Dr. Michelle Nelson on Advanced Practice Nursing

And I am thrilled today to have with me, Dr. Michelle Nelson. I am a nurse practitioner, a family nurse practitioner from Brooklyn, New York. As I started to interact with a lot of nurses here in Georgia, I realized that there were significant restrictions on advanced practice nurses' ability to practice to the highest levels of their certification, licensure, and the education, as well as training. And I thought that it was highly unfair that we were all governed by the same national certifying and governing bodies. 

But in one state you could do so much. And in another state you could do very little particularly in a state like Georgia, where the health outcomes are so poor, particularly in the rural areas. And I also just want to add that as of last week, our overall healthcare rankings went from 42 to 46 in the nation. And so I decided to commit myself to working hard on behalf of advanced practice nurses in the state, because if we're able to get the restrictions lifted on our ability to practice, then we're able to do more for the citizens of Georgia and healthy citizens translates to a healthy state, which translates to a healthy nation. 

There are 15,000, approximately 15,000 physicians. Now this is just simple math, 15,000 physicians to serve the population of about 11 million citizens. That's clearly not enough. There are approximately 15,000 advanced practice nurses. And if we could work together for the good of citizens, that means better healthcare outcomes for everyone. Advanced practice nurses have years, decades of research and data that shows quality, safe, efficient outcomes for the citizens of the States that have full practice authority. And this is what Georgia needs. Georgia needs more providers. 

And so therefore we fight continuously, unceasingly, with as much vim, vigor and passion and commitment that we can muster, because this is on behalf of the people that we are charged to serve Georgians. 

So it only stands to reason that if you want to, to enhance, you want to ensure, you want to elevate the health care standing of your citizens. Then it's time now to remove restrictions and allow advanced practice nurses to do what they do best. And what we do best is care for Georgia citizens. Let us do our jobs.