AONL Responds to Resolution 214 Amendment Presented by the American Medical Association

The following statement is attributable to AONL President Joan Shinkus Clark, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, FACHE, FAAN, concerning the AMA’s call for a national strategy opposing independent practice for non-physician health care providers, including model legislation and public relations campaigns.

“The AMA’s recent resolution to effectively oppose nationwide efforts to grant independent practice to non-physician practitioners such as advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) runs counter to accepted practices of interprofessional team-based care. The AMA’s resolution has the potential to undermine years of progress toward strengthening access to safe, affordable and quality health care.

The AMA’s statement implies ARPNs are not qualified to provide efficient and effective health care. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the last 50 years, peer-reviewed research has demonstrated the value of APRNs to provide safe and effective care with outcomes similar to those of physicians. The National Academy of Medicine with its 2010 report, The Future of Nursing; Leading Change, Advancing Health, championed the importance of a highly educated nursing workforce and the need to remove scope of practice barriers for our nation’s advanced practice nursing workforce.

AONL has historically supported the value of nursing education and has advocated for the APRN Consensus Model, developed to enhance and standardize accreditation, certification and education of APRNs. AONL is disappointed with the AMA’s statement and is committed to working within the health care profession and the practice community to strengthen the role of advanced practice nursing. AONL welcomes the opportunity to a continued dialogue with the broader physician and nursing communities to ensure high-quality affordable and accessible care to all patients.”