Florida Nurse Practice Act - Essay Example

Florida Nurse Practice Act of the of the Florida Nurse Practice Act Introduction Nursing has always been regarded as anoble profession, and rightly so. The care of another human being and restoring them back to health is one of the best things one can do for humanity. But nursing is not without its share of professional responsibilities. Starting with the Hippocratic Oath, there has been a plethora of rules and regulations that have emerged over the centuries. Despite all the hue and cry, these rules and regulations make eminent sense- for taking the responsibility of care of another human being should include reasonable facets like confidentiality, consent and others that are part of the general discipline of nursing.

This paper will discuss the important provisions of the Florida Nursing Act. Discussion The Florida Nursing Act was passed in 2002. The sole purpose of this Act is to regulate the conduct of nursing and ensure that every nurse practising in the State of Florida shall meet the minimum requirements for safe practice of the profession. Nurses who fail to show the minimum standard of competency thereby posing a danger to the health and survival of patients or the general public shall be prohibited from continuing to practice in Florida.

Incumbents wishing to become Registered Nurses under the Act must meet the minimum educational requirements, completed the requirements for graduation from a recognized institution and take the required examination on payment of the required fee. On successful completion of the examination, he or she will be certified to practice as a Registered Nurse or Licensed Professional Nurse in Florida. In case one has moved to Florida from another State of the USA and wishes to practice as a Nurse in Florida, he or she must show a professional and valid license to practice nursing granted by that State.

There must be no cases of suspension of revocation of license in the last three years, and the applicant must also submit the required fee and a set of fingerprints which are to be examined by the concerned authorities in order to verify from legal records. If all is clear, he or she will be issued a licence to practice after 30 days (www.doh.state.fl.us). The overall objectives of the Florida Nursing Act are to ensure that nurses practising in the State are properly licensed and equipped to handle the everyday demands of the profession.

The Act has prescribed penalties not only for those who violate these rules but also the institutions that employ these unscrupulous characters. Similarly, maximum and minimum levels of fines are also prescribed for first, second and third offences relating to violation of rules of conduct, such as confidentiality, consent, impersonation of another, administering of wrong medication etc. The Act also seeks to ensure the proper availability of nurses at all times especially in cases of State and National Emergency and regulation of demand and supply of nurses.

All nurses are advised to take proper precautions like AIDS tests if they administer intravenous doses to patients, for instance. Similar cautions are advised in relation to home treatment of hemo-dialysis. A nurse has to be properly trained and assessed before he or she can engage in such practices (www.doh.state.fl.us). Conclusion All in all, the enactment of the Florida Nurses Act of 2002 has served a very useful purpose in bringing a high degree of professionalism to the work of nursing and establishing minimum standards of care.

Though contentious issues such as cloning and stem cell research are still being debated in Congress, at least we have unified code of conduct on most nursing practices. References Florida Department of Health. Nurse Practice Act and Rules of the Board of Nursing. Accessed on 18 July 2011 at http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/nursing/info_practiceAct.pdf