JONA Volume 47, Number 9, pp 465-469 Copyright B 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. THE JOURNAL OF NURSING ADMINISTRATION Scope of Practice Barriers for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses A State Task Force to Minimize Barriers Maria A. Lofgren, DNP, ARNP, NNP-BC, CPNP, FAANP Susan K. Berends, DNP, ARNP, NNP-BC, CPNP Jimmy Reyes, DNP, ARNP, AGNP Carmen Wycoff, DNP, MBA, ARNP, CPNP Meghan Kinnetz, MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC, MSCN Ami Frohling, MSN, ARNP Laura Baker, MS, ARNP, FNP-BC Sue Whitty, MA, ARNP, CNS Mary Dirks, DNP, ARNP, CPNP, FAANP Mary O’Brien, EJD, ARNP, CRNA Collegial relationships, administrative champions, and persistence are key components to breaking down barriers to advanced practice RN (APRN) practice. This article addresses how Iowa APRNs in a state- sanctioned task force identified barriers for practic- ing at the top of their licensure in a full practice authority state including defending the right to control the scope of nursing practice in court. Full practice authority is defined by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners as Bthe collec- tion of state practice and licensure laws that allow for nurse practitioners to evaluate patients, diag- nose, order and interpret diagnostic tests, initiate and manage treatments Vincluding prescribe medicationsVunder the exclusive licensure author- ity of the state board of nursing.[ 1(p1) Advanced practice RN (APRN) colleagues around the coun- try have contacted the authors, members of the Iowa APRN Task Force, asking how to achieve full practice authority in their own states based on our successes. However, despite that Iowa is a state with full practice authority, there are numerous barriers that continue to limit APRNs in Iowa from practicing to the top of their licenses. This article addresses how Iowa APRNs tried to determine the root of barriers for practicing at the top of licensure in our full prac- tice authority state. The authors identified that the complexities surrounding these barriers required multiprofessional advocacy and leadership. The national Campaign for Action was estab- lished in December 2010 to champion nursing in America. 2 This initiative resulted from a partnership between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and the AARP Foundation. 2,3 As a result of the en- suing Future of Nursing report, 3 states were charged with developing their own recommendations through action coalitions. 2,3 The Iowa Action Coa- lition developed 3 primary goals: (1) to increase the proportion of bachelor"s-prepared nurses to 50% by 2020 in Iowa, (2) to develop an RN residency pro- gram accessible to facilities across the state of Iowa, JONA  Vol. 47, No. 9  September 2017 465 Authors Affiliations: Director of Advanced Practice Providers (Dr Lofgren) and Nurse Practitioner (Dr Berends), University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City; Associate Director of Practice and Education, Iowa Board of Nursing, Des Moines (Dr Reyes); Assistant Professor of Nursing, Clarke University, Dubuque (Dr Wycoff); Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines (Ms Kinnetz); Vascular Nurse Practitioner/Care Coordinator, Mercy Heart and Vascular, Mason City (Ms Frohling); Director, Advanced Practice Nursing, Unity Point Health-Des Moines (Ms Baker); Advanced Practice Regis- tered Nurse and Therapist, Hillcrest Mental Health Center, and Counselor and Coordinator, School Based Youth Services Program, Dubuque (Ms Whitty); and Professor and Assistant Dean for Graduate Practice Programs, The University of Iowa College of Nursing (Dr Dirks); and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (Dr O"Brien), Iowa. The authors are members of the Advanced Practice Task Force of Iowa; there are no other conflicts to declare. Correspondence: Dr Lofgren, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 200 Hawkins Dr, Iowa City, IA 52242 (maria-lofgren@ uiowa.edu). Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal_s Web site (www.jonajournal.com). DOI: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000000515 Copyright © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.