The Nurse Practitioner and Policy in End-of-Life Care

The focus of this column is the interface between policy and end-of-life care, particularly as provided by advanced nurse practitioners. The complexities of end-of-life along with barriers in practice can diminish quality of life for patients and their families. Changes in policy are needed to enable nurse practitioners their full scope of practice in a way that benefits patients and families at end-of-life. Three areas particularly relevant to policy for nursing practitioners and end-of-life care are addressed: scope of practice, reimbursement, and prescribing practices. Other recommendations for policy and end-of-life care are discussed.