Texas Nursing Jurisprudence and Ethics

Course #31133 - $15 -

Overview

The Nursing Practice Act, Chapter 301 of the Texas Occupations Code, includes laws and rules regulating nursing education, licensure, and practice. In addition to Chapter 301 (the Nursing Practice Act), the Board of Nursing stipulates that Texas nurses are required to be familiar with Chapter 303 (Nursing Peer Review) and Chapter 304 (the Nurse Licensure Compact). Advanced practice registered nurses must also be familiar with Chapter 305 (the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Compact). Several chapters of the Texas Administrative Code, which is a collection of all state agency rules, also pertain to nursing education, licensure, practice, and discipline. Together, these laws and rules form the basis for the legal practice of nursing and the regulation of nursing in the state of Texas. Although they are not technically laws, Texas Board of Nursing Position Statements provide guidance regarding patient safety, scope of practice, and other important issues; the Board strongly encourages that nurses read all Position Statements or, at the very least, the Summary of Position Statements. Texas nurses should also be familiar with the principles of nursing ethics and professional boundaries. This course fulfills the continuing education requirement on the laws, rules, and ethics related to the practice of nursing in Texas for all levels of nursing, including registered nurse (RN), licensed vocational nurse (LVN), registered nurse first assistant (RNFA), and advanced practice registered nurse (APRN). While this course will provide an overview of the pertinent sections of the laws and rules, all nurses are encouraged to review them in their entirety in order to ensure compliance.

Education Category: Management
Release Date: 02/01/2024
Expiration Date: 01/31/2027

Table of Contents

Audience

This course is designed for all nurses licensed in Texas.

Accreditations & Approvals

In support of improving patient care, NetCE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Designations of Credit

NetCE designates this continuing education activity for 2 ANCC contact hour(s). NetCE designates this continuing education activity for 2.4 hours for Alabama nurses. AACN Synergy CERP Category B.

Individual State Nursing Approvals

In addition to states that accept ANCC, NetCE is approved as a provider of continuing education in nursing by: Alabama, Provider #ABNP0353, (valid through July 29, 2025); Arkansas, Provider #50-2405; California, BRN Provider #CEP9784; California, LVN Provider #V10662; California, PT Provider #V10842; District of Columbia, Provider #50-2405; Florida, Provider #50-2405; Georgia, Provider #50-2405; Kentucky, Provider #7-0054 through 12/31/2025; South Carolina, Provider #50-2405; West Virginia RN and APRN, Provider #50-2405.

Special Approvals

This course fulfills the Texas requirement for 2 hours of education on Jurisprudence and Ethics.

Course Objective

The purpose of this course is to provide basic knowledge of the laws and rules governing the practice of nursing in Texas in order to increase compliance and improve patient care. Texas nurses are legally obligated to be aware of standards that govern professional accountability. Information contained in this course is not intended to be used in lieu of lawful guidelines, but as a learning tool that increases the understanding of some regulations as they apply to nurses who are licensed within the state of Texas.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

  1. Outline the pertinent levels of nursing practice in Texas and the general scope of practice of each.
  2. Identify specific laws and rules related to the practice of nursing in Texas.
  3. Differentiate between ethical and legal practice.
  4. Discuss the legal and ethical requirements related to professional boundaries and unprofessional conduct in nursing.

Faculty

Mary Franks, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and NetCE Nurse Planner. She works as a Nurse Division Planner for NetCE and a per diem nurse practitioner in urgent care in Central Illinois. Mary graduated with her Associate’s degree in nursing from Carl Sandburg College, her BSN from OSF Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing in 2013, and her MSN with a focus on nursing education from Chamberlain University in 2017. She received a second master's degree in nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Chamberlain University in 2019. She is an adjunct faculty member for a local university in Central Illinois in the MSN FNP program. Her previous nursing experience includes emergency/trauma nursing, critical care nursing, surgery, pediatrics, and urgent care. As a nurse practitioner, she has practiced as a primary care provider for long-term care facilities and school-based health services. She enjoys caring for minor illnesses and injuries, prevention of disease processes, health, and wellness. In her spare time, she stays busy with her two children and husband, coaching baseball, staying active with her own personal fitness journey, and cooking. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the Illinois Society of Advanced Practice Nursing, for which she is a member of the bylaws committee.

Faculty Disclosure

Contributing faculty, Mary Franks, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.

Division Planner

Sharon Cannon, RN, EdD, ANEF

Division Planner Disclosure

The division planner has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.

Director of Development and Academic Affairs

Sarah Campbell

Director Disclosure Statement

The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.

About the Sponsor

The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.

Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.

Disclosure Statement

It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.

Technical Requirements

Supported browsers for Windows include Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0 and up, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Supported browsers for Macintosh include Safari, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Other operating systems and browsers that include complete implementations of ECMAScript edition 3 and CSS 2.0 may work, but are not supported. Supported browsers must utilize the TLS encryption protocol v1.1 or v1.2 in order to connect to pages that require a secured HTTPS connection. TLS v1.0 is not supported.

Implicit Bias in Health Care

The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.

Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.