Scope of practice and legislation for nurse practitioners in Taiwan

The purpose of the article is to describe the scope of practice legislation in Taiwan, with some comparisons to the scope of practice legislation in the United States, as well as to identify the issues of nurse practitioner (NP) practice.

A literature review was conducted to determine the limitations of the administrative directives used to govern NP scope of practice. A simultaneous review of authoritative resources, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare's administrative directives related to NP practice, the Physicians Act and Nurses Act of Taiwan, and the statement of the Taiwan Association of NPs, was conducted and the documents analyzed.

Based only on administrative directives, and without law and regulations, it was difficult to define the scope of practice. It was determined, however, that, since the addition of Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 23 of the Nurses Act, NPs became able to provide a high quality of care legally, which helps to facilitate the professionalism of NPs.

Legislation still has a long way to go, and through sharing our findings on the NP legislation process, we hope to gain the support of NPs around the world and to encourage an understanding and the legislation of this new role.