2006 Nebraska Revised Statutes - § 71-1,132.05 — Nursing; terms, defined.

Section 71-1,132.05
Nursing; terms, defined.

For purposes of the Nurse Practice Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Executive director means the executive director of the Board of Nursing;

(2) Board means the Board of Nursing;

(3) License by endorsement means the granting of active status and the authority to practice to an individual who has been licensed in another jurisdiction;

(4) License by examination means the authority to practice is based on an assessment of minimum competency by such means as the board may determine;

(5) License, for purposes of discipline, includes the multistate licensure privilege to practice granted by the Nurse Licensure Compact. If the multistate licensure privilege is restricted due to disciplinary action by the home state, the department may, upon request by the individual, grant the authority to practice in this state;

(6) Licensed practitioner means a person lawfully authorized to prescribe medications or treatments;

(7) The practice of nursing means the performance for compensation or gratuitously of any act expressing judgment or skill based upon a systematized body of nursing knowledge. Such acts include the identification of and intervention in actual or potential health problems of individuals, families, or groups, which acts are directed toward maintaining health status, preventing illness, injury, or infirmity, improving health status, and providing care supportive to or restorative of life and well-being through nursing assessment and through the execution of nursing care and of diagnostic or therapeutic regimens prescribed by any person lawfully authorized to prescribe. Each nurse is directly accountable and responsible to the consumer for the quality of nursing care rendered. Licensed nurses may use the services of unlicensed individuals to provide assistance with personal care and activities of daily living;

(8) The practice of nursing by a registered nurse means assuming responsibility and accountability for nursing actions which include, but are not limited to:

(a) Assessing human responses to actual or potential health conditions;

(b) Establishing nursing diagnoses;

(c) Establishing goals and outcomes to meet identified health care needs;

(d) Establishing and maintaining a plan of care;

(e) Prescribing nursing interventions to implement the plan of care;

(f) Implementing the plan of care;

(g) Teaching health care practices;

(h) Delegating, directing, or assigning nursing interventions that may be performed by others and that do not conflict with the act;

(i) Maintaining safe and effective nursing care rendered directly or indirectly;

(j) Evaluating responses to interventions, including, but not limited to, performing physical and psychological assessments of patients under restraint and seclusion as required by federal law, if the registered nurse has been trained in the use of emergency safety intervention;

(k) Teaching theory and practice of nursing;

(l) Conducting, evaluating, and utilizing nursing research;

(m) Administering, managing, and supervising the practice of nursing; and

(n) Collaborating with other health professionals in the management of health care;

(9) The practice of nursing by a licensed practical nurse means the assumption of responsibilities and accountability for nursing practice in accordance with knowledge and skills acquired through an approved program of practical nursing. A licensed practical nurse may function at the direction of a licensed practitioner or a registered nurse. Such responsibilities and performances of acts must utilize procedures leading to predictable outcomes and must include, but not be limited to:

(a) Contributing to the assessment of the health status of individuals and groups;

(b) Participating in the development and modification of a plan of care;

(c) Implementing the appropriate aspects of the plan of care;

(d) Maintaining safe and effective nursing care rendered directly or indirectly;

(e) Participating in the evaluation of response to interventions; and

(f) Assigning and directing nursing interventions that may be performed by others and that do not conflict with the act;

(10) Department means the Department of Health and Human Services Regulation and Licensure;

(11) Director means the Director of Regulation and Licensure;

(12) Inactive status means the designation given to a licensee who requests this status and pays the fee. A licensee on inactive status is issued a card indicating inactive status but shall not practice;

(13) Lapsed status means the designation given to a licensee who requests this status. A licensee on lapsed status shall not practice;

(14) Expiration date means the date on which the license expires has passed. The licensee whose license has expired shall not practice;

(15) Suspended means the licensee's authority to practice has been temporarily removed as a result of disciplinary action;

(16) Revoked means the licensee's authority to practice has been removed as a result of disciplinary action. The licensee may apply for reinstatement of his or her license two years or more after the date of revocation;

(17) Reinstatement means the return to active status and the restoration of the authority to practice to a licensee who was previously licensed in this state;

(18) Verification means attesting to the current status of an individual's license;

(19) Certification means attesting to the current status of an individual's license, any disciplinary action taken, and the means by which the individual was licensed;

(20) Probation means that the individual's authority to practice is contingent on the licensee meeting specified conditions imposed as a result of disciplinary action;

(21) Limited license means that certain restrictions have been imposed on the individual's authority to practice as a result of disciplinary action;

(22) Assignment means appointing or designating another individual the responsibility for the performance of nursing interventions;

(23) Delegation means transferring to another individual the authority, responsibility, and accountability to perform nursing interventions; and

(24) Direction means managing, guiding, and supervising the nursing interventions performed by another individual.

Source:

Laws 1953, c. 245, § 2, p. 836

Laws 1955, c. 272, § 1, p. 854

Laws 1959, c. 320, § 1, p. 1171

Laws 1975, LB 422, § 2

Laws 1980, LB 847, § 2

Laws 1981, LB 379, § 35

Laws 1989, LB 342, § 19

Laws 1992, LB 1019, § 42

Laws 1995, LB 563, § 7

Laws 1996, LB 1044, § 437

Laws 2000, LB 523, § 5

Laws 2005, LB 256, § 24

Cross References:

Nurse Licensure Compact,see section 71-1795.

~Revised Statutes Supplement, 2006