Nursing Practice Act

Nurse practice act
100 Years Ago, The Nurses Of Rochester Changed The World Of Nursing

The Nurse Practice Act (NPA’s) is a set of laws and rules individualized state-to-state that defines the scope of nursing practice specific to registered nurse, a licensed practical nurse, an advanced nurse practitioner and a nurse anesthetist and gives nurses the legal authority to practice within their scope. The NPA represents legislation that governs a nurse 's scope of practice in the state or states of America in which he or she is licensed to work and is specific to the level of a nurse 's educational and licensure requirements. Additionally, this set of laws and rules ensures that every nurse is providing safe care so that patients are protected from harm. Every nurse has a duty to be aware of the laws and rules that govern nursing practice as it is the most important legislation affecting the practice of nursing. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the history of how the Nursing Practice Act came to be and how it plays a major role in today’s nursing practice.
Rochester had been the start of nursing standardization since the late 1800 's. Rochester City Hospital nurses helped form the New York State Nurses ' Association, the first organization in the country that’s main purpose was to regulate the nursing care of patients. In 1899, Sophia Palmer and Eva Allerton presented an idea to the New York State Federation of Women 's Clubs. In her presentation, Miss Palmer said "The greatest need in the nursing profession today is a law that shall place training schools for nurses under the supervision of the University of the State of New York. Such a law would require every training school to bring its standard up to a given point" . On October 21, 1902 the Association held a meeting in Rochester, New York whereby the Nurse Practice Act came to the forefront. The main objective of the meeting was to create a law that would "establish a uniform and definite basis for the practice of nursing." Just one year later, in 1903, North Carolina passed the first regulation of practice law for nurses. North Carolina’s Nurse Practice Act which was signed into law on March 2, 1903. Several states followed suit and New York, New Jersey, and Virginia succeeded in passing nurse practice laws by the end of 1903. By 1921, 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii had put into place laws that regulated the practice of professional nursing. Florida signed its first nurse practice act into law on June 7, 1913. Each profession is responsible for protecting citizen 's rights and the NPA establishes standards and codes of ethics for nursing professionals at different levels of expertise.
Currently, each state in America has an NPA that is enacted by the state legislature that clearly defines the scope of nursing practice in that state. This scope may vary from state to state so it is imperative for nurses to become familiar with the rules and regulations for the state in which they are licensed to practice. Also the scope of practice for a register nurse, a licensed practical nurse, a nurse anesthetist and an advanced registered nurse are all different. Each scope of practice is determined by specific educational requirements and licensure applicable to each job titles and covers patient care practices limited to the specific titles.
Within the state of Florida a newly graduated registered nurse (RN) must first fill out application to take the NCLEX_RN examination in Florida, after he or she have successfully completed an associates in nursing program approved by the board of nursing. Once an application has been submitted a background check with fingerprinting will be completed. All of this is required to obtain proper licensure which is a requirement of the NPA to practice as a registered nurse. Licensed RNs have access Florida’s Board of Nursing Online Resource website which provides invaluable information such asapplications, statutes & rules which impact nursing practice.
Although NPAs vary from state to state they will have the following information: definition of the term RN, description of professional nursing functions, standards of complete performance, behaviors that represent misconduct or prohibited practices, grounds for disciplinary action, fines and penalties the licensing board may have when NPA is violated. Examples of misconduct or prohibited practices that would result in disciplinary action and possible revocation of licensure include but are not limited to performing nursing services beyond the authorized scope of practice for which the individual is licensed, attempting, directly or indirectly, by the way of intimidation or deception, to obtain or retain a patient, willfully and continually performing inappropriate or unnecessary treatment, diagnostic tests, or nursing services, delegating professional responsibilities to a person who is not qualified by training, skills, competency, or licensure to perform such responsibilities.
When there is a violation of the NPA’s rules and regulations the Florida licensing board has easy step-by-step instructions on how to file a complaint correctly. Your complaint can be made by phone or mailed in by a consumer or patient, family member, nurse or nurse manager, State Board of Nursing, federal or state attorney office (an example of this would be DCF, CPS, or Department of Health and Human Services).Once a complaint is filed licensing board examines the evidence, reviews the report and make a decision bases upon the facts provided, upon that decision the board then takes disciplinary action. Disciplinary actions may result in the nurse being exonerated, the nurse is guilty of violating the NPS’s regulations. If a RN is found guilty of violating the NPA the Board may issue a formal reprimand, a fine may be involved, a nurse is placed on probation, license suspended or revoked, and license may not be granted renewal.
Violations of the NPA by a nursing professional can stem from many different reasons some commonly known reasons are: there is an estimated 10 to 15 of registered nurses in the United States are chemically dependent the majority of disciplinary actions are related to misconduct resulting from chemical impairment. Inadequate and often unsafe nurse patient ratios also contribute to complaints being made to the NPA board.
It is important for each health care professional to take responsibility to keep up to date with developments inherent in remaining a safe patient care provider as medical knowledge and care practices are changing at an unprecedented pace. Nurses need to rely on the resources that professional organization and regulatory agencies provide so that standards of care may be maintained. Nurses need to perform the specific duties for which they received training but most importantly, each needs to be familiar with the Nurse Practice Act as it is the most important legislation affecting their practice of nursing.

WORK CITED
"Links and Resources." Florida Board of Nursing ». N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. .
Cherry, Barbara, and Susan R. Jacob. Contemporary nursing: issues, trends & management. 6th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby/Elsevier, 2014. Print
"The Nurse Practice Act." The Nursing Practice Act -The Armstrong Act of 1903. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. .

Cited: "Links and Resources." Florida Board of Nursing ». N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. . Cherry, Barbara, and Susan R. Jacob. Contemporary nursing: issues, trends & management. 6th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby/Elsevier, 2014. Print "The Nurse Practice Act." The Nursing Practice Act -The Armstrong Act of 1903. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. .