Nurses play a key role in the healthcare business in the United States. Nurses’ roles as patient advocates and professional care providers have never been more crucial in serving the healthcare demands of an increasing number of patients. The nearly 3 million nurses employed today form the backbone of the United States’ healthcare business and are the biggest single profession within the area. Nurses in California are under the Board of Registered Nurses (BRN) and the Board of Vocational Nurses and Psychiatric Technicians (BVNPT). This essay will look at the nurse practice act, rules, and regulations of the nursing boards in California. It will also touch on how California addresses advanced practice and the definition of nursing of registered nurses (RN), Licensed practical nurse (LPN)/ Licensed vocational nurse (LVN), and advanced practice registered nurse (APRN). I will also include why a nurse manager is important to understand these distinctions of nurses.
The BRN is a statewide governmental entity created by legislation to safeguard the public by governing registered nurses’ profession. The BRN is in charge of enacting and imposing the Nursing Practice Act, which governs the teaching and schooling of nurses, licensing, execution, and competency (California Board of Registered Nursing, 2022). The Nursing Practice Act established a nine-member Board of Directors to function as the BRN’s ruling body. The BRN’s procedures are guided by legislative regulations known as the Nursing Practice Act (NPA), which grants the organization the jurisdiction to receive and investigate complaints against nurses and take disciplinary action against nurses whose acts endanger the public (California Board of Registered Nursing, 2022). The BRN also can revoke nursing licenses and initiate legal action against RNs if necessary. BRN regulation mandates entities such as health facilities, medical clinics, and medical institutions to implement standards under the NPA to promote the safety of patients and nurse training, which serves the best interests of the public protection concept (California Board of Registered Nursing, 2022).
The regulations are intended to offer standardization for legislation governing nursing practice. The NPA establishes nursing practice standards and a code of conduct to maintain the authorization of nurse practice (California Board of Registered Nursing, 2022). This act ensures no nurse is of harm to the public and protects patients from any nurse who poses a risk to their health and welfare. This protective concept is achieved by measuring competence during their first License and the nurse’s profession. This board develops standards that every nurse practitioner has to follow and work by their standards. These criteria are based on the nurses’ professional, ethical, and legal standards. The BVNPT guarantees that only competent individuals are licensed psychiatric technicians and vocational nurses by educating consumers about their rights practice standards and enforcing education requirements (Board of Vocational Nursing & Psychiatric Technicians, 2022).
Advanced practice nurses and public health nurses are certified by Registered Nursing (BRN). Nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists, nurse-midwives, and nurse practitioners are advanced practice nurses (California Board of Registered Nursing, 2022). The BRN has a list of nurses who handle mental and psychiatric health issues. Before getting the certificate in any of the areas above, he/she must have a California registered nursing license. LPN/LVN definition is an individual who has graduated from an approved nursing program and is certified by the board of nurses to offer basic nursing care, such as caring for the ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled. LPNs operate under the supervision of doctors, mid-level clinicians, and registered nurses. APRN is a registered nurse with extensive knowledge, complex judgment call abilities, and clinical competence to practice in a larger setting. The California State Board of Nursing licenses APRNs to provide care delivery within the limits of their employment and demographic and clinical emphasis sometimes;, they can prescribe medication and work independently without the supervision of a physician (California Board of Registered Nursing, 2022). Though APRN is a subtype of registered nursing, the APRN license is viewed as a separate licensing class from RN licensure in California. A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Associate or an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) and subsequently passed the RN licensing exam (NCLEX-RN), which is set under the BRN. RNs cannot delegate any task that needs critical decision-making, nursing judgment, clinical thinking, or nursing judgment (California Board of Registered Nursing, 2022).
Nurse managers need to understand these different groups of nurses. Each group of nurses has different roles and delegations (Bittner et al.,2009). Their roles are listed under the nurse’s practice act, and the nurse manager has to be well versed with this act. A nurse manager’s role is to assign does to other staff in the health care facilities. The manager has to assign the right duties to each group of nurses, and he /she should not slip and assign wrong duties. This will lead to incompetence in the nurses, and delivering care to the patients will not be of quality. This can lead to even legal battle by the patient and management when a nurse cannot deliver quality services because he /she has been given a task they are not qualified for. In the absence of effective organization, disarray will develop, which would be disastrous in the healthcare facilities (Bittner et al.,2009). They should be effective at resolving problems, meticulous, and be detail-oriented. He/ She should be able to handle many jobs simultaneously, such as supervising care delivery, preparing the right shift schedules, and allocating work to nurses (Bittner et al.,2009).
In conclusion, as the role of nurses continues to change and be diverse, rules and regulations have to be set to protect individuals’ rights. The board of nurses ensures good standards for safe nursing practice, determines the field of expertise for nurses within its purview, allots licenses to qualified applicants, and manages punitive action for professional nursing infringements. This ensures competency, honesty, and reliability in the nursing profession. A nurse managers should be careful and hold themselves countable to allocate tasks to nurses under their jurisdiction.
References
Bittner, N. P., & Gravlin, G. (2009). Critical thinking, delegation, and missed care in nursing practice. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(3), 142-146. Bittner, N. P., & Gravlin, G. (2009). Critical thinking, delegation, and missed care in nursing practice. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(3), 142-146. Bittner, N. P., & Gravlin, G. (2009). Critical thinking, delegation, and missed care in nursing practice. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(3), 142-146. https://journals.lww.com/jonajournal/FullText/2009/03000/Critical_Thinking,_Delegation,_and_Missed_Care_in.10.aspx
Board of Vocational Nursing & Psychiatric Technicians. (2022). https://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/
California Board of Registered Nursing. (2022). https://www.rn.ca.gov/
California Board of Registered Nursing. (2022). Nursing Practice Act. https://www.rn.ca.gov/practice/npa.shtml
California Board of Registered Nursing. (n.d.). Advanced practice and certification. https://www.rn.ca.gov/applicants/ad-pract.shtml
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