Texas Board of Nursing

Post a 200- to 300-word response to the following: What is the purpose of the agency? What services does the agency perform?
How does the agency maintain the integrity of the profession?
Whom does the agency support?
Identify education, licensure, or certification requirements.

The purpose of the Texas State Board of Nursing is to protect and promote the welfare of the people of Texas by ensuring that each person holding a license as a nurse in the State of Texas is competent to practice safely.
The Texas State Board of nursing website allows you to verify a nursing license online, verify if any disciplinary action has been taken against a nurse, and file disputes also. For a nurse, he or she can go online to verify their active status, apply and/or renew their licensure, and it tells them what to do should any action be taken against them. A prospective student can go to this website to look up schools that are registered with the Board.

Acting in accordance with the highest standards of ethics, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, and openness, the Texas Board of Nursing approaches its mission with a deep sense of purpose and responsibility and affirms that the regulation of nursing is a public and private trust. The Board assumes a proactive leadership role in regulating nursing practice and nursing education. The Board serves as a catalyst for developing partnerships and promoting collaboration in addressing regulatory issues. The public and nursing community alike can be assured of a balanced and responsible approach to regulation

As a nurse in Texas, you have a responsibility to know and follow the Nursing Practice Act and all applicable BON Rules and Regulations relating to your nursing practice. All current BON Rules and Regulations and the Nursing Practice Act can be downloaded from the BON’s web site at www.bon.state.tx.us. BON proposed rule changes appear in the agency’s quarterly newsletter, the Texas Board of Nursing Bulletin. Proposed rules, open for public comments, may be viewed in their entirety at the Secretary of State’s web site located at www.sos.state.tx.us, in the offices of the Texas Board of Nursing, or in the Texas Register Office, Room 245, James Earl Rudder Building, 1019
Brazos Street, Austin, Texas.

The Texas Board of Nursing supports education as part of the legislative charge in implementing, monitoring and evaluating innovation in nursing education programs. The purpose of the Board's focus on innovation is to help reach the state's goal of graduating 9700 professional nursing students by the year 2010 while maintaining quality education and staying above the 80% NCLEX pass rate.

The BON licenses nurses as new graduates through examination and endorsement from other states. All nurses are required to renew their license on an biennial basis with evidence of required continuing education. The BON approves qualified registered nurses to enter practice as advanced practice nurses (APNs), including nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse midwives. The processing time required for licensing services is 10 working days from receipt of all required documents, but is often accomplished more quickly. Licensure issues such as past criminal behavior may lengthen these time lines substantially because they must be referred to the Enforcement Department for investigation. Licensure services include: * Approval of an applicant to sit for the national licensure examination. * Issuance of a license following successful examination. * Issuance of a temporary license by endorsement pending complete verification in all states of licensure. * Issuance of a permanent license upon completion of all application requirements. * Renewal of a nursing license. * Approval of provisional APN status for new advanced practice graduates. * Provisional approval for APNs relocating to Texas. * Approval of full APN status following completion of all application requirements. * Renewal of APN status. * Establishing a registry of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists who practice in outpatient settings, which are not otherwise regulated, will be completed with the renewal process on a biennial basis. (To become effective 9/1/2000