Amends TCA Title 63, Chapter 7, Part 1.
Generally under present law, a person must have a license to practice professional nursing in this state. This bill creates a limited exception to the licensure requirement to authorize a nursing graduate to engage in the practice of professional nursing without a license for a period not to exceed 120 consecutive calendar days from the date of receipt of the first authorization to take the national council licensure examination for registered nurses (NCLEX-RN). The exception will apply if the nursing graduate: (1) Practices in an institution licensed as a physical or mental healthcare institution; and (2) Works, at all times, under the supervision of an individual licensed to practice professional nursing. For the purposes of this bill, a nursing graduate means an individual who holds a diploma or degree from a board-approved school of nursing that entitles the individual to take the NCLEX-RN examination and has received authorization to take the NCLEX-RN examination. This bill requires the nursing graduate to provide proof of the first such authorization to the healthcare institution in which the graduate is practicing. ON APRIL 15, 2021, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1353, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 revises various provisions of this bill as follows: (A) Changes all references in the bill from "nursing graduate" to "graduate nurse"; (B) Adds that the graduate nurse must provide proof of graduation from an approved school of nursing within the previous 90 days; (D) Limits the supervising individual licensed to practice professional nursing to supervising no more than one graduate nurse at a time; (D) Prohibits a graduate nurse: from being deemed a qualified registered nurse and from using another title or identifying as anything but a "graduate nurse" in a clinical setting; and (E) Defines "supervision" to mean that the graduate nurse's supervisor is located in the same unit as the graduate nurse when the graduate nurse is performing duties pursuant to the bill as amended.
Generally under present law, a person must have a license to practice professional nursing in this state. This bill creates a limited exception to the licensure requirement to authorize a nursing graduate to engage in the practice of professional nursing without a license for a period not to exceed 120 consecutive calendar days from the date of receipt of the first authorization to take the national council licensure examination for registered nurses (NCLEX-RN). The exception will apply if the nursing graduate: (1) Practices in an institution licensed as a physical or mental healthcare institution; and (2) Works, at all times, under the supervision of an individual licensed to practice professional nursing. For the purposes of this bill, a nursing graduate means an individual who holds a diploma or degree from a board-approved school of nursing that entitles the individual to take the NCLEX-RN examination and has received authorization to take the NCLEX-RN examination. This bill requires the nursing graduate to provide proof of the first such authorization to the healthcare institution in which the graduate is practicing. ON APRIL 15, 2021, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1353, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 revises various provisions of this bill as follows: (A) Changes all references in the bill from "nursing graduate" to "graduate nurse"; (B) Adds that the graduate nurse must provide proof of graduation from an approved school of nursing within the previous 90 days; (D) Limits the supervising individual licensed to practice professional nursing to supervising no more than one graduate nurse at a time; (D) Prohibits a graduate nurse: from being deemed a qualified registered nurse and from using another title or identifying as anything but a "graduate nurse" in a clinical setting; and (E) Defines "supervision" to mean that the graduate nurse's supervisor is located in the same unit as the graduate nurse when the graduate nurse is performing duties pursuant to the bill as amended.
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