The Nurse Practice Act and the Impact of Legislation, Essay Example

Introduction

Like any other professionals who are licensed, Missouri nurses are as well regulated by several laws. The main state law that has an effect in nursing directly is the Nursing Practice Act. The act came along in protection of the public from any practices which are unsafe and unlicensed. This was to be achieved through regulating the practices of nurses and their education as well. The Missouri Nursing Practice Acts usually define nursing, sets the standards regarding the professional of nursing and offering the guidance that will have the details of the possibilities of the issues regarding the practice. Therefore, the Missouri Nursing Practice Act is the only significant legislation affecting the practices of nursing. The acts are always not checklist, but in general they enclose statements of a suitable action of a professional nursing. The Missouri nurses should bring together the practices of nursing act with all of his or her past work experience, the educational background, the advancements of the technology and the policies of an institution. But the main reason of enacting the Missouri Nursing Practice Acts is to protect the public from the practitioners that are unsafe, while the main goals competent with nursing care that is qualified and provided by the practitioners that are also qualified.

The Missouri Compact Law

The Missouri Compact Law ensures that it takes part in a multi-state nursing licensure compact regarding the practical nurses who are licensed and the nurses who are registered. It puts up the system of the common licensure in the states that are participating as done by the Missouri. The Missouri Compact Law permits the license of the nurse to contain common identification in other states. The nurses are needed to hold a license within the State of Missouri. The nurses will be required to announce that they are residing within Missouri and no other state. For a nurse to be verified he or she must have the driver’s license or the voter registration.

The Effect of Missouri Compact Law on Nurses

The nurses that are permanently residing in Missouri will no longer have other party state’s license immediately the act is implemented. This will be a privilege practice for a nurse that stays in Missouri and holds a tangential Missouri license to have in any of the state that is a member of the compact law. If a nurse alters citizenship from one compact state to another, he or she is obliged to apply for and acquire a nursing license in that state within thirty days which will be followed by an inactivation of the Missouri license. If a nurse changes citizenship to a non compact state, he or she has to apply for and acquire a nursing license in that state. This means that the license will only be valid in the state of Missouri.

The Missouri State Board of nursing mission statement

The Mission of the Missouri State Board of Nursing is to provide a better nursing act that will foster the growth that will be holistic within an environment of liberal arts, serve the families, populations and the communities within and beyond the State of Missouri. The board will also ensure that it has promoted the standards of brilliance within the professional nursing.

What the Board Consists

The Missouri State Board of Nursing consists of nine members. From the nine members only five of them should be registered as the professional nurses. From the remainder, only two must be licensed as the practical nurses and one member should be a public voting member. From the five members who are registered, two of them must have a graduate degree in nursing. On the other side of the professional nurses, only one will have to represent the nursing practice. Any other person who is not a public member and appointed to the board as a hereinafter must be a United State citizen and a resident of Missouri for a period of only one year. The newly appointed member must be a licensed nurse within Missouri State and must be engaged actively in nursing for three years instantly preceding the reappointment.

Any membership regarding the board will comprise all the representatives that are experts within the levels of programs regarding the education the eligible graduates that are capable of applying for the licensure of practical, the degree associates, diploma as well as the baccalaureate. When the vacancy occurs, the governor will be advised by the senate to appoint any members to the board.  A list that comprises of three qualified and licensed must be forwarded to the director that is concerned with the division of professional registration within ninety days before the end of a board member term. If the vacancy is for a professional nurse, then the list must be forwarded by the Missouri Nurses Association and if the same vacancy is a licensed practical nurse, then the list must be forwarded by the Missouri State Association of the Licensed Practical Nurses. From the list that is forwarded, the governor might be free to appoint any member from the board for the vacancy, or any other licensed nurse that is qualified enough. But the subsection will be a disadvantageous to the vacancies of a public member. The appointed public member must not have held a position of the licensed profession nor had a pursuant regulation to the act or any spouse of such an individual. The public member duties shall not comprise the technical requirements purpose to be met regarding the licensure or if there is any person that have met the same technical requirements or judgment of the technical.

The Duties of the Board

• The board elects the president and a secretary who both serves a term of one year. The secretary can as well serve as a treasurer. The board goes further by appointing, employing and fixing any compensation of any legal counsel.
• To go through and adopt the rules and the regulations that may be essential to enable it to proceed with effect on its provisions.
• Recommend on the standards of the educational programs that prepares an individual for the licensure pursuant.
• The board must have a five years provision on the surveys of such programs and in such times as it might essentially deem.
• Deny educational programs authorization if they fail to meet the minimum requirements that are prescribed.
• Examine and license the renewed licenses of any applicant who is suitably qualified.
• Prosecuting all the individuals are against the provision of Missouri Nursing Practice Acts.
• The board must be responsible of keeping the proceeding records as well as making the yearly report, which is forwarded to the governor and the director of the insurance department, institutions of the finance and professional registration.
• The board should set up the program of an impaired nurse.
• The board is responsible of setting the amount of fees that has been authorized and required by the regulations and the rules. The fees will be situated at a level of generating that will significantly not go beyond the expenses and the cost administering the nurse act.
• The boards is responsible of depositing all the fees that it receives in the treasury of the Missouri State and place them to the credit regarding the state board of nursing fund. The board’s administrative expenses and the costs will be paid from the appropriations made for those issues.

Work Cited

Missouri State Board of Nursing. Understanding the Nursing Practice Act of the State of Missouri. Missouri. 2010. From <governor.mo.gov/boards/show/nursing>