BARRY WILLIAMS/Special

Michael McCann (from left), Linda Easterly and state Rep. Sue Burmeister announce the passage of Senate Bill 480, which allows advanced practice registered to write prescriptions.

Sixteen hours after legislation giving advanced practice registered nurses the authority to write prescriptions passed both the Georgia House and Senate on March 27, Molly Jones Bachtel, RN, MSN, FNP-C, was still beaming.

After hammering out e-mails to members of United Advanced Practice Registered Nurses before and during the legislative session, the self-described "worker bee" and state secretary for the organization could finally report success.

Michael McCann, RN, CNM, MS, co-chair of the APRN coalition and Georgia Nurses Association director of legislation and public policy, was in shock. After about 16 years of working on the "right to write" campaign and 11 attempts to get legislation passed, he could hardly believe that a savvy political maneuver to tack APRN prescriptive rights onto Senate Bill 480 had actually accomplished the goal.

"It's been quite a process and so many people put in so many hours of work over the years to birth this piece of legislation," McCann said.

"Our grassroots effort finally paid off," said Bachtel, director of student health at Oxford College.

In January 2005, Bachtel helped found the Atlanta chapter of UAPRN, which now has more than 200 members. With the aid of her brother-in-law, she created a UAPRN Web site and listserv for the organization - both of which were instrumental in getting out legislative updates and asking for member participation in lobbying efforts. Long before the legislative session started in January, advanced practice nurses were hosting legislative "meet and greets" and conducting telephone and letter-writing campaigns.

"Karen Schwartz spearheaded the grassroots committee and could get hold of people quickly through e-mail as votes were coming up or the situation changed, and members responded by writing and calling their legislators. Better communication really made a difference," said Marian Blaesser, NP, state chair of UAPRN.

Nurses also contributed more Politcal Action Committee money (about $20,000) than had been raised in previous efforts.

The goal was to educate lawmakers about the role of advanced practice nurses and explain how allowing them to practice to the full scope of their training could reduce pharmacy errors, lower medical costs and increase access to health care in rural areas of Georgia.

More than 400 nurses showed up for a GNA and UAPRN-hosted Rally Day at the Capitol on Jan. 27 to support nursing issues, including HB 935, a prescriptive authority bill sponsored by state Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta).

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State Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland) uses a rolled-up amendment as a spyglass during a debate over a bill to give perscriptive authority to advanced practice registered nurses.

"Many factors played a part in this year's success, but one thing that was different was that we had never had an advocate like Sue Burmeister," McCann said. "She would not be bullied by MAG (the Medical Association of Georgia). She didn't back down or give in and spent hours debating the issue in committee."

The Medical Association of Georgia has opposed granting prescriptive authority to advanced practice registered nurses, saying it would jeopardize patients' health and safety.

"She (Burmeister) was amazing, articulate and coolheaded in the face of opposition," Blaesser said.

Burmeister was armed with letters from supporting nurses, physicians and the deans of both the medical school and nursing school at Emory University in Atlanta. Thanks to a strong lobbying effort and leadership support from both parties, HB 935 passed overwhelmingly in early March.

However, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee introduced new legislation (SB 603) that caused HB 935 to stall in committee. The Senate bill raised alarms among nurse practitioners and the Georgia Nurses Association because of provisions supported by the Medical Association of Georgia.

Nurses objected to wording that gave the state board of medicine approval over nurse practitioner programs, educational criteria and licensing exams. Other items of concern included a prohibition of nurse practitioners interpreting diagnostic tests and tighter restrictions on how APRNs would be allowed to practice.

Tom Scouller, president of UAPRN, urged members to call their legislators and ask them to vote against the bill as written.

"I don't know how many hours Demetrius Mazacoufa (GNA general counsel) and our legislative task force spent debating differences with MAG representatives and reworking the wording on various versions of the bill," McCann said.

A version of SB 603 with GNA-favorable amendments passed the Senate on March 13 but was stalled in committee when it went back to the House for further amending.

.People in the lieutenant governor's of.ce were very helpful in helping us strategize and maneuver the political scene. An assistant there suggested that we try attaching the prescriptive rights legislation to another bill,. Blaesser said.

Ultimately, the prescriptive rights legislation was added to another piece of nursing legislation (SB 480) proposed by state Sen. Reneï Unterman (R-Buford), a former nurse and advocate for nurse practitioners. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the bill into law on April 18, making Georgia the last state to allow advanced practice nurses to write prescriptions.

.It was Georgia's time, thank goodness,. Blaesser said. .We didn't compromise or settle for wording that we didn't think was appropriate. It was a tremendous group effort, and we are all really proud..

The law goes into effect July 1, and the GNA and UAPRN are already planning to hold seminars for nurses around the state. The organizations want nurses to understand the new law, know how to establish collaborative agreements with physicians and know how to apply for a Drug Enforcement Administration number.

About 5,000 advanced practice nurses work in Georgia as nurse practitioners, certi.ed nurse midwives, certi.ed nurse anesthetists and psychiatric/ mental health nurses. For more information, see www.georgianurses.org or www.uaprn.org.