Texas Administrative Code › Title 22 - EXAMINING BOARDS › Part 11 - TEXAS BOARD OF NURSING › Chapter 217 - LICENSURE, PEER ASSISTANCE, AND PRACTICE › Section 217.16 - Minor Incidents

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Definition. A
				"minor incident", as defined under the Texas Nursing Practice Act, Texas
				Occupations Code §
									301.401(2),
				means conduct by a nurse that may be a violation of the Texas Nursing Practice
				Act or a Board rule but does not indicate the nurse's continued practice poses
				a risk of harm to a patient or another person. This term is synonymous with
				"minor error" or 'minor violation of the Texas Nursing Practice Act or Board
				rule'.
(b) Purpose. The Board
				believes protection of the public is not enhanced by the reporting of every
				minor incident that may be a violation of the Texas Nursing Practice Act or a
				Board rule. The Board also believes it may not be necessary to report directly
				to the Board when there are mechanisms in place in the nurse's practice setting
				to identify nursing errors, detect patterns of practice, and take corrective
				action to remediate deficits in a nurse's knowledge, skill, judgment, training,
				professional responsibility, or patient advocacy. This rule is intended to
				provide guidance in evaluating whether nursing practice breakdown is subject to
				mandatory reporting requirements. Additionally, this rule is not intended to
				apply to 'employment issues' that are unrelated to the practice of nursing,
				such as time, attendance, dress code, etc.
(c) A Right to Report. Nurses and other
				persons are encouraged not to report minor incidents to the Board unless
				required to be reported as outlined in subsection (h) of this section. However,
				nothing in this rule is intended to prevent reporting of a potential violation
				directly to the Board or to a nursing peer review committee.
(d) In evaluating whether an error is a minor
				incident, a combination of factors must be reviewed, including the nurse's
				conduct, those factors viewed to be beyond the nurse's control, and the
				relationship between the two that influenced or impacted the nursing practice
				breakdown.
(1) Initially, the nurse's conduct
				shall be evaluated to determine whether deficit(s) in knowledge, judgment,
				skills, professional responsibility, or patient advocacy contributed to the
				incident.
(A) If it is determined that the
				nurse's practice has no deficit(s), as described in paragraph (1) of this
				subsection, the incident may not reach the level of a minor incident.
(B) If it is determined that the nurse's
				practice deficit(s), as described in paragraph (1) of this subsection,
				contributed to the error, then a determination of whether remediation will
				address any identified deficit(s) is required.
(i) If remediation will address the
				deficit(s), a remediation plan shall be developed to address the
				deficit(s).
(ii) If remediation
				will not address the deficit(s), then the error cannot be considered a minor
				incident and the nurse must be reported to the nursing peer review committee
				or, in practice settings with no nursing peer review, to the Board.
(iii) If the determination is that the nurse
				could be remediated and the nurse does not complete the required remediation,
				then the nurse must be reported to a nursing peer review committee or the
				Board.