WRMC Has Guest Speaker from the North Carolina Board of Nursing

11/1/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tammy G. Love

Director of Marketing & Medical Staff Development

Phone: (336) 651-8116

Sixty-five Wilkes County nurses had a special opportunity to hear a representative from the North Carolina Board of Nursing last Wednesday, October 29, 2003. Linda Thompson, RN, MSN, MBA, Director of Education/ Practice with the N.C. Board of Nursing, was invited to speak at Wilkes Regional Medical Center. Ms. Thompson presented two sessions in which she discussed nursing accountability and current Board activities. RNs and LPNs are required to follow the components of the Nurse Practice Act. North Carolina was the first state to have a Nurse Practice Act and a special sign with this designation will be placed in Raleigh later this year.

Components of the Nurse Practice Act include requirements for patient assessment, care planning, delegation, teaching, collaboration, documentation and managing. Ms. Thompson discussed accepting nursing assignments and the responsibility that goes with the assignment. She also addressed advisory statements that require advanced skills and documentation of competency by the facility.

Other topics reviewed by Ms. Thompson included the N.C. Board of Nursing member composition, review of nurse training programs by the board, employer verification of license, and discipline problems. North Carolina and many other states have formed a multi-state compact that allows nurses to practice in those states without having to apply for a license in all of them.

The sessions allowed nurses to ask questions and voice their concerns about nursing practice. Nurses from WRMC, Wilkes County Health Department, Wilkes County Board of Education, and Villages of Wilkes attended the sessions.

Press Release from WRMC – November 2003 Written by Barbara Willens, BSN, RN, Director of Educational Services