First: Identifying two State Nurse Practice Acts (NPAs)
Please visit the National Council of State Boards of Nursing: https://www.ncsbn.org/npa.htm (Links to an external site.)
Select two State Nurse Practice Acts (NPA) to compare.
Second: Presentation Component
Create a presentation comparing the two nurse practice acts by addressing each of the following items:
Identify and compare the two state agencies overseeing the practice of nurses.
List the professions included in the nurse practice
Indicate RN, LPN, APN, APRN, ARNP
If APN: indicate the type (delineated /not delineated) – nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, certified registered nurse anesthetist, clinical nurse
Describe LPN capabilities according to the NPA for each state (e., pass medications, IVs?).
List any professions or job titles other than that of a nurse (e.g., dialysis tech, community health worker, nurse’s aide, medication aide, massage therapist, ).
List any protected professional titles (i.e., prohibitions against anyone not possessing a license calling her/himself an RN, LPN or APN).
Describe rules for the Board of Nursing (or its equivalent).
How many members are required?
Must the board represent certain specialties of nursing?
If so, what are those specialties?
If the Board of Nursing does not require APN members, is there some other board or council or committee or other entity that specifically oversees APN practice?
If so, is there a requirement that physicians be members of this other board/council/committee, and if so, how many?
Define delegation restrictions in each state (limits to the kinds of tasks an RN can delegate and to whom the RN can delegate those tasks).
Continuing education requirements, if any, for each type of nurse delineated in the NPA. (Note: APNs might have different requirements from other types of nurses).
Criminal background check
Scope of the APNs or APRNs Role:
If APNs are delineated in the NPA, must they possess separate RN and APN licenses in order to practice as an APN?
Are APNs required to have a graduate degree and/or certification specific to their type of APN?
The requirement for an APN to practice: Must there be physician oversight? If so, is it: Supervision (written or unwritten agreements) or collaboration (written or unwritten agreements)? Alternatively, can APNs practice independently?
Are APNs regulated by the same body as other nurses (e.g., the Board of Nursing, or its equivalent)? The Board of Medicine? Both the Board of Nursing and Board of Medicine? Some other entity (e.g., Department of Health)?
Are APNs allowed to prescribe medication? Are they allowed to prescribe controlled substances? If so, which schedules are they allowed to prescribe (options include some or all of Schedules V, IV, III, and II). Does their prescriptive authority require supervision or collaboration of a physician?
Identify any nurse license compacts (special agreements with states so that nurses may practice across state lines)?
Are there any unique features required of nurses in either state (e.g., passing a jurisprudence examination, having to complete specific types of continuing education, such as HIV)?
Are nurses (RNs or APNs) allowed to perform certain procedures (e.g., determine a cause of death, sign death certificates)?
Presentation Formatting:
Appropriate graphics, color choices, and general aesthetic design (to the best of your ability) should be used throughout the presentation. In the presentation, you are encouraged to be creative. Therefore you can use any presentation software of your choice as long as the finished product can be submitted to Canvas and viewed by the faculty (without the need to install any additional plug-ins or software). Presentation software options include, PowerPoint or Prezi.
In addition, be sure to consider the following:
Correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.
Organize information with bullet points (very few slides should have full paragraphs).
Summarize and paraphrase content (DO NOT copy and paste entire sections of a statute).
Side-by-side comparisons of information can be effective, assuming the slide is not too “busy.” If a slide is too hard to read, it is better to divide the content into two or more slides.
Include an APA references list slide at the end of the presentaiton.
Include appropriate APA citations that correspond to the reference list at the end of the presentation.
APA Citations & References:
Many statutes use this symbol to delineate a section number: (double “s” or signum sectionis). Thus, a section and its subsection may look something like this: § 65-30).
The easiest way to get that section symbol into your presentation is to go into Microsoft Word, find the “insert” tab in the top toolbar, find the “symbol” icon; often that symbol is in the category of “Basic Latin.” Once you insert that symbol into one slide, you should be able to copy and paste that symbol from one slide to another.
Nurse practice acts are statutes, and their format are discussed on p. 220-221 in the 6th edition of the APA manual.
Remember that the primary purpose of citations and references is to help the reader to find original sources if so desired, not to make the presentation appear as if an attorney wrote it.
Citations on slides may be in a smaller font than the rest of the slide
