that the Advanced Nurse perform a certain number of hours of work under the collaborative agreement, and then can operate more independently.
Hall-Long says the new bill will expand access to healthcare. Investigating new models of care, she adds, is a priority in Dover right now.
"New models of care absolutely include these other levels of providers, who can see more patients, do this at a much more reduced care, while providing quality, safe care."
Governor Markell also signed a bill which will create a new Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Committee to assist the Board of Nursing in regulation of nursing practice.