Pennsylvania Code › Title 49 - PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL STANDARDS › Part I - DEPARTMENT OF STATE › Subpart A - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL AFFAIRS › Chapter 21 - STATE BOARD OF NURSING › Subchapter A - REGISTERED NURSES › GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 21.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
						  subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
						  otherwise:
Act
-The Professional Nursing Law
						  (63
						  P. S. §§
													211-225.5), which
						  establishes standards for nursing schools and the conduct of nursing
						  programs.
Approved
-Approved by the Board.
Board
-The State Board of Nursing of
						  the Commonwealth.
Continuing education
-An activity
						  approved by the Board as a condition for renewal of licensure or certification
						  for which proof of completion can be provided to the Board.
Diagnosing
-Identification of and
						  discrimination between physical and psychosocial signs and symptoms essential
						  to effective execution and management of the nursing regimen.
Distance learning continuing
						  education
-Continuing education in which the individual participates in
						  the educational activity by means of electronic media or through refereed
						  journals, rather than in a classroom, laboratory or clinical setting where the
						  faculty and participant are physically located in the same room.
Examination year
-The period beginning
						  on October 1st of a year through September 30th of the following year.
Graduate registered nurse
-An
						  individual who has graduated from an approved program of professional nursing
						  in this Commonwealth or a comparable program in another state.
Human responses
-Those signs, symptoms
						  and processes which denote the interaction of the individual with an actual or
						  potential health problem.
Patient (includes residents and
						  clients)
-A person, other than a spouse or immediate family member, who
						  receives professional services from a registered nurse, regardless of whether
						  the nurse receives remuneration for the services.
Practice of professional
						  nursing
-
(i) Diagnosing and
						treating human responses to actual or potential health problems through such
						services as case findings, health teaching, health counseling, provision of
						care supportive to or restorative of life and well-being, and executing medical
						regimens as prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist.
(ii) The term does not include acts of
						medical diagnosis or prescription of medical therapeutic or corrective
						measures, except as may be authorized by rules and regulations jointly
						promulgated by the State Board of Medicine and the Board, which rules and
						regulations will be implemented by the Board.
Professional relationship
-
(i) For a registered nurse not involved in
						providing mental health services, the relationship which shall be deemed to
						exist for a period of time beginning with the first professional contact or
						consultation between a registered nurse and a patient and ending with the
						patient's discharge from or discontinuance of services by the nurse or by the
						nurse's employer. The administration of emergency medical treatment or
						transitory trauma care will not be deemed to establish a professional
						relationship.
(ii) For a registered
						nurse involved in providing mental health services, the relationship which
						shall be deemed to exist for a period of time beginning with the first
						professional contact or consultation between the nurse and patient and ending 2
						years after discharge from or discontinuance of services. For a patient who is
						a minor, a professional relationship shall be deemed to exist for 2 years or
						until 1 year after the age of majority, whichever is longer, after discharge
						from or discontinuance of services.
Registered nurse
-A nurse licensed
						  under this subchapter to practice in this Commonwealth.
Sexual impropriety
-The term includes
						  the following offenses:
(i) Making
						sexually demeaning or sexually suggestive comments about or to a patient,
						including comments about a patient's body or undergarments.
(ii) Unnecessarily exposing a patient's body
						or watching a patient dress or undress, unless for therapeutic purposes or the
						patient specifically requests assistance.
(iii) Examining or touching genitals without
						the use of gloves when performing an otherwise appropriate
						examination.
(iv) Discussing or
						commenting on a patient's potential sexual performance or requesting details of
						a patient's sexual history or preferences during an examination or
						consultation, except when the examination or consultation is pertinent to the
						issue of sexual function or dysfunction or reproductive health care. Discussion
						of a patient's sexual practices and preferences shall be fully documented in
						the patient's chart.
(v) Soliciting
						a date from a patient.
(vi)
						Volunteering information to a patient about one's sexual problems, preferences
						or fantasies.
Sexual violation
-The term includes the
						  following offenses:
(i) Sexual
						intercourse between a registered nurse and a patient during the professional
						relationship.
(ii) Genital to
						genital contact between a nurse and a patient during the professional
						relationship.
(iii) Oral to genital
						contact between a nurse and a patient during the professional
						relationship.
(iv) Touching
						breasts, genitals, or any other body part for any purpose other than
						appropriate examination or treatment, or using prolonged or improper
						examination techniques, or after the patient has refused or withdrawn
						consent.
(v) Encouraging a patient
						to masturbate in the presence of the nurse or masturbating while a patient is
						present.
(vi) Providing or offering
						to provide drugs or treatment in exchange for sexual favors.
(vii) Using or causing the use of anesthesia
						or any other drug affecting consciousness for the purpose of engaging in
						conduct that would constitute a sexual impropriety or sexual
						violation.
Systematic evaluation plan
-An
						  organized, continuous analysis of all nursing education program components,
						  such as curriculum, faculty, facilities, policies and outcome measures, that
						  addresses standards or benchmarks to be achieved and establishes an action plan
						  if those standards or benchmarks are not achieved.
Treating
-Selection and performance of
						  those therapeutic measures essential to the effective execution and management
						  of the nursing regimen and execution of the prescribed medical
						  regimen.
The provisions of this §
														21.1 amended under sections
							 2.1(k) and 6.1 of
							 The Professional Nursing Law (63 P.S. §§
															212.1(k) and
							 216.1); and sections 9 and
							 17.6 of the Practical Nurse Law (63 P.S. §§
															659 and
							 667.6).
This section cited in 49 Pa. Code §
														21.803 (relating to applicability
							 of rules relating to professional
							 nurses).