Nursing board stalls plan to delegate duties to unlicensed workers

Art Nadler

Friday, May 22, 1998 | 10 a.m.

The Nursing Practice Advisory Committee has opted to table a proposal that would have allowed unlicensed people to perform nursing duties.

The committee, meeting at the Northern Nevada Medical Center in Sparks Wednesday, voted unanimously to reject the controversial regulation change.

"After hearing all the testimony, Kathy Apple (executive director of the Board of Nursing), felt it was better to table this," Vicki Means, information officer for the Nevada State Board of Nursing, said.

Means said the committee would recommend to the state Board of Nursing that the change not be approved. She said as of July 1, no more regulation changes will be introduced for at least a year.

The proposed regulation change would have allowed a medical facility to have its chief nurse demand that a registered nurse delegate his or her duties to an unlicensed person.

Neither the medical facility nor the chief nurse could be held negligent, but the registered nurse who delegated the duties could be held responsible.

"I'm very happy about this," Melanie Sisson, an intensive-care nurse at Sunrise Hospital, said. "I think everyone who went to that meeting was glad it was tabled for now."

Cynthia Bunch, federal government relations coordinator with the Nevada Nurses Association, said she was relieved that the committee tabled the change, but was concerned that it could come up after a year.

"The real work is just beginning," Bunch said. "Now we have to address the structure of the board (of nursing), so it represents the nursing practice in Nevada."

The Nevada State Board of Nursing has come under criticism recently because the majority of its members and administrators are not practicing nurses. Bunch said the NNA will be striving in the future to have more working nurses on the board.