Team-Based Care Isn’t Controversial


The Future of Nursing, in particular, has created considerable controversy regarding whether APRNs should be licensed to practice independently in primary care settings. The hot-button issues that are part of that controversy, such as practice independence, competition, and restraint of trade, are not germane to the present discussion on cardiovascular team-based care. Issues that are germane to cardiovascular team-based care, such as interdependency, cooperation, autonomy, efficiency, and effectiveness, however, are not controversial. (read the 2015 ACC Health Policy Statement on Cardiovascular Team-Based Care)

The Institute of Medicine, in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, published a report entitled The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health in 2010, which the ACC's Health Policy Statement mentions as generating "considerable controversy between nursing organizations and physician organizations."

TEAM-BASED CARE ISN't CONTROVERSIALThe statement suggests that arguments over practice independence have no relevance to the well-substantiated argument in favor team-based care, but it's easy to see how those lines get blurred. Professionals feel threatened when scope-of-practice barriers are taken down for professionals with a different educational knowledge-base.

The issue? These fears can be very influential in maintaining state regulatory barriers to team-based care.

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