OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

IIre. El&men Yeaoh, il. W., Seontary-Tre 

imwd or mrse xmmin~rr 

1035 Idllam Building 

8nn Autonlo, Texas 

. cou&roiw, an *at poprovidms rot Federal ala 

tatea drelring to partlooslorated war-tlm* training of nurm8. 

both a8 to thr rdhool and lndlrldual 

8' 

330th mamt meet OSrtdn 

th. re&Gationr &Wmul- 

%tsali mnkoe olrar the 

supplement tha training 

brOa4 rule-making power 

18 antrusted to the Surgeon General l o that the plan oay be 

adjumted to hamonls~ with the dlrmno @iate lnwr. The plan 

tarmlua,tes with the war nnd achoollr and rtudents not partioipr~tlng are unalreoteid by it. 
592 

yts. Xcseh, Fags C 

From your request, we undsrotana, ft haa been 

propoeed under the Voltoo irot" and the re5uletIons promulgated thereunder that eccr*dltad Texas nursicg. schoola 

taklnQ: prrt In ths croexam will 5Ivo students applylne and 

quallrying thareror R thirty zsonthe oourse or "oomblned 

study end praotleo* oovsrln5 preearlbsd rundanental work and 

study end that tblr thirty month6 or twining will than be 

supplsmoatsd by nn eCdltlms1 six months of 'suparvlaod experieacr" to be had slthar In the same nurelng school., 

aaothor mohool, or a Federal. honpltol. 

You wish to know If the thirty months of woomblned study end praotloe" In the home aohool plus six 

months or' 'supervised sxperlenosW In another Inetitutlon 

under the y~darel plan nil1 comply with Art. 46186, Vernon's 

Ann. Clv. Statutes or Texae, rhkah requires "three (3) rull 

yaere of ocork and study- ae a prorequisite to (paduation lo 

Peue. 

Further inquiry Ia made aa to nhetber Art. 4518e, 

Vsrnons Ann. Clv. Statutes 02 Texas, which requirea the ruU 

thms ysers or work and study "In such ~lohool~, would permit 

reoognltlon end allovionce or orsait toward graduation ror the 

81x montha or w8upenIssd praotIOeC propored to be oonpleted 

under the Federal plan In another Inrtitutlon ok Federal 

Horpltal a8 dIstinguished from the home a!ohool where the 

thirty nontho of waozlblned study end praatIo@ le done. 

Article 4518 reads as folloxr: 

"ill speoial hoa::Itals api:raved by the -Board 

of Nurse Zxamlners, end general hospitala, whioh 

are equipped with not less than twenty-rive (25) 

bade, end’rrhloh havo 8 daily aanual avera@ of not 

less than fifteen (15) patients, end which teach 

the oourac or study preecribed by ths Board of 

Murae Examiners or the State of Texas, are hereby 

constituted duly palif'led end aoorsdited nursing 

aohoole. ir eensral hospital, 8% the term la hero 

used, 1s a public or private InatItutIon where men, 

women erd children are treated tar ill kinds Or 

’ 

ti 
aa. bbsoh, Pago 3 

~ilaeaaea, bodily injury, or phyafoal dsforzultr 

by manna of both modloal end rurglaal treetmont, 

and whloh malntalna en 0rga20a 8tafr of phpafolena end aurgoona llaonaod to preotioo modloino 

in the Steto of Toxea.” 

Artlolr 4513a Nada, in part, aa follows: 

Wo per&on shell be oertiflod aa a graduate 

or any l ua h nur a ingg aohool unloaa ruoh poraon hea 

had thraa (3) full years of work and study in l uoh 

rohool under a roglatorad nurao, two (2) yoera or 

rhloh muat bo oontlnuoua in tho aohool of nuralng 

rrom nhioh &he her graduated or two (8) oontln- 

,uoua yoara in a spaolal hoaritrl end one (1) oontlnuoua full year in a gonoral boapltal . . .* 

ivith toferenoe to the flrat queatlon, it la to be 

noted that undrr the latter &fat&e quoted, Vihroo (3) full 

yeera of work and study* are roqulred for graduation. se 

think it ia evident, both iroar the language cu the atetuta 

end e oonalderetlon or the purpose to be aoaompliahe&, thet 

this proviaion la rmndatory end that the per196 rsqdrbd for 

gndwtloa may not bo ahortenod. Howevbti., the term *work end 

rkiay" la not def'lned by the o$atute and we have no /ucUoisl 

iatorpretetion to fnlde a. It 18 raqnod that the UN of 

khla turni ia a roOO@tictn of the feOt that a oombinatloa of 

formal atudy and l otual workla$ experlenoe la noaoasary boiore a rlnlahsd nurse sey be produoed. The 8, atuto doer not 

ettoupt to pnaoribo tbo proportlon of work t t study la the 

proooaa of trainIn&, nor dooa it require that-forml olaasoa 

ahell be held for Eho ontira thrar year period 0r training. 

