New legislation in Missouri would allow nurse practitioners to practice without a collaborating physician, KY3 reported Feb. 27.
There are currently 26 states that have approved full practice authority.
Opponents to the bill said they are hesitant to pass the legislation due to the difference in training and education between physicians and nurse practitioners, according to the news outlet.
"The amount of training that the nurse practitioners have to be practicing is far less, in some respects less than 10 percent of what a physician has, day to day," John Burroughs, MD, board chair of the Missouri Academy of Family Physicians, told KY3.
Deborah Blinzler, RN, MSN, told the news outlet that the requirements to obtain a nurse practitioner title does provide equitable experience and training when compared to physicians.
"To be a nurse practitioner, you have to have a nursing background," Ms. Blinzler told KY3. "A lot of us have had 20-30 years of experience before going back to school. That gives us the experience. We have our base, BSN. Then we go on for our MSN or the doctorate. So we have three or two to three years on top of that. Then physicians go on for a residency, which is more training, but we've had 10 to 15 years of training."
Currently, Missouri nurse practitioners must work with a collaborating physician who is within 75 miles.