The Standards of Professional Nursing Practice
The Standards of Professional Nursing Practice are guidelines of the duties that all registered nurses, regardless of specialty, role, or population, are expected to perform completely. Also, specific clinical circumstances may affect the application of standards at a given time, especially during a natural disaster (Saidun, Akhmetova, & Awang Abd Rahman, 2020). The standards are therefore subjected to formal, periodic review and revision. To be a licensed and registered as a professional nurse in New York, an individual must:
- Be at least eighteen years of age.
- A graduate from a nursing education program approved by NYSED.
- Must be a good moral character.
- Must have passed the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses.
- Must apply for an RN license with NYSED.
- Must have completed child abuse coursework and infection control coursework.
A New York State Education Department must approve infection course work practiced by RNs after four years or qualify for an exemption. In this case, individuals who apply for a license are required to show that they have completed the NYSED approved infection control coursework. An individual does not have to take additional infection control coursework when they apply for a license if they have graduated from a nursing education program approved by NYSED for the past four years. An individual may also qualify for an exemption from New York’s infection control coursework if: they take infection control training equivalent to NYSED required infection control coursework. In this case, it is not necessary to take infection control coursework due to the nursing practice’s nature.
Before an individual is issued with a limited permit or license, they must complete an NYSED approved child abuse reporting coursework or qualify for an exemption. Those who graduated from nursing education programs from September 1, 1990, have completed the child abuse reporting coursework because NYSED registers them (Holtschneider & Park, 2020). Those who do not qualify for the course and do not qualify for exemption are required to take child abuse reporting coursework that is also available online. These courses help minimize child abuse cases that go unpunished, which creates the right working environment for all categories of nursing in an institution.