Maryland nursing practice Certification and Licensure – OnlineNursingPapers

How do you get certified and licensed in your state?
I live in the State of Maryland which has afforded and extended full practice to qualified Nurse Practitioners (NPs) that meet this state requirements. According to American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2020), States that offer full practice and licensure laws permit all NPs to evaluate patients, diagnose, order, and interpret diagnostic tests, and initiate/manage treatments. This Association further reports that treatment methods include prescribing medications and controlled substances under the exclusive licensure authority of the Maryland Board of Nursing (MBON). Therefore, the NPs in this state have the privilege of using their license to provide full extensive care.
Advanced practice status in Maryland is granted based on education and certification. In order to become licensed in this state qualified, NPs have to follow specific steps to be able to utilize these privileges afforded them. Applicants must verify certain initial criteria before they can apply for License as a NP in Maryland. These criteria include a holding a current Maryland license that is in good standing to practice as a registered nurse or a multistate licensure privilege to practice as registered nurse; graduating from a Board-approved accredited graduate level program for nurse practitioners at the Masters’ level or higher; passing a NP board exam and holding a current national certification from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners National Certification Board (AANPNCB) or other national certifying body recognized by the Maryland Board of Nursing; Submitting a completed application for certification as a nurse practitioner for each area of specialization to the MBON; and Demonstrate written and oral competency in the English language (Advance Practice Registered Nurse License Requirements in Maryland, 2021).
What is the application process for certification in your state?
Certification must be obtained from the board of Maryland before a NP can practice in this state. The application process for NPs certifications in the state of Maryland involves several pivotal steps. 1) The application process involves providing a Maryland RN number that can be verified that the applicant holds a valid Registered Nurse license in the state of Maryland. Applicants may also provide a current valid Compact Current State RN License. 2) The applicant must complete the Certification application thoroughly and correctly. 3) The applicant must complete the Declaration of residence form which proves that he/she has been and is a residence of Maryland. 4) The applicant must provide sealed official transcripts of the courses taken during the NP program. 5) The applicant must also provide Copy of current national certification or letter of eligibility to take the certification exam (Maryland Board of Nursing, 2021).
What is the primary nurse licensure office resource website in your state?
The primary nurse licensure office resource website for the State of Maryland is: https://mbon.maryland.gov/Documents/np_application.pdf
How does your state define the scope of practice of a nurse practitioner?
The State of Maryland had extended practice to the qualified Nurse practitioners. The scope of practice includes performing comprehensive physical assessment of patients, certifying to the Department of Transportation that an individual needs special consideration for certain health reasons, examining and determining if a patient is pregnant or has given birth to a child, completing the date of birth and medical information required on a birth certificate,  completing a death certificate, filing a replacement death certificate, establishing medical diagnosis for common short-term and chronic stable health problems, issuing a “do not resuscitate order” (DNR) on a Maryland Emergency Medical Services form, ordering, performing, and interpreting laboratory and diagnostic tests, ordering and performing diagnostic, therapeutic, and corrective measures, prescribing drugs, providing emergency care, referring patients to appropriate licensed physicians or other health care providers as needed, certifying that the utility client has a serious illness or the need for life-support equipment; and witnessing an advance directive (Maryland Board of Nursing (2021).
 What is included in your state’s practice agreement?
According to Maryland Board of Nursing (2021), Maryland was the first state to join the National Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) in 1999. NLC allows a nurse licensed in a compact state to practice across state lines in another compact state without having to obtain a license in the other state This allows nurses with a multistate license to be able to practice in any of the twenty-five NLC participating states fully (Maryland Board of Nursing (2021).
How do you get a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) license?
Nurse Practitioners has the responsibility to administer, prescribe and dispense any controlled substance. Therefore, they must be registered with the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in order perform these tasks legally.  In order to get a DEA license in the state of Maryland, the NP applicants have to firstly apply for a Maryland State Controlled Dangerous Substances Registration (CDS) with the Office of Controlled Substances Administration (OCSA). Prior to applying for CDS each applicant must register with the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).  Registration with PDMP is done on the CRISP website at https://crisphealth.org/ (Maryland Department of Health-Public Health Services-Office of Controlled Substances Administration, 2021).
After the CDS registration is approved, NP applicants can then apply for the Federal DEA license using their State license number. Application for the DEA license can be done online at the U.S. Department of Justice website. Applications can also be mailed in. For the mailed in  method of application, applicants can call the DEA Headquarters Registration Unit toll free at 800-882-9539 to request a physical copy of the order form. Forms will be mailed within 10 working days. Completed application forms (DEA Form 222a) are expected back to the Justice department within 30 days after each shipment of the forms to the Registration Unit, P.O. Box 28083, Washington, D.C. 20038-8083 (U.S Department of Justice Drug enforcement Administration, 2021).
 
