Senior Honors Research Symposium 2022

11 Senior Honors Student: Narjis Moosavi Faculty Mentor: Dr. Olga F. Jarrin Montaner    Key Components of the U.S. State Nurse Prac Ɵ ce Acts Background: State Nurse Prac Ɵ ce Acts de fi ne the legal scope of prac Ɵ ce for professional nurses in each state. While much has been wri Ʃ en about varia Ɵ on between states in scope of prac Ɵ ce and prescrip Ɵ ve authority for advanced prac- Ɵ ce nurses, only two papers have focused on this issue among registered nurses (Jarrín, 2010; Lavin, Meyer & Carlson, 1999). This paper summarizes the key components of the U.S. State Nurse Prac Ɵ ce Acts. Methods: The state nurse prac Ɵ ce acts were reviewed in comparison to the Na Ɵ onal Council of State Boards of Nursing’s (NCSBN) Model State Prac Ɵ ce Act (2021). Thema Ɵ c analysis was used to group and compare key terms with the Model State Prac Ɵ ce Act as a point of reference. Results: Major themes iden Ɵ fi ed were integra Ɵ on of knowledge from biologi- cal, physical, behavioral and social sciences; nursing process; health promo Ɵ on, preven Ɵ on, and maintenance; interprofessional collabora Ɵ on; execu Ɵ on of the medical regimen; teaching the theory and prac Ɵ ce nursing; supervision and dele- ga Ɵ on; and advoca Ɵ ng for pa Ɵ ents. The most frequent themes were execu Ɵ on of medical regimen, health promo Ɵ on and maintenance, and nursing process. Conclusions: While more than half of state nurse prac Ɵ ce acts describe the nursing process as an essen Ɵ al component, the NCSBN Model State Prac Ɵ ce Act does not explicitly men Ɵ on nursing process and only generally refers to the nurse par Ɵ cipa Ɵ ng in and establishing pa Ɵ ent diagnoses. Standardizing language about the nursing process in State Nurse Prac Ɵ ce Acts may contribute to The Fu- ture of Nursing 2030 goal of ensuring that registered nurses are prac Ɵ cing to the full extent of their license.