Scope of practice describes the activities and duties that a healthcare professional is permitted to undertake. The limits on the actions of these practitioners are set by the terms of their professional license and what the law allows. Each jurisdiction can have laws, licensing bodies, and regulations that describe requirements for education and training, and define scope of practice. Governing, licensing, and law enforcement bodies are often at the sub-national (e.g. state or province) level, but national guidelines and regulations also often exist. For example, in the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the Department of Transportation has
national scope of practice
for emergency medical services.

By country

United States

In the United States, scope of practice law is determined by the states' legislatures and regulatory boards. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, non-physician health care providers are providing increasing levels of service to patients, especially in

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

and other underserved communities.

By profession

Nursing & advanced practice nurses (APNs)

The

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...

(AMA), an

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

for

physicians A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

, claims that increasing the scope of APNs does not increase access to care and can be dangerous because the responsibilities afforded to the professionals exceed the tasks that they can safely perform given their training, which is lower relative to physicians. However, according to the American Nurses Association, it is important that nurses, including APNs, can practice to the fullest extent of their abilities and training; they claim that there is a growing body of evidence to support APNs caring for patients with broader scopes.

Emergency medical services

In the United States, the National Scope of Practice Model is designed to standardize and improve EMS provider education. It provides four levels of provider: Emergency Medical Responder (EMR), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Advanced EMT (AEMT), and Paramedic.

References