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July 2005 A Quarterly Publication of the Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas Volume 36, No. 3 Texas Board of Nursing Bulletin The mission of the Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas is to protect and promote the welfare of the people of Texas by ensuring that each person holding a license as a nurse in the State of Texas is competent to practice safely. The Board fulfills its mission through the regulation of the practice of nursing and the approval of nursing education programs. This mission, derived from the Nursing Practice Act, supersedes the interest of any individual, the nursing profession, or any special interest group. BNE Implements Legislation Passed by Notice of Public Hearing 79th Regular Texas Legislative Session The Board of Nurse Examiners (BNE) is holding a public hearing on July 20, 2005 to obtain stakeholder feedback in advance of The 79th Regular Texas Legislative Session ended on May agency review by the Sunset Commission, which will take place 30, 2005. The Board of Nurse Examiners (BNE) is currently during the 2006-2007 biennium. In advance of the review, the responding to passage of bills impacting the Nursing Practice Board is preparing a Self-Evaluation Report (SER) to be Act, Agency Rules and Regulations and agency operations. submitted to the Commission. The SER is designed to provide Bills of significance passed into law included: the Sunset Commission members and staff with a general background description of each agency being reviewed. The • SB 1000, amended the definition of “vocational SER also gives each agency an opportunity to provide the nursing” adding more detail (scope of practice Commission with a preview of issues and suggested for LVNs) and parallel format with definition of improvements regarding the agency and its functions. “professional nursing”; clarified that a nurse’s This hearing will take place on July 20, 2005, from 2:00 p.m. to conduct is reportable to BNE only when the 4:00 p.m., in Tower Two, Room 225, in the William Hobby conduct creates an unnecessary risk of harm to Building located at 333 Guadalupe, Austin, Texas. patient; clarified relationship between employer The BNE will accept comments in writing in lieu of appearing at reporting and conducting of nursing peer review the public hearing. Comments may be submitted by e-mail, fax or mail. Written feedback will be discussed at the public hearing on when a terminated nurse elects not to participate th in peer review; and made the Nurse Licensure ` July 20 . E-mail responses should go to Patricia.Vianes- Compact permanent in Texas. [email protected]. Faxed responses should be sent to (512) 305-8101, Attn: Patricia Vianes-Cabrera. Mailed responses • HB 1366, expanded the BNE's authority to should be addressed to: Board of Nurse Examiners, 333 investigate criminal charges against nurses Guadalupe, Suite 3-460, Austin, Texas 78701, Attn: Patricia through establishment of a criminal investigations Vianes-Cabrera. Any and all written responses must be unit, allows the BNE to consider deferred received on or before July 19th. Further information on the adjudication when considering candidates applying Sunset Commission and the review process can be obtained by for nurse licensure, and adds a list of offenses visiting their web site located at: http://www.sunset.state.tx.us/. which require suspension, revocation or denial of The Board of Nurse Examiners appreciates all stakeholder licensure. participation and feedback in the Sunset process. Feedback received is important to both the BNE and the Sunset • HB 1718, further defines a nurse first Commission and makes a difference in the regulation of nursing assistant, and establishes duties and requirements in the State of Texas. of nurse first assistants. • SB 39, adds the requirement to obtain continuing education on forensic evidence Inside this Issue collection for nurses working in emergency room Pg. 1 BNE Implements Legislation Passed by 79th Regular Texas settings. Legislative Session, Notice of Public Meeting Pg. 2 New Programs Result in Fee Increases • HB 2680, calls for reduced fees and BNE Meeting Schedule - 2005 continuing education requirements for a retired Pgs. 3-4 Summary of April 2005 Board Meeting health care practitioner whose only practice is Pg. 4 Department of State Health Services Requests Stakeholder Input voluntary charity care. Pg. 5 Taxonomy of Error, Root Cause Analysis and Practice - TERCAP, Adoption of Revisions to Rule 221.2 and 221.7, • SB 132, addresses the nursing shortage and relating to Advanced Practice Titles takes steps to increase enrollments in nursing Pg. 6 Imposter Warning schools. The Texas Legislature has committed Pgs. 6-12 Notice of Disciplinary Action Pg. 12 Suspension - Continuing Education more than 11 million dollars over the next Pgs. 13-14 Voluntary Surrenders biennium to be used towards reducing the nursing Pg. 14 Insufficient Funds shortage in Texas. Pg. 15 Workshop Update Request for Proposals: Innovative Professional