Registered Nurse/Licensed Practical Nurse
Practice Defined
For purposes of licensure (meeting the 500 hour practice requirement) by endorsement, renewal and reinstatement, the practice of nursing means those activities requiring judgment and skill based upon a systematized body of nursing knowledge.
Nursing care provided for immediate family members does not qualify as nursing practice. Immediate family members are defined as spouse, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, sister, brother, child, or grandchild of the licensee and the spouse of any of these or someone who bears this similar relationship to the spouse of the licensee. Step-persons bearing these relationships are also included.
Examples of nursing practice include:
- Providing "hands on" care;
- Teaching consumers self-care and adaptation to disease;
- Teaching consumers prevention of illness and injury;
- Providing comfort and support to dying patients and their families;
- Coordinating care and assisting patients and their families to identify and obtain necessary resources such as home care services, medical equipment, nursing home placement, etc.;
- Counseling patients and families;
- Supervising unlicensed persons whom assist nurses to provide care;
- Administering care from simple first aid to complex technical services;
- Administering medications and treatments as prescribed by other health care providers;
- Conducting nursing research;
- Teaching the practice of nursing;
- Providing health care advice via electronic communication;
- Consulting.
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