Welcoming the proposed PH Nursing Practice Act of 2022

MORE than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, the country at large witnessed how essential the health sector was in responding to crises and buoying our national economy. Nurses, in particular, faced multitudes of occupational risks due to lack of appropriate protective gear and equipment, shortage of staff members and even discrimination, among others.

Their resolute service to the Filipino people has been deserving not only of recognition, but amplification of their dignity and worth through government protection and action.

The Commission on Human Rights welcomed the timely proposal of Senate Bill 1447 or the Philippine Nursing Practice Act of 2022. The proposed legislation has introduced a new provision on the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN), an expanded and more collaborative role for qualified nurses to allow more efficient access to universal health care for all

Filipinos.

According to the bill, APNs refer to nurses who, aside from being board passers, have acquired a “substantial level of theoretical knowledge and decision-making skill in a specialty area of nursing practice and demonstrated proficiency in clinical utilization of such knowledge” from a recognized higher educational institution. The bill also authorizes the practice of “Agreed Upon Based Care” in which APNs — through mutual agreement with and approval by the primary physician in charge — have been permitted to conduct patient care through teleconsultation or other means of communication during emergency circumstances such as unavailability of a physician or lack of a physician due to the inaccessibility of an area.

The indisputable contributions of nurses in the country and abroad has merited urgent and meaningful solutions.