Roles of State Boards of Nursing in the Expanded Role of the Nurse - Article Example

? Roles of boards of nursing in the expanded role of the nurse over the past 10 years 6th May, Roles of state boards of nursing in the expanded role of the nurse over the past 10 years All professions in the United States are required to have an authoritative board that oversees their activities. The state nursing board is one of the largest regulating boards with more than 3 million registered professional nurses. The purpose of these authoritative boards is to protect the public irregularities and unsafe practices in the profession (Staunton & Mary, 2007). The boards set the minimum competencies and qualifications such as academic qualifications, age and experience for practitioners in the professions. One of the reasons the nursing profession requires to be regulated and closely monitored is for the reason that the risk associated with the civic being attended to by unqualified or incompetent practitioners. The boards therefore only offer the licenses to competent and qualified nurses who have met the minimum set qualifications. Because the public may not identify unqualified practitioners or the irregularities, they may be vulnerable to exploitation from unprofessional practices (Shirley, 1998). The state nursing boards ensure competence in the nursing practice through regulating license issuance, entry into the profession, disciplinary action and license renewal. The duties and responsibilities of state nursing boards are defined by the law makers so as to protect the public from unsafe nursing practices. The establishment of state nursing boards ensures that the stake holders in the nursing practice are competent enough and that they meet all the requirements as per the regulations (Shirley, 1998). State nursing boards of nursing are agencies formed by the governments to regulate the nursing practice in the state. The regulation by the board protects the public by ensuring that the nursing services offered to the public are competent and that they meet all the standards acceptable by the society. The state nursing boards are responsible for protection of the health care and public welfare by monitoring and ensuring safe nursing practices. The state boards of monitor the nursing practice by setting standards and policies that govern the practice. The state boards of nursing are also involved regulating the nursing practice through licensing all the nursing operations in the state (Allen, 2011). The board issues the nursing license only if they are qualified to safe nursing. After the issuing of the licenses, the state nursing boards continue monitoring the nursing practice where be if unsafe practices are identified the licenses will be reclaimed and legal actions taken. The roles of the board in the nursing involve employing and registering nurses and inquiring on irregularity cases by applying the set discipline procedures. The state nursing boards are required to report to the state administrations such as the governor of the state and the state agencies (Staunton & Mary, 2007). The state boards of nursing are allocated the authoritative powers to make decisions on the nursing practice as well as registering all the qualified practitioners in the nursing sector. The board also has the powers to take disciplinary actions against unsafe nursing practices (Allen, 2011). Some of the authoritative powers that the nursing boards are allocated involve developing standards of safe nursing, licensing and developing organizational rules and regulations. The nursing boards have also been allocated the powers to approve or disapprove the nursing and health care educational programs offered in colleges and universities. All the nursing practitioners are therefore responsible for understanding all the nursing regulations and applying them in practicing safe nursing. The development of the policies and structures governing the nursing is also the responsibility of the nursing board. The primary legislation is made up of the rules which make up the standards. The primary legislation involves the procedures of member’s appointment and recruitment, the standards for practice, the licensing standards and the positions of the practitioners who are not covered by the board such as the assistants. The secondary legislation involves the boards standards such as the academic and the criteria used to determine the competence of the nurses. The secondary level qualification legislation also involves the criteria for registration of the nurses, criteria of handling irregularity cases as well as the practicing standards. The time taken to design and implement these legislations will depend on the country where it’s being implemented. The time frame is dependent on whether be nursing board is being newly implemented of whether it has been in existence. In cases where the legislations are being newly implemented tends to take longer than where the legislations exist (Thompson, Kathy & Kenneth, 2006). Additionally, there are forums put in place for the reviewing of the legislations so as the suit the changes in the sector. The process of licensing is important because it determine whether the nursing practitioners have met the minimum set qualifications for the nursing practice. There are however set forums to ensure that the qualifications are reviewed to suit the changing environment in the profession. These forums are also important to ensure that the concerns of the nurses are heard and in case of changes reviews are made on the regulations and qualifications. The licensing is beneficial to the nurses because they are able to understand the legal authorization for the nursing practice. Additionally, licensing is important in regulating and protecting the use of titles in the nursing profession such as RN for registered nurses, LPN for licensed practical nurses and APRN for advanced practice registered nurses among others (Judd, Sitzman & Davis, 2010). This regulation ensures that authorized and qualified nurse use certain titles according to their qualifications and experience. The state nursing board also responsible of handling cases related with irregularities in the nursing profession such as criminal liability, professional misconduct and malpractices in the nursing profession. In all United States’ states there is a regulation committee board made up of professional in the medical field. For example, the state boards in the state of Arizona involve the behavior science board, the medical board of Arizona and the dental board among others (Judd, Sitzman & Davis, 2010). These different boards are responsible for their specific departments. These boards are responsible of investigating on complaints from the public, identifying the criminal liability and identifying the processes that will be involved in filing the criminal charges. In case of a criticism from the public about a member of staff, the case is closely investigates and if the staff members is found to be on the wrong, disciplinary action is taken on them (Daniels, 2007). The board deals with the complaints and also deals with the acceptance and the civil complaint process. If as member of the public files grievances in case a licensed professional is involved in irregularities affirmative action is taken by the board. The first step for filing an irregularity is where the member of public fills a complaint form issued at the board offices. The complaint is then submitted to the board for investigation. If the case is officially authorized action is taken against the nurse (Thompson, Kathy & Kenneth, 2006). The members of the state boards of nursing in the United States are appointed by the governor with the assistance and consent of the members of the senate. There is however the minimum set requirements for one to become a member of the state nursing board. For example in the Ney York, the nursing board is made up of 15 members where 11 of them must be registered professional nurses and 4 have to be licensed practical nurses (Judd, Sitzman & Davis, 2010). While appointing the board members, the governor is required to appoint members based on diversified fields in nursing and other medical fields. All appointed members in the state nursing boards are required to be dedicated to using their professionalism to protect the public from nursing malpractices and irregularities as well as ensuring the quality of services (Allen, 2011). List of references Staunton, J., & Mary, C. (2007). Nursing and the Law. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Health. Shirley, C. (1998). Legal nurse consulting: principles and practice. Michigan: CRC press. Daniels, R. (2007). Nursing Fundamentals: Caring and Clinical Decision-Making. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Thompson, I., Kathy, M., & Kenneth, M. (2006). Nursing ethics. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier. Allen, A. (2011). Nursing Home Administration. Berlin: Springer Publishing Company. Judd, D., Sitzman, G., & Davis, M. (2010). A History of American Nursing: Trends and Eras. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Read More