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Nurse licensure is the process by which various regulatory bodies, usually a Board of Nursing, regulate the practice of nursing within its jurisdiction. The primary purpose of nurse licensure is to grant permission to practice as a nurse after verifying the applicant has met minimal competencies to safely perform nursing activities within nursing's scope of practice.
Each jurisdiction can have laws, licensing bodies, and regulations that describe requirements for education and training, and define scope of practice. Governing, licensing, and law enforcement bodies are often at the sub-national (e.g. state or province) level, but national guidelines and regulations also often exist.
Each has its own laws, rules, and regulations that describe what nurses with a given qualification may provide. Many jurisdictions have adopted the Model Nursing Practice Act and Model Nursing Administrative Rules created by the National Council of State Nursing Boards (NCSNB). [21]
The practice of nursing is based upon a social contract that delineates professional rights and responsibilities as well as accountability mechanisms. In almost all countries, nursing practice is defined and governed by law, and entrance to the profession is regulated at the national or state level.
The CNO's definition for a nurse's scope of practice is: "The practice of nursing is the promotion of health and the assessment of, the provision of care for, and the treatment of health conditions by supportive, preventive, therapeutic, palliative, and rehabilitative means in order to attain or maintain optimal function". [15]
Health law is a field of law that encompasses federal, state, and local law, rules, regulations and other jurisprudence among providers, payers and vendors to the health care industry and its patients, and delivery of health care services, with an emphasis on operations, regulatory and transactional issues.
Nurses in the United States follow the Nurse Practice Act (NPA) which are laws that protect the public's health and welfare by outlining the safe practices of nursing. All states and territories in the U.S. have a nurse practice act. The rules and regulations may vary from state to state.
The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) is an agreement that allows mutual recognition (reciprocity) of a nursing license between member U.S. states ("compact states"). Enacted into law by the participating states, the NLC allows a nurse who is a legal resident of and possesses a nursing license in a compact state (their "home state") to practice in any of the other compact states (the "remote ...