ARNPs United of Washington State
10024 SE 240th Street, Suite 102, Kent, WA 98031
 Phone: 253.480.1035   Fax: 253.852.7725
au@auws.org

Success! Removal of 72 hour Limitation on Dispensing Controlled Substances by ARNPs


"This bill repeals the provision limiting ARNPs from dispensing more than 72 hours of controlled substances."
Governor Christine Gregoire, March 25, 2008.

Mission Statement

ARNPs United of Washington State is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting ARNP practice by coordinating legislative, educational, and networking activities of Nurse Practitioners throughout Washington State.

Louise Kaplan, PhD, MN, ARNP to be Inducted into the WSNA Hall of Fame

The Washington State Nurses Association’s (WSNA) recently announced that Louise Kaplan, PhD, MN, ARNP will receive the WSNA’s highest recognition honor, induction into the WSNA Hall of Fame, at an event to be held on March 18, 2010. Louise will receive the honor for her many significant contributions to advancing autonomous advanced nursing practice as well as her many other significant achievements benefiting the entire nursing profession.

WSNA established the biennial WSNA Hall of Fame awards in 1996 to recognize outstanding registered nurses in Washington state, living or deceased, who have made significant lifetime accomplishments to the nursing profession and WSNA. To be honored with this award, inductees must have demonstrated excellence in the areas of patient care, leadership, education, public service, nurse advocacy, heroism, patient advocacy, or clinical practice, and for achievements that have affected the health and/or social history of Washington state and that have added value to nursing beyond the inductee’s lifetime.

Louise will be recognized for her many leadership roles in WSNA, including president of her local district, WSNA vice president, board member, Chair of the WSNA-PAC, a two year term as WSNA president and nearly a decade as a member of the Legislative and Health Policy Council. Louise has been an invaluable resource using both her practice and her policy expertise to further WSNA’s legislative agendas and in support of the professionÕs priority legislation. Her contributions include analyzing bills, testifying on behalf of WSNA, serving as the WSNA liaison to the stateÕs Advanced Practice Coalition, and serving as WSNA’s representative to select state advisory committees. Several of LouiseÕs contributions stand out as having a major life-long impact on professional nursing and WSNA. One example is that Louise was responsible for starting Nurse Legislative Day in the early 1980s. This statewide event has grown from 150 participants to more than 700 each year. Louise and her research colleague, Marie-Annette Brown, have spent the last eight years conducting important research on WashingtonÕs Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs) with a special focus on prescribing controlled substances. In 2005, Louise testified on a bill on behalf of ARNPs by using their research to support elimination of a restrictive requirement for joint practice agreement with a physician to prescribe most federally controlled drugs. Thanks to her research and excellent testimony, the bill successfully passed the Legislature, providing ARNPs with fully autonomous practice. This intersection between research, service and practice exemplifies the ideal way in which nursing research can make a difference to the profession.

The WSNA Hall of Fame Awards Reception will be held in Seattle on March 18, 2010 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at SaltyÕs on Alki, 1936 Harbor Ave. SW, Seattle WA. Others to be honored along with Louise are: Mary Bartholet, MS, RN; Anna Mae Erickson, RN; Verna Hill, MN, RN; Margaret Ouchi, MN, RN and Thelma Peges, MN, RN. The event will include a sit-down dinner and cash bar. Registration forms are available in the Winter issue of the Washington Nurse or by calling WSNA at 206.575.7979 or from the WSNA website.

AUWS Officers

In January the ARNPs United of Washington State Board of Directors announced their officers for 2010.

Officers:

Staff:

NPHF Research Award

The Nurse Practitioner Healthcare Foundation (NPHF) and ARNPs United are proud to announce the NPHF/ARNPs United Primary Care Outcomes Research Award available now on the NPHF website: www.nphealthcarefoundation.org. This award is for a study of patient-related outcomes or effectiveness of nurse practitioner/nurse midwife provided primary care. The recipient must be a Washington State nurse practitioner or nurse midwifery graduate student or practicing nurse practitioner or nurse midwife. The award recipient will receive an initial award of $1,000. Upon completion of the project, an additional $500 will be awarded for dissemination of the study findings. The project must be completed within 2 years of the date of the award.

