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Winter 2016 • Kentucky
allow AP nurses to perform their jobs within
their scope of practice.
Dean Heath explained that out of the
current three million registered nurses in
the United States, over 190,000 are Nurse
Practitioners, and almost 50% practice in
primary care settings. Within the prior year,
there have been 900 million visits to primary care nurse practitioners in the United
States. However, such as with the physician
shortage within the United States, currently
over 25 states do not have a full complement of Nurse Practitioners to practice to
the fullest extent of their education, training, and license. She noted that there is a
need for APRNs and DNPs to be allowed to
order home healthcare, to certify Medicare
patients for Hospice, and to perform
monthly examinations for patients in skilled
nursing facilities. If these privliges can be
added to the scope of practice by legislators,
the overall health of the country, and the
needs of underserved patients, can be more
fully met.
Dean Heath, who calls herself an
“Oklahoma girl,” is highly qualified to meet
the needs of the College of Nursing, and she
came to Kentucky from the Commonwealth
of Virginia’s flagship nursing program.
She has a long and distinguished scholarly
record at the University of Virginia and
other notable institutions of higher learning
in Georgia, South Carolina, and Washington
D.C. during her nearly 40-year career in
nursing. She is a recognized national leader
in nursing education, tobacco control, and
healthcare outreach. Not only is she the
Dean of the UK College of Nursing, but
she also holds the Warwick Professorship in
Nursing at the University of Kentucky.
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