American Medical Association attacks on scope of practice: oncology nurses beware.

With the active involvement of the entire ONS membership in health policy advocacy, we can achieve positive public policy change. nurses and the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) why they must continue to be engaged in advocacy to protect and promote oncology nursing. We are increasingly concerned about a series of steps taken by AMA and other physician organizations that indicate their intent to seek legislative action at state and federal levels to reduce nurses' scope of practice. We urge all ONS members to become educated about these efforts and take action to protect oncology nursing. ONS maintains advocacy as a core value; the Society advocates " on behalf of people with cancer. .. [and] on behalf of the nursing profession and the oncology specialty to ensure respect and recognition , access to education, safe working environments, and fair reimbursement " (ONS, n.d.). Scope of practice generally is used to capture or defi ne the healthcare services and/or activities that healthcare professionals are permitted to perform as authorized by licensing, registration, or certifi cation processes. The Scope of Practice Partnership (SOPP)—a coalition of state medical societies and specialty organizations—ex-ists to respond to " various and troubling encroachments on physician practice " Ilisa Halpern Paul, MPP, is the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) health policy associate, and Georgia Decker, MS, RN, CS-ANP, AOCN ® , is the president of the ONS Board of Directors.geons). SOPP members are contributing signifi cant resources to " fund research that helps refute the key arguments allied health professionals use to advance their measures in state legislatures, " " help medical specialty societies and state medical associations fi ght expansions in nonmedical scope of practice, " and support " campaigns to stop scope-of-practice legislation in states where such bills appear likely to advance " (Devitt). ONS opposes the efforts of SOPP and believes that the partnership's existence and activities pose serious threats to all nurses, particularly those in advanced practice. In November 2005, AMA adopted Resolution 814 titled " Limited Licensure Health Care Provider Training and Cer-tifi cation Standards, " which states that AMA " along with the Scope of Practice Partnership and interested Federation partners, study the qualifi cations, education , academic requirements, licensure, certifi cation, independent governance, ethical standards, disciplinary processes, and peer review of the limited licensure health care providers and limited independent practitioners, as identifi ed by the Scope of Practice Partnership, and report …