Nurse Practices Act

The nurse practices act is a generic term for a set of standards established to define the appropriate practice of nursing.  The Nurse Practices Act is in fact many pieces of legislation, as each state has its own set of laws known as the Nurse Practices Act or some similar name.  The standards were set in order to provide general guidelines for nursing practices and behaviors.  The initial purpose was to protect the public from incompetent practitioners, to provide legal foundation for taking action in the case of incompetent or harmful actions performed under the guise of a nursing procedure.

Nursing Practices Acts and State Boards of Nursing

The overall goal is to provide standards that ensure competent, quality care provided by knowledgeable practitioners.  All or nearly all states have State Boards of Nursing that are charged with overseeing the enforcement of these standards, and for hearing complaints that are filed against licensed practitioners.  It is not a completely benign legal structure.  Nurses have an ethical and legal responsibility to keep up with the changes in health care and health care laws.  It is up to the individual RN to stay current with state requirements and to be familiar with the Nursing Practices Act in their state.

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing has done a good job of listing the pertinent sections of the Civil Code for each state regarding the Nurse Practices Act. You can select your state and read a fairly clear synopsis of the law as it pertains to licensing and some of the more current additions to the Code. 

Also on the National Council’s site you will find sites for continuing education courses in those states where they are provided, regarding state Nursing Practices Acts.  Many states also have their own web sites that address nursing regulations.  Several state Nursing Boards have separate regulatory statutes for registered nurses and licensed vocational (or practical) nurses.  The law regarding nursing has also become a fairly commonplace topic for continuing education courses, many of them offered by the State Boards of Nursing.  The directory at the National Council can lead you to most of those state web sites.

Nurse Practices Acts and Compliance

Nurse Practices Acts and related health care standards regulations have become a bureaucratic industry that, if you are a health professional, you ignore at your peril.  Just as there is an American Nurses Association and an Emergency Nurses Association, so too is there Health Care Compliance Association – “The Association for Health Care Compliance Professionals.”  According to the organization, this is their charter: Compliance:

“The process of meeting the expectations of others. More specifically, it is the process of helping our health care professionals understand and meet the expectations of those who grant us money, pay for our services, regulate our industry, etc. Health care compliance includes numerous issues such as reimbursement, grant accounting, managed care, OSHA and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations regulations, licensure, and due diligence to prevent and detect violations of the law.”