NURS 6050 Week 6 Assignment Board of Nursing and a Professional Nurse Association

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Walden University

NURS 6050

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• NURS 6050 Week 6 Assignment Board of Nursing and a Professional Nurse Association.

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Hello everyone!

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Board of Nursing and a Professional Nurse Association

The Board of Nursing and the Professional Nurse Association have various, yet complementary responsibilities that protect the nursing profession. The Board of Nursing refers to a government board that governs or directly regulates the practice of nursing in a particular territory, e.g., at the state or territory level. The primary mission of the Board is to protect the general interest of the people by making regulations that direct the education, practice, and ethics of certified nurses.

Board members are mostly appointed individuals (registered nurses, advanced practice nurses, consumers, and occasionally physicians) whose mandate is the power to implement state laws and regulations pertaining to nursing.

The Professional Nursing Association, on the other hand, is a voluntary association of nurses that embraces both nursing and those who share similar interests, goals, and concerns that are associated with their occupation. A regulating body of nursing is not the same as a professional association, which is a membership-driven advocacy group. It particularly seeks to increase the profile of the nursing profession, develop the capacity of nurses, and protect the interests of the employees and the healthcare consumers. Professional associations tend to offer career education, networking opportunities, and assistance to the members, and participate in advocacy to influence the healthcare political environment and laws.

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Texas Board of Nursing

The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) is the regulatory authority of nursing practice in Texas (Thomas et al., 2021). Established by the state legislature, BON operates based on the Texas Occupations Code and the Texas Administrative Code. In this regard, the objective of the board is to safeguard and uphold the community’s good of the Texas residents by ensuring that every nurse with a license in the state is competent enough to practice in a safe way.

Composition

The Texas Board of Nursing is made up of 13 members selected by the Governor of Texas with the recommendation and approval of the Senate (Texas Board of Nursing, 2018). The board has six board members (three nurses and four representing the people). The nursing staff has one APRN. Their six-year terms are staggered, and they have a reappointment opportunity and may be removed by the governor for just cause.

Membership

To be eligible to join the Texas Board of Nursing, applicants must meet some conditions, which include the eligibility requirements as stipulated in the Texas Occupations Code. The registered nurses seeking to be promoted to supervisory roles should have worked at least five years, at least three of which should be within Texas (Texas Board of Nursing, 2018). In addition, they would have to have an active license to practice nursing in Texas as well as be actively engaged in nursing practice or education.

Applicants for licensed vocational nurses must have a minimum of 5 years of training (at least 3 of which are in Texas), and the applicants should possess an active Texas nursing license. Members are appointed by the Governor based on the recommendation made by a number of nursing organizations and other stakeholders. The nominees are the ones who are most likely to be those who possess a significant history of demonstrated leadership, experience, and commitment to the betterment of professional nursing and the health of the population.

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State Regulation related to General Nurse Scope of Practice

The general nurse’s scope of practice is one of the main state laws in Texas and is known as the Nursing Practice Act (NPA) (Martin & Zolnierek, 2020). The NPA, given by the Texas Legislature, refers to the nursing practice regulations that provide the limits or scope of practice of registered nurses (RNs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) in the state. The NPA lists the responsibilities, roles, and scope of nurses and the authority they have to delegate and oversee the work of other nurses, the level of care expected of nurses, and legislative breaches by nurses, including disciplinary action.

Influence on Nurse’s Role

To a large extent, legal jurisdiction, as outlined in the Nursing Practice Act, outlines the role of nurses by meeting the competence, accountability, and ethical conduct requirements. A nurse is required to work within the scope of his/her license and adhere to the procedures and standards. This element of the curriculum emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning and constant learning in regard to competency and safety of patients that pass through the hands of the nurses.

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Influence on Delivery, Cost, and Access to Healthcare:

The policy, as stipulated in the Nursing Practice Act, has a profound influence on the delivery of healthcare, cost, and access.

