Amarillo VA nurse practitioner is first in Texas to get full practice authority
A Friona native who started her education at Amarillo College and West Texas A&M University is now the first nurse practitioner in the state who can perform a set of functions that previously required supervision.
Charlene Seale, a certified family nurse practitioner at the Thomas E. Creek VA Medical Center in Amarillo, is the first nurse practitioner to be granted full practice authority, meaning she can now do things such as make a diagnosis.
According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Texas and 11 other states still hold restrictions on nurse practitioners, requiring “supervision, delegation, or team-management by an outside health discipline in order for the NP to provide patient care.”
Though the private sector in Texas is not eligible to grant full practice authority to NPs, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs gave its health care systems the ability to do so in December 2016. The Amarillo VA Healthcare System was the first to take this step, with Seale being the first NP to be granted the authority.
“It allows nurse practitioners to individually authorize the testing of medications and make the diagnosis of the veteran’s condition and sometimes we would see it took a little bit longer when we had to go through another layer of approval and so now the nurse practitioners can make those decisions and proceed,” Seale said.
Each NP must apply for full practice authority. The Amarillo VA’s medical staff analyzes each candidate’s competence and previous experience.
“I felt very fortunate,” Seale said about being chosen as the first NP with full practice authority.
“So now we are working with the other 31 nurse practitioners to put them through that same application process and hope to have them through the process by the end of the summer.”
For the approximately 23,000 veterans served by the Amarillo VA, privileging NPs will also open more slots for veterans to receive care, Seale said.
“Now, nurse practitioners are not physicians, we don’t have all of the knowledge and expertise that they have so when we encounter something we’re unfamiliar with, we still work as a team with our physicians here in the facility to make sure our veterans get the best care. But it basically streamlines the care process,” said Seale. “The thing that we hear from veterans is they are very excited because — and it seems like a simple thing but to them it’s a big thing — ‘I can get my medications filled much easier now.’”
Seale’s been busy at the medical center, exercising her new independence but still leaving time to clasp hands with a patient to offer encouragement. She said she’s become much more aware of her decision-making process.
“When you know you’re the one, you’re independently making that decision, it makes you be even more aware of the impact of that decision,” she said.
Seale began 36 years of nursing experience after graduating from Amarillo College’s licensed vocational nursing program.
She received her master’s degree in nursing from West Texas A&M University in 2006 and graduated from Chamberlain University in 2016 with a doctorate in family practice nursing.
Seale, who has relatives who are veterans, said she joined the Amarillo VA staff five years ago to give back to that community.
“Even though they (my family members) are much younger than I am and I won’t ever provide care for them or for their families, I wanted to give something back because I see what they’re doing for our country and I wanted to give something back to this generation that I can serve,” said Seale.