We thorofon aoeno rooaon why t.ho Boerd oou14 not approve by 

it& rogulatlona s plan whlcrh wotild lntenalfy the fm~b study. 

during the eerllar part of tha t&roe ysttr :erioli and oomploto 

it aith more &tress on the *or& 0%~ pnrctiyil ~~perienoo. As 

w road the E~odoral plan, th) ~‘B~~t~rn.,Act! ;4 do ’ the Regulations 

of tho Surgeon CJeneral, wrk to a0 just that ‘Ls y iatonritylng 

the formal or baaiu trelnlng 0r the etudont nurse, ropulrlng 

0onplrtlon 0r the aourse In e ImxilEWB of thirty months (etoept 

in ceaoa of students ontaring the sahool prior to January 1, 
t 

gra. Jioaah, i ase 4 

1942, w&e provision la mado for thirty-two months of be&lo 

training), and by peraittlng tho atudont thereafter to oompleto the 

r 

rlod of trainin& requlrod for &Nduatlon under 

the State ew by six month8 of eddltlonel -ruponiaod oxporienoe” in enothor institution. Worlded other requlreaeatr 

of our Texea etatutoa are met, we oonolude thet thirty montha 

of 'Oon~bined study and ptaOtioe” plua six months oi qaUpenlaed 

l xperlenaew would antirip the Texoa requirement of a VU.1 

threo (3) yoera of work and 8tutlf*. 

Psrein& to the next quoatlon, Art. 4518a requires 

U~l~,;ree full yeera of work on6 study to be done "in ruoh 

“. %e think it oleer that thlr provleion doer not 

oont‘mplat‘ that the ‘UtiN:.,thN‘ year8 muet be spent in the 

aeme aobool, but on the aontrary, moana that the three yoera 

nuat be spent In a aohool or aohoola aoaredltod under the 

requlromenta of Art. 4518 and the rogulationa ot the Board 

of Nurse Exaatinera. In frot, the statute ltaolf reoognlzea tho 

tNU8tOr of atudonta among aohoola by requlrlng, in the on80 0r 

work dono in a genenl aohool, that two years of tho work end 

rtudy *muet bo oontlnuoua In the aohool of auralag from whloh 

&be has graduated 

In a apoofal hoapit;l: 

.*. And in the oes# OS training bed 

*two (2) ount~nuoua years in a apoolel 

hoopltel end ono (1) oontlnuoua full yoer in e general horpita1 . : .* aro required. Tranafora have also been reaognlzad 

ma errootu4tod un,dor the rogulatlcna or the Board or Nurse 

1Sxestnera. Se0 ~Tmmrora*, p. 10, *~ollolea, Zeguletlon8 

end Recczimondetlonr for tho Aoorodltetion or Texas Sahoola 

Of F;ural~.” 

In vleu of this interpretetlon of Art. 4518a, we 

see no lo&al objootlon to the trefnlng OS e atudoat for 

thirty i?iontha.in on0 eooreditod gonenl hoapitel nuralry 

l ohool and for en addltlonel air anonthe tre$nlng in enothor 

eooredltod aohool, provided euch l ubaequent tra&.sfer ir epproved by tho board and otber requlrementa for f;roduatlon 

l ro art. h‘aturally this would involve en lnveatigetlon end 

rpprovel for eooredltotlon by tho Board of Nurse Exanlnorr 

Of any 1netltution or Fodorel hoo~itel to whioh it war proPoaod to transfer a student for tho lost &lx aontha of ho2 
e 

595 

Nra. Keaob, PaEe 5 

training, end euoh en lnstltution would nooeaaerlly have to 

meet tho requirements of Art. 4518 beforo it could be OCoNditea. Xn this aonneotlon, M wlah to solnt out that where 

thirty months of trbining wua had in the l tudont~a haao aohool 

(8 general rohool) an4 l ubaoqueBt transfer to a Pederal hoqltl lwhloh had been duly aooredlted wore nIlowed, then it would 

be neoeaaer~ for the rtudent aftor tho oowletlon of the rix 

month& &ddltfon&l training to re4renaror to the home rohool 

ror gradwtlon, otharwlao the statutory requirement of two 

year6 of oontinuour training *in the l ohool of nursing froar 

whioh &he h&a greduetod” would not be met. 

80 trust th&t wo h&vu &atl&f&&torlly anawored your 

~nqulrlea in thL& a&tter en4 the d&t& furnished u6 end whicrh 

you requeatod us to return la enoloaed. 

Qory truly yourr 

AX’QRNEY PSXERAL O?’ TEXhS 

BY + LCug‘M Alvlr 

Aa$irtant