NURS 721 Week 6 Group Electronic Presentation Project Topic Example

Group Presentation Topic Proposal: Nurse Practitioner Full Practice Authority and What It Changes for Nursing Practice

Memo Header and Topic

To: Course instructor, NURS 721. From: Group 3 (four DNP students). Date: Module/Week 6. Subject: Group electronic presentation topic.

Our group proposes to present on state laws granting nurse practitioners full practice authority, using as our case a restricted-practice state whose legislature is currently considering a bill to remove the requirement for a supervising physician agreement. Our guiding question pairs the research with practice: across the studies, is care easier to reach, as good and as safe when nurse practitioners practice without physician agreements, and how would nursing work change in a state that has not yet taken that step?

Rationale

The policy is contemporary, contested and directly tied to nursing practice. Roughly half of states still restrict nurse practitioners' practice in some way, and bills to change those rules appear in legislatures every year. Half of our group holds nurse practitioner licenses tied to supervision agreements, and another member leads nursing at a hospital whose hospitalist service relies on nurse practitioners, so the outcome of the bill will reach our own workplaces. Goudreau and Smolenski (2014) describe the advanced practice nurse's role in shaping health policy, and this topic allows us to examine both the policy and the advocacy that surrounds it. The topic also has an ethical dimension that fits the course's emphasis on policy and ethics: whether restricting a profession's scope protects patients or limits their access to care.

Preliminary Evidence

We have confirmed that enough peer-reviewed evidence exists for a balanced presentation. Koyuncu et al. (2026) pooled 27 studies of nurse practitioner regulation and reported that looser rules went with better access, but they credited the gains as much to credentialing, billing and governance arrangements as to the statute itself. Pitts and Lindley (2026) reviewed 13 studies and judged that independent practice, at the least, leaves health outcomes no worse while helping states attract and keep nurse practitioners. On the other side, two physicians argued that the trials behind a much-quoted Cochrane review do not support independent nurse practitioner practice in hospital settings, because most of its trials involved protocol-driven or supervised care (Bernard & Shaffer, 2026). A 2026 study of pediatric hospitalizations found mixed effects, fewer admissions for chronic conditions but more for some acute conditions after full practice authority (McMichael, 2026). Presenting findings like these together will let the audience weigh the evidence rather than hear an argument for one side. A presentation that shows only the studies its authors agree with teaches advocacy, but not the policy judgment a DNP needs at a legislative hearing. We also expect to include evidence on what full practice authority changes for nurse practitioners themselves. National survey data show nurse practitioners in full practice states far more often working where no physician is present on site (Slade et al., 2025), and another national survey found them more likely to own practices and to bill visits under their own provider numbers (Tracy et al., 2023). Both bear on how nursing practice is organized and recognized.

Planned Structure and Division of Work

The presentation will be built in PowerPoint as thirty slides with speaker notes. The work is divided as follows.

The group will meet by video on Day 5 to merge the sections into one template, check that the argument flows and confirm that every claim is cited, and again on Day 6 to rehearse and finalize the reference page.

Impact on Nursing Practice

The slides on nursing practice will go beyond nurse practitioners. Full practice authority changes the work of registered nurses who staff nurse practitioner-led clinics, the education of future advanced practice nurses, who must be prepared for independent accountability, and the relationships between nursing and medicine in hospitals and communities. We will also consider what the policy asks of nurse leaders: credentialing and privileging processes, peer review and organizational governance that support safe independent practice. The systematic review's conclusion that legal authority produces benefits only when matched by integration mechanisms makes this section central rather than an afterthought.

Ethical Lens

The course asks students to examine policy through an ethical and Christian lens. We plan to frame the question as one of justice and stewardship: whether restrictive rules protect patients from harm or keep care from those who need it, especially in rural and underserved communities. The presentation will not resolve that question for the audience, but it will show how the evidence bears on each side.

Plan for References

Each member will contribute at least four peer-reviewed sources for their section, which will give us more than the 12 to 15 required and allow us to choose the strongest. We will use one shared reference manager so the final APA list is consistent. Sources already gathered include the two reviews and two studies above, along with a survey of Tennessee advanced practice registered nurses' attitudes toward full practice authority (Miller & Barut, 2026).

References

Bernard, R., & Shaffer, P. (2026). Misleading at best: A critical appraisal of "Nurse-physician substitution in hospital settings." Missouri Medicine, 123(4), 284-287.

Goudreau, K. A., & Smolenski, M. C. (Eds.). (2014). Health policy and advanced practice nursing: Impact and implications. Springer Publishing Company.

Koyuncu, F., Sengul, T., Sarıköse, S., Shoqirat, N., Marsh, Z., Minnick, J., İyigün, E., Kirkland-Kyhn, H., & Singh, C. (2026). Global regulatory and policy pathways for nurse practitioners and their health system contributions: A systematic review. Nursing Outlook, 74(5), Article 102848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2026.102848

McMichael, B. J. (2026). Nurse practitioner scope-of-practice laws and preventable pediatric hospitalizations. Medical Care Research and Review, 83(4), 239-250. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775587261420485

Miller, M. D., & Barut, J. C. (2026). Attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs related to full practice authority for advanced practice registered nurses. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 38(10), 837-846. https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000001315

Pitts, C. J., & Lindley, L. C. (2026). The impact of nurse practitioner state practice regulation on health and health outcomes: An integrative review. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 38(7), 487-495. https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000001264

Slade, E. P., DePriest, K., Commodore-Mensah, Y., Samuel, L., Hanson, G. C., & D'Aoust, R. (2025). State full practice authority regulations and nurse practitioner practice autonomy: Evidence from the 2018 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. Medical Care Research and Review, 82(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775587241282163

Tracy, C., Russell, N. G., DePriest, K., Knestrick, J., D'Aoust, R., & Slade, E. (2023). The impact of full practice authority on nurse practitioner compensation, collaboration, and billing. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 35(11), 691-698. https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000918