How does your state describe a nurse practitioner’s controlled-substance prescriptive authority and what nurse practitioner drug schedules are nurse practitioners authorized to prescribe?
Prescriptive Authority
Qualified and approved NPs in the State of Maryland may independently prescribe and dispense drugs, devices and Schedules II-V controlled substances. For the first 18 months of practice. (COMAR 10.27.07.02 (A)(4)) physician involvement is required for NP prescriptive authority. To prescribe controlled substances, the NP must have a Maryland Drug Control Number (American Medical Association, 2021)
In what legislative and advocacy activities are your state nurse practitioner organization(s) involved?
According to Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland (2021)  one of  actions of nurse practitioners is to be involved in the political environment by helping influence positive actions taken by the  legal authority. Nurse practitioners in Maryland have been politically organized, legislatively active, and widely effective. These NP organizations roles have been strongly involved with campaigning and petitioning the legislature to increase the role NPs so that they might more fully advocate for patients and increase access to health care (Nurse Practitioner Association of America (2021)
For example, organization National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioner -MD -Chesapeake is active in Monitoring pediatric health-related bills introduced at the state and local levels during the Maryland General Assembly session. They offer letters and testimonies in support of or in opposition of bills that are being monitored at local and state levels. Here support or opposition to bills is guided by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) National Health Policy Agenda (National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners MD: Chesapeake, 2021).
Another Maryland organization, The Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland (NPAM) serves as the voice of Nurse Practitioners in Maryland. The mission of the NPAM is to advocate and ensure comprehensive policy and regulatory foundation that defends and enables nurse practitioners to provide manageable, high quality healthcare by utilizing the fullest extent of nurse practitioner scope of practice during this process (Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland, 2021).
 
References
American Medical Association (2021). State law chart: Nurse Practitioner Prescriptive Authority. Retrieved from https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/ama-assn.org/files/corp/media-browser/specialty%20group/arc/ama-chart-np-prescriptive-authority.pdf
Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland (2021) The Legislative and Clinical Practice Environment in Maryland. Retrieved from https://www.npamonline.org/page/34
American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2020). Practice Environment Details. Retrieved from https://www.aanp.org/advocacy/state/state-practice-environment
Advance Practice Registered Nurse License Requirements in Maryland (2021). Retrieved from https://www.nursinglicensure.org/np-state/maryland-nurse-practitioner/#education
Maryland Board of Nursing (2021).  Criteria for Nurse Practitioner Certification & Instructions for the applicant. Retrieved from https://mbon.maryland.gov/Documents/np_application.pdf
Maryland Board of Nursing (2021).  Nurse Practitioner — Scope and Standards of Practice. Retrieved from https://mbon.maryland.gov/Pages/adv-prac-nurse-practitioner-index.aspx
University of Maryland. Division of Research (2021). DEA License Information. Retrieved from https://research.umd.edu/dea-license-info
Maryland Board of Nursing (2021) Nurse Licensure Compact. Retrieved from https://mbon.maryland.gov/Pages/msl-compact-states.aspx
U.S Department of Justice Drug enforcement Administration (2021). Registration Procedures (University of Maryland Division of Research, 2021).
Maryland Department of Health-Public Health Services-Office of Controlled Substances Administration (2021). Practitioner Instructions. Retrieved from https://health.maryland.gov/ocsa/Documents/Applications%20Instructions%20(Pra.Revised%209-25-2018).pdf
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners MD: Chesapeake (2021). Legislation. Retrieved from https://community.napnap.org/marylandchesapeake/legislation