Nursing Education Pilot Programs The BNE will take an in-depth look at all legislation passed Agency Contact Information in the 79th Session in the October edition of The Bulletin. July 2005 Texas Board of Nursing Bulletin Volume 36, No. 3 A Word from the Executive Director New Programs Result in Fee Increases The Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas Regulatory agencies in Texas are funded by fees they generate through their various licensure programs. Every BOARD MEMBERS two years the Legislature adopts a budget for the following Officers biennium. Agencies are required to submit a budget Linda Rounds, PhD, RN request prior to the session. If adopted, those requests as President, representing Advanced Practice Nursing, well as other bills that may have fiscal impact, result in an Galveston increase in fees to raise the additional revenue needed to Phyllis Rawley, CPC fund these initiatives. Vice-President, representing Consumers, El Paso Katherine Thomas, MN, RN During the 2005 Legislative Session, the approved budget Members bill added funding for conducting criminal background Joyce Adams, PhD, RN representing LVN Education, checks for initial licensure of LVNs and criminal history audits of all nurses over a 10 Houston year period. This means that every nurse will have a criminal history check at least Deborah Bell, CLU, ChFC once during the license renewal process between September 2005 and September representing Consumers, 2015. The Board implemented criminal background checks for initial licensure of Abilene RNs in 2003 when it was authorized and received funding for this purpose. The George Buchenau, Jr., BSN, RN, MBA representing Nursing Practice, positive criminal history rate for this group is approximately 11%. The criminal Amarillo background checks are provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Virginia Campbell, BSN, RN, CNOR, CPN and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The money approved for these representing RN Practice, programs will pay fees charged by these two agencies as well as fund additional Mesquite employee positions in the agency to review and process this information. Blanca Rosa Garcia, PhD, RN representing ADN Programs, Corpus Christi The Legislature also approved additional funding of the Texas Peer Assistance Richard Gibbs, LVN Program for Nurses (TPAPN), the program which the Board contracts with to representing LVN Practice, provide assistance to nurses with chemical dependency and certain mental health Mesquite Rachel Gomez, LVN problems. This program has not received any additional money for the past six years. representing LVN Practice, In fact, when the Board was required to reduce its budget during the last biennium, Harlingen this program’s funding was reduced. TPAPN provides a valuable service to the Brenda Jackson, PhD, RN Board and the public by assisting nurses to get the help they need and to continue representing BSN Programs, practicing while being monitored. San Antonio Beverley Jean Nutall, LVN representing LVN Practice, Additional funds must be raised to support the BNE state employees pay increase Bryan beginning in September. State employees have not received pay increases since Anita Palmer, BSE, ME, MA representing Consumers, 2001. Olney Frank Sandoval, Jr., J.D. I know it is never popular to announce fee increases, but these are necessary to fund representing Consumers, the work of licensing boards. These increases will take effect in September. The San Antonio proposed fee increases are currently published in the Texas Register and the Board will consider action on this rule at its July 21-22, 2005 meeting. Executive Director Katherine Thomas, MN, RN The Texas Board of Nursing Bulletin is the official publication of the Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas Board Meeting Dates: 2005 Published four times a year, January, April, July and October. Subscription price for residents within the continental U.S. is $10.00, plus tax. Subscription price outside July 21-22 of U.S. is $15.00, plus tax. October 20-21 Published by: TEXAS STATE BOARD OF NURSE EXAMINERS VOLUME XXXVI - No. 3 All meetings to be held in Austin Publication Office: 333 Guadalupe, Suite 3-460 Austin, Texas 78701-3944 Phone: 512/305-7400 Fax No.: 512/305-7401 2 July 2005 Texas Board of Nursing Bulletin Volume 36, No. 3 Summary of Actions A Regular meeting of the Board of Nurse Examiners was held April 21-22, 2005 in Austin. The following is a summary of Board actions taken during this meeting. Rules 221.2 and 221.7, pertaining to Advanced Practice Nurse New Chapter 227, relating to Pilot Programs for Innovative Titles, were published in the May 6, 2005 issue of the Texas Applications to Professional Nursing Education was published Register (30 TexReg 2668) and went into effect May 15, 2005. as proposed (30 TexReg 2825). No comments were received, and the rule was published as adopted in the July 1, 2005 issue of the The following proposed rule changes were published in the May Texas Register, and became effective July 5, 2005.