I am in the process of studying for the Board Certification for PMHNP and came across a question in a study guide that stated that the PMHNP was consulted (in his/her role of being on a Hospital's consult liaison service) to see a patient in ICU to determine "Competency to make independent medical decisions and consent for a surgical procedure." The gist of the question was that such evals are really about decisional CAPACITY (a clinical term) as opposed to COMPETENCY (a legal term). I get the gist of the difference between the terms, but I what I am NOT sure about is whether a PMHNP is within his/her scope of practice to be undertaking decisional capacity evaluations? At least in my state, the forms that are signed on the units (to for example, activate a patients Power of Attorney for Healthcare--if a patient is deemed lacking in sufficient decisional capacity) can only be signed by a licensed psychologist or a physician. Would anybody know if this is a state by state issue ( I assume that it would be) or, in general (which is what I am not sure about) are PMHNPs considered qualified and within their scope to undertake decisional capacity evals?