preview

Nursing Scope Of Practice Case Study

Decent Essays

There are multiple resources to inform a nurse of his or her legal scope of practice, as well as standards of practice in their profession. The American Nurses Association (2010) published the Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, the second edition in 2010, providing guidelines to all nurses regardless of their role or specialty (p.2). The purpose of this discussion is to define the nurse’s scope of practice according to the American Nurses Association, as well as define my state nurse’s scope of practice. Finally, I will successfully apply the nurse’s scope of practice to a clinical scenario. The American Nurses Association defines the scope of practice as the “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how” of nursing (ANA, 2010). …show more content…

West Virginia’s Scope of Practice (2015) defines the nurse’s scope of practice in much the same manner, as the American Nurses Association. However, the West Virginia Nurse Practice Act provides three sections with multiple questions to ask yourself. The three sections are “Define the Issue,” Review Existing Laws, Policies, and Standards of Nursing Practice,” and “Making a Decision” (WV RN Board, 2015). The final statement under the section entitled “Making a Decision” states nurses must ask themselves, how prepared he or she is to accept the consequences of their actions (WV RN Board, 2015).

An example of applying the nurse’s scope of practice in my experience is treating a patient with sudden onset of crushing chest pain. A patient admitted to our Invasive Cardiovascular Unit with a diagnosis of unstable angina began having chest pain while waiting to have a cardiac catheterization. The patient had orders in place as a chest pain protocol. I first obtained the patient's description of the pain, while initiating oxygen, obtaining the patient's vital signs, and noting the patient was pale, diaphoretic and short of breath. I assured the

Get Access