L&I Changes for Psychiatric ARNP Rules

The Department of Labor & Industries has adopted changes to the Washington Administrative Code. The amended WACs will do the following:

The new rule was effective July 31, 2009. We are encouraging psychiatric ARNPs to submit applications now to become workers’ compensation providers so you can start treating injured workers on July 31, 2009. You can do this electronically by going to www.lni.wa.gov and clicking on “managing claims for injured workers” and then “becoming an L&I provider.”

Seattle Magazine and Section for Consumers

We have added a consumer page to the AUWS web site. Please share this with others. Seattle Magazine published their annual “Top Doctors” issue in July. It includes an article on Nurse Practitioners as well as an informational ad about ARNPs.

Characteristics of ARNPs in Washington State: Results of a 2008 Survey

In 2008, Washington State surveyed all of the licensed Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs) in the state to obtain basic demographic, education, and practice information. This report presents findings from analyses of the survey that provide estimates of the number of ARNPs in active practice, their specialties, practice characteristics, educational background, and plans for retirement.

This report describes ARNPs in Washington using the 2008 survey responses and state licensing records. Most of the descriptive statistics reflect ARNPs who live and practice in-state, and rural-urban analyses provided.

Policy Brief at: http://depts.washington.edu/uwrhrc/uploads/FR124_Skillman_PB.pdf

Report of the survey at: http://depts.washington.edu/uwrhrc/uploads/FR124_Skillman.pdf

Conserve Antivirals

Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH, Washington State Health Officer has sent a letter appealing to health professionals to be good stewards of antiviral medications. Hayes writes:

“Simply put, there is not an unlimited supply of antiviral medications like oseltamivir (TamiFlu®) and zanamivir (Relenza®). Building personal stockpiles uses antivirals that are then not available for people who are seriously ill with influenza due to swine flu or seasonal human flu viruses should a shortage occur. In addition, a limited supply threatens our ability to give prophylaxis to exposed people who are at high risk for severe complications and death due to influenza viruses (e.g., pregnant women). The use of these medications to treat persons with mild influenza without risk factors for severe complications may also reduce the supply for persons at risk for more severe disease.

CDC recommendations for antiviral treatment and pro-phylaxis of swine influenza, including dosing recom-mendations are available at www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidance/.

You control the supply of these antiviral drugs through your prescription-writing authority and behaviors. Although you all care deeply for our patients, I would like to encourage a high level of stewardship with regards to these potentially limited anti-influenza medications.”

Letter from Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH.

Pearson Report Released

The annual state-by-state national overview of nurse practitioner legislation and healthcare issues, brought to you by Linda J. Pearson, NP. Washington is listed as one of the top states in the nation for NP practice.

ARNP Prescriptive Authority Primer Revised

What does it take to get prescriptive authority as an ARNP in WA State? The processes required to acquire your initial (and renewed) ARNP license and to procure prescriptive authority have changed since the AUWS website first posted that basic information in its document, "ARNP & ARNP with Prescriptive Authority Renewal". Jeanne Boudrieau revised the guide. To learn more, go to the (drum role, please) "Preparation for Practice Primer." It is intended to be a step-by-step guide to acquiring licensure and prescriptive authority. We hope you find it informative and useful.

Why Join the Nurse Practitioner Directory?

In a world, career and life, where the information age has truly arrived and our tremendous efforts as Health Care Providers may go unnoticed, it could only be deemed advantageous that we find a way to link together as professionals for acknowledgement, assistance or information sharing. Collectively we have survived trials and tribulations making us a wealth of information and experience for each other and our communities. We are all in this together, sign up today for the NP Directory.

Articles Wanted

ARNP Care would welcome reader submissions for articles. Articles can be on any topic relevant to ARNPs and should be 800 words or less in length. Submissions should be sent as a MS Word .doc file or as a text file. Send your articles or queries to care [at] nurse.net.

ARNP Salary Survey 2006

Thanks to the work done by Marie-Annette Brown, Phd, ARNP, FAAN and Louise Kaplan, PhD, ARNP results from the 2006 salary survey are now available. Appropriate financial compensation is essential for Washington State ARNPs. As legally autonomous professionals, ARNPs assume demanding roles and provide high quality care to hundreds of thousands of people in Washington State. Until recently there has been little data about the salaries of Washington State nurse practitioners. In 2006 a statewide survey was conducted of Washington State ARNPs that yielded a strong response rate of 65%. Participants were asked to indicate their ARNP related income for 2005. The data reports salary information for ARNPs practicing in Washington and working full time, defined as 30 or more hours per week.

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