HD25 - The Need to Redefine Professional Nursing and Practical Nursing in Virginia

  • Published: 1987
  • Author: Department of Health
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 12 (Regular Session, 1986)

Executive Summary:
The present statutory definitions of "professional nursing," "practical nursing," "professional nurse," and "practical nurse" are stated in Code of Virginia, Sec. 54-367.2 (b), (c), (d), and (e). These definitions are presented in Appendix 1.

Upon receiving HJR 12, the Director of DHRB appointed a Task Force for Study of the Definitions of Nursing consisting jointly of members of the Virginia State Board of Nursing and the Council on Health Regulatory Boards, and instructed this Task Force to study the need to redefine the practices of the Registered Nurse (RN) or the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), or both. The Task Force was directed to engage, as appropriate, the resources of the Board of Nursing, the Virginia Nurses Association, the Professional Registered Nurses of Virginia, the Alliance of Nursing Organizations in Virginia, and other qualified professional nurses. Since the charge to the Task Force included examination of the need to revise the definition of practical nursing, the Task Force expanded the list of nursing organizations identified in HJR 12 to include the Virginia Licensed Practical Nurses Association.

This report is based on a preliminary analysis by the Task Force of information gathered. The findings presented here are tentative and subject to consideration and modification based on further analysis of the variety of information that has been made available to the Task Force.