1. Healthcare Delivery: The legislation determines the scope of practice of nurses in a healthcare system. It determines the role, duty, and power of nurses. Nurses are the foundation of the healthcare team, whose role involves direct patient care services, organization of these services, and health promotion and wellness. Under the regulation, a pathway to nursing practice is established where the nurses are trained, competent, and responsible in their practice (Tønnesssen et al., 2020). It also aids in minimizing the incidence of medical errors and adverse events, and ultimately enhances the end results and patient experience.
2. Healthcare Cost: The regulation can affect health spending in various ways. First, nurses perform preventive procedures and cure mild disease prior to when they begin to demand complex therapies through the early identification and education of patients. In addition, care coordination, case management, and transition care, in which the nurse is involved, can be used to decrease healthcare bills and unnecessary resource use. However, these policies, such as the staffing ratios and the required nurse-to-patient ratios, are what can increase the cost of healthcare staffing to the hospital, which in turn can increase the healthcare expenditure.
3. Access to Healthcare: The law is also supposed to be available to facilitate easy access to health services (Martin & Zolnierek, 2020). Most settings like hospitals, clinics, schools, and community centres typically have the nurses as the main source of operation. These nurses with their repositories of expertise and variety to offer a myriad of health care services under one roof are a vital component of the construction networks of health care, where physicians are not abundant, like in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods and rural settings. Additionally, the rule emphasizes cultural competency and patient care as the ability to handle the various cultures and eliminate disparities in healthcare services, including access and outcomes.

Impact on Patients from Different Cultures

The nurses who provide care to patients of other backgrounds have a responsibility in terms of culturally competent nursing care that is elaborated in the Nursing Practice Act. The nurses should be accommodating and amicable towards both cultural diversity and practices, to foster effective communication and networking with the patients and family members (Younger & Guo, 2020). This principle emphasizes cultural sensitivity, humility, and awareness as important elements of readiness to attend to patients of other cultures.

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State Regulation Related to Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs)

The necessity to obtain supervision or work with a physician within the first 10 years of an APRN career to acquire more experience following graduation is one of the special laws in Texas related to the APRNs (Texas Board of Nursing, 2017). This is stipulated by the Texas Nursing Practice Act and the rules of the Texas Board of Nursing.

Influence on Nurse’s Role

This rule is one of the key determinants of the role of APRNs since it brings the concept of collaboration. Even though APRNs are able to work as autonomous practitioners who are able to assess, diagnose, and treat patients in their field of practice, they are still limited to their practice during the initial years after graduation. APRNs should also consider the cooperation agreements with physicians, which may be either consultation, referral, or control, based on the specific state of practice, and on the population of patients an APRN works with. This rule not only establishes the nature of the APRN-physician relationship but also the accountability of APRNs in making independent decisions.

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Influence on Delivery, Cost, and Access to Healthcare

Likewise, physician oversight of APRNs and partnerships are the aspects that affect healthcare delivery, cost, and access. It is supposed to be as inclusive as possible of the physicians’ workforce and can help to enhance inter-professional collaboration and care coordination, resulting in higher quality and patient outcomes. On the other hand, it introduces certain issues and obstacles to implementation, usually in remote and underserved regions where there may be a lack of mobilisation of the doctors.

Physician cooperation required in the coordination process would lead to increased health care costs in keeping collaborative agreements in place and hinder the ability of APRNs to practice within their scope of practice, exceeding their education and training. Although this measure is an indication that the number of patients APRNs will attend to would grow, it will also mean that access to healthcare could be compromised, especially in areas with a shortage of providers, because APRNs might be restricted in the autonomous practice of medicine during the period when the primary care services are in high demand.

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Changes to Regulation

The last few years have witnessed considerable changes in the regulation of nurse practitioners intended to expand their area of practice and eliminate the existing barriers to practice. In 2019, Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed House Bill 1792 into law, permitting APRNs who meet the required qualifications, including a transition to practice period and the very first collaborative agreement with a physician, to obtain a full practice authority within the first 10 years of practice.

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Conclusion

The NURS 6050 Week 6 Assignment is about breaking down the difference between the Board of Nursing and a Professional Nurse Association. It is worth saying, therefore, that it is the role of the Texas Board of Nursing to ensure the practice and safety of its people are regulated. The regulations of the board that are aimed at enforcing the nursing state laws and regulations provide staff in the state who are trained, responsible, and ethical.

The Nursing Practice Act and regulations concerning the APRNs act as a foundation of roles and responsibilities of the nurses and have an impact on healthcare provision, cost, and access. These patient safety, quality care, and cultural competence-promoting regulations play a crucial role in ensuring that patients realize good health outcomes and improve the quality of healthcare services provided in Texas.

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References

Martin, E., & Zolnierek, C. (2020). Beyond the nurse practice act: making a difference through advocacy. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol25No01Man02

Texas Board of Nursing – Practice FAQ. (2018). Texas.gov. https://www.bon.texas.gov/npa1.asp.html

Tønnessen, S., Scott, A., & Nortvedt, P. (2020). Safe and competent nursing care: An argument for a minimum standard? Nursing Ethics, 27(6), 096973302091913. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020919137

Young, S., & Guo, K. L. (2020). Cultural diversity training: the necessity of cultural competence for health care providers and in nursing practice. The Health Care Manager, 39(2), 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1097/hcm.0000000000000294