Nurse Reporter Spring 2009 - Wyoming State Board of Nursing

Nurse
Spring 2009 Vo l. 5 Nu m b e r 1
Ma n a g i n g Ed i t o r
Marcia L. Dale, RN, EdD, FAAN
R E P O R T E R
“protecting the public through excellence in nursing...”
T a b l e o f Co n t e n t s
Wy o m i n g
Published by the
Wyoming State Board of Nursing
1810 Pioneer Ave.
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002
Phone: 307-777-7601
Fax: 307-777-3519
Web Address: http://nursing.state.wy.us
Agency Mission: The Wyoming State Board of
Nursing is responsible for the protection of the public’s
health, welfare, and safety through the regulation of
nursing, nursing education, nursing practice, and
disciplinary standards. The responsibility of the Board
of Nursing is to implement a cost-effective and efficient
system of regulation, which meets the consumer
demand for safe, competent, ethical practitioners of
nursing which includes advanced practice nurses, registered
professional nurses, licensed practical nurses,
and certified nursing assistants.
Ex e c u t i v e Di re c t o r
Mary Kay Goetter, PhD(c), RNC, NEA-BC
Assistant Ex e c u t i v e Di re c t o r ,
Pr a c t i c e a n d Ed u c a t i o n Co n s u l t a n t
Mary Beth Stepans, Ph.D, RN
Co m p l ia n c e Co n s u l t a n t
Patti Hefflin, BSN, RN
Brenda Burnett, MSN, RN
Fi n a n c i a l a n d Hu m a n Resources Officer
Cindy Stillahn
Ex e c u t i v e Assistant
JoAnn Reid
Li c e n s i n g Co o r d i na t o r
LaVelle Ojeda
Li c e n s i n g Co o r d i na t o r
Maxine Hernandez
Disciplinary Assistant
Debra Ball
Nella Martinez
Wyoming Nurse Reporter does not necessarily
endorse advertisements contained herein. The
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Bo a r d o f Nu r s i n g Members
Jennifer Zettl, RN
President
Tracy Wasserburger, GAPRN Vice-president
Marguerite Herman
Consumer Secretary
Kim Williamson, LPN
Member
Marcie Burr, RN
Member
Carrie Deselms, APRN, FNP-BC Member
Kellie Clausen, FNP, WHCNP, RN Member
www.thinkaboutitnursing.com
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EDITION 16
3 WSBN 1909-2009: Dreaming to the Future
4 Letters to the Editor
5 100 Years of the Wyoming State Board of Nursing
6 Scope of Practice Decision Tree
11 Line Up Your Stars
12 First Licensed Nurse in Wyoming
14 Scope of Practice Issues
16 Disciplinary Actions
17 NCLEX Workshop for Educators
18 Wyoming Professional Assistance Program
20 An Overview of Permissive Disclosures
22 History of Today’s Nurse Practitioner
23 NCSBN Celebrates 30th Anniversary
24 Practice Questions
24 Pictures from the Past
26 1909 Examiner Act
28 Wisdom of Nurses: The Tough and the Tender
30 Public Notice
Greetings
The Wyoming State Board of
Nursing (WSBN) is celebrating its
centennial anniversary this month.
Senate File No. 37 was approved
February 18, 1909, and the first Wyoming
Nurse Practice Act (NPA) came
into being. We printed the entire file
here in this issue for our readers to
peruse and hopefully enjoy as much
as we did!
It is particularly interesting how
many similarities there are in the
NPA of 1909 to today. Of course, the
language of that day brings a smile,
but the meaning is surprisingly unchanged:
The board may revoke any certificate
by a unanimous vote for
dishonesty, gross incompetency, a
habit rendering a nurse unsafe to be
entrusted with, or unfit for the care
of the sick, conduct derogatory to
the to the morals or standing of the
profession of nursing, or any willful
fraud or misrepresentation practiced
in procuring such certificate
(NPA, 1909, p. 90).
Despite the nursing profession’s
continued standing as the most
trusted profession (Gallup, 2007), it
is a sad reality in 2009 that the profession
struggles more than ever
with escalating complaints about
nurses who are dishonest, grossly
incompetent, have habits which render
them unsafe to be entrusted with
the care of the sick, and exhibit conduct
derogatory to the profession. In
fact, since 2007, the WSBN has seen
a 360 percent increase in complaints
From Mary Kay Goetter
Executive Director
WSBN 1909-2009: Dreaming to the Future
regarding nurses and nursing assistants.
While the descriptive words of
“gross incompetence” or “conduct
derogatory to the morals of the profession”
still hold the same meaning
today, the exact manner in which violations
occur has far exceeded what
our professional colleagues could
have imagined in 1909.
Today’s growth of technology and
communications has exponentially
added to the scope of nurses’ misconduct.
For example, cell phones
and wireless communication have
become major players in professional
misbehavior. Inappropriate
photographs of vulnerable patients
are transmitted via cell phones and
Internet Web sites; professionals
blog on personal Web pages com-
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