Resource Center

Changes in Healthcare Professions’ Scope of Practice: Legislative Considerations is a result of a collaborative effort in 2006 by representatives from six healthcare regulatory organizations. It has been developed to assist legislators and regulatory bodies in making policy decisions related to healthcare professions’ scopes of practice.

This annual publication provides national and state summary data of member boards’ licensure activities, as well as data on candidate performance on the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN Examinations.

This study identifies the knowledge needed by certified entry-level medication aides/assistants. The results of this study (i.e., the important knowledge statements) will be used to assist item development.

Published in Educational and Psychological Measurement

This literature review is for internal use and has not been published externally.

Published in Educational and Psychological Measurement

In increasing numbers, pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) students seek educational programs that prepare them for dual certification in acute care and primary care. In 2008, an AFPNP research team of faculty experts was convened to examine areas of commonality and distinction between acute-care and primary-care PNP programs. Based on the results of surveys and interviews, an AFPNP task force created guidelines for combined educational programs that prepare students for dual certification as acute-care and primary-care PNPs.

A valid, reliable practice assessment is needed to support intervention on the public's behalf when the pattern of a nurse's performance results in or is likely to result in patient harm. A collaborative multiagency research team developed and tested a criterion-referenced competency assessment process, using high-fidelity clinical simulation based on the Taxonomy of Error Root Cause Analysis and Practice Responsibility and the Clinical Competency Assessment of Newly Licensed Nurses. The 41-item instrument includes nine competency categories essential for safe practice. The instrument used with high-fidelity simulation testing shows promise as a reliable, valid method for identifying unsafe nursing practice.

A mailed survey of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) employed in nursing homes in Minnesota and North Carolina examined their role and responsibilities as well as barriers to and facilitators for working within their scope of practice. The study focused on the nursing practice domains of assessment, care planning, evaluation, delegation, and supervision. BONs are encouraged to provide guidance to nurses and their nursing home employers who interpret RN and LPN scopes of practice as a means of promoting accountable, safe, quality care for nursing home residents.

Efforts to increase the number of accredited programs for practical nursing and associate-degree nursing and efforts to improve the BON rules for approving education programs led to a requirement that all programs in Minnesota must obtain national accreditation. This article describes the two distinct processes that produced this significant change.

Hospital-based research links higher proportions of nurses with BSN degrees to lower patient mortality rates, but it does not explain the mechanism. This study explored mechanisms related to individuals and work groups that could explain the association between nurses' education and patient outcomes. Our findings suggest the need for a broadened regulatory focus that considers not only nurses' education but also the contribution of the work environment and interdisciplinary teams to the coproduction of high-quality safe care.

The purpose of this article is to report additional data gathered during the NCSBN 2010 nationwide simulation survey of 1,729 nursing programs in the US. It serves as a companion article to the initial survey data reported by Hayden in 2010.