The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center Clinical Programs Plan for Nursing Care has been designed to support improvement and innovation in nursing practice and reflects commitment toward positive change.

1. Definition of Nursing Care

The provision of Nursing Care within University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center Clinical Programs is guided by Arkansas Nurse Practice Act, Rules and Regulations established by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing. Nursing is a set of identifiable acts with nursing process as its base and continuity of care as its framework. Nursing functions interdependently with other health disciplines and focuses on the patient, his/her family, and the community.

1. As defined in the 1995 Arkansas Nurse Practice Act, 17-87-102:
   

The "practice of professional nursing" means the performance for compensation of any acts involving:

• The observation, care, and counsel of the ill, injured, or infirm;
• The maintenance of health or prevention of illnesses in others;
• The supervision and teaching of other personnel;
• The delegation of certain nursing practices to other personnel as set forth in regulations established by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing; or
• The administration of medications and treatments as prescribed by an advanced practice nurse holding a certificate of prescriptive authority, a licensed physician or a licensed dentist, where such acts require substantial specialized judgment and skill based on knowledge and application of the principles of biological, physical, and social sciences".

b. Therefore, the practice of nursing care by a registered nurse shall mean assuming           responsibility and accountability for those nursing actions which include, but are not limited to:

• Identifying human responses to actual health conditions;
• Identifying patient care needs of an individual, family, or patient population;
• Executing a nursing treatment regimen through selection, performance, and management of appropriate nursing practices;
• Teaching health care practices;
• Advocating the provision of health care services through collaboration with other health care disciplines;
• Executing diagnostic and therapeutic regimens prescribed by an advanced practice nurse, a licensed physician, or licensed dentist; or
• Administering, supervising, delegating and evaluating nursing activities.

c.  The practice of advanced practice nursing shall mean assuming the responsibility and accountability for "the delivery of health care services for compensation by professional nurses who gained additional knowledge and skills through successful completion of an organized program of nursing education that certifies nurses for advanced practice roles.

d. The practice of nursing by a licensed practical nurse shall mean the assumption of responsibilities and performing of acts, within the educational background of the practical nurse, under the direction of a registered nurse, an advanced practice nurse, a licensed physician, or a licensed dentist. These acts shall include:

• Application of nursing techniques and procedures in the observation, teaching and caring of the ill, injured and infirm; and
• Promoting community health.

2. Areas of Practice

1. Within Clinical Programs, nursing care is delivered to patients and their family in the following departments, services, or areas:

• Access Center
• Arkansas Cancer Research Center
• Arrhythmia Center
• Blood Bank - Apheresis
• Emergency Department
• Diagnostic Center
• Heart Transplant
• Hemodialysis
• Jones Eye Institute
• Intensive Care Units
• Solid Organ Transplant Unit
• Medical/Surgical Units
• Myeloma and Transplant Research Center
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
• Oncology
• Orthopedics
• Outpatient Center
• Pancreas Transplant
• Radiology
• Renal Transplant
• Short Stay Unit
• Stephens Spine Center
• Surgical Services
• Women’s Health

2. Employees in the following areas may be required to be licensed nurses to meet job requirements, but do not deliver nursing care as defined by Clinical Programs: