Colorado Nurse Practice Act: Facility Guide
Without standards for nursing care, it can be challenging for healthcare facilities to assess and improve upon treatment quality. Because every state has different nursing degree requirements, delegation rules, and penalties for inappropriate conduct, each is responsible for establishing its own laws to govern its nursing practice. In Colorado, the legislation that lays out these rules and regulations is known as the Colorado Nurse Practice Act.
The Nurse Practice Act (NPA) holds LPNs, RNs, and nurse aides accountable for the care they provide. By familiarizing your team with the intricacies of the NPA, your facility can maintain regulatory compliance and optimize care quality.
In this article, we’ll summarize the contents of Colorado’s Nursing Practice Act, outline key sections of the NPA that impact a clinician’s daily practice, and provide tips for Colorado healthcare leaders looking to better understand the state’s NPA to boost patient satisfaction and health outcomes.
What Is the Colorado State Nurse Practice Act?
As nursing roles adapt to meet clinical demands, staffing challenges, and rising patient acuity, it’s essential that treatments are provided according to each clinician’s scope of practice. The Colorado Nurse Practice Act enforces this by:
- Outlining Colorado Board of Nursing policies and regulations.
- Setting requirements for Colorado nursing education programs.
- Establishing minimum care standards that must be met.
- Regulating the maintenance and renewal of a CO nursing license.
- Specifying penalties for law violations.
The Nurse Practice Act: Colorado State Laws at a Glance
Each state’s Nurse Practice Act contains similar content regarding nursing board functioning and minimum licensure requirements. However, every state’s nurse practice act describes their unique nursing scopes of practice and rules for delegation. We’ve outlined some of the specific components of Colorado’s NPA in the table below.
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| Legal Authorities | Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 12, Article. 255:
Sections 12-155-101 to 12-155-136 Code of Colorado Regulations: |
| Colorado State Nursing Licensure Requirements | Colorado RN licensure applicants must qualify by either passing the NCLEX examination or getting a license endorsed from another state.
Steps for NCLEX Exam Qualification:
Steps for Endorsement Qualification:
Note: The board may grant a temporary RN license to practice for up to 4 months while their permanent license is processing and under legal review. The Colorado Board of Nursing website also provides approximate timeframes for application processing and outlines the steps to renew a nursing license. |
| Colorado Nurse Practice Act Delegation of Duties | Nursing professionals are allowed to delegate when:
Nursing professionals are prohibited from delegating:
Note: Section 7 of the Colorado BON outlines delegation rules for medication, covering the classes, doses, and routes that are allowed to be delegated. |
| Penalties | Under C.R.S. 12-255-120, violations of the Colorado Nurse Practice Act can include:
Once the BON is notified of any of the above violations, they may initiate further investigation that could result in:
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| Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) State? | Colorado is involved in the NLC compact, meaning that its state Nurse Practice Act encompasses rules and guidelines established by the NLC. |
Improving Patient Safety With the NPA: 3 Strategies for Facilities
Following the rules outlined in the Colorado Nurse Practice Act can help your team maintain regulatory compliance. However, adhering to the laws is only the first step toward promoting a safe clinical environment for your patients.
In order to make a real impact on health outcomes, you’ll need to take additional steps to ensure your clinicians understand the significance of these regulations and are able to incorporate them into their daily practice. We’ve listed three strategies that can help your team get started.
1. Educate Staff on the Colorado NPA
The first step to ensuring team buy-in is making sure everyone is aware of their delegation rights and legal scope. Empowering your clinical staff with the knowledge to manage their own professional practice can improve satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
There are a few different ways you can disseminate this training. They include:
- Creating an online CE course.
- Hosting an in-person class to review at employee onboarding and during annual competency training.
- Posting Colorado nursing resources to your facility’s website for employees to peruse at their leisure.
2. Verify Employee Credentials
Prior to hiring a new employee, it’s important to assess the validity of their state license, clinical certifications, and educational transcripts. You can verify the legitimacy of these documents on the Colorado license verification site or Nursys QuickConfirm portal.
It’s also important to ensure your staff members renew any nursing licenses and mandatory certifications (BLS, continuing education hours, violence-prevention modules, etc.) to ensure they can continue to legally practice in Colorado. Automated renewal reminders can keep your clinicians compliant and ensure safe and seamless clinical care.
3. Partner With a Legal Team to Develop Facility Policies
When drafting new clinical policies and procedures, it’s important to make sure they fall in line with state nursing laws. Collaborating with a legal team can protect your facility and employees from accidental misconduct and subsequent legal fines.
Establish strong partnerships between nursing shared governance councils and your facility’s legal team to ensure both groups are comfortable working with each other. Encourage each group to reach out to the other with any questions or concerns they may have at any step in the policy development process.
Find More Ways to Support Your Clinical Team
Familiarizing your team with the Colorado Nurse Practice Act rules and regulations can ensure your patients receive safe, high-quality care. Our newsletter, written by a team of legal and clinical experts, provides additional tips and evidence-based strategies for enhancing regulatory compliance and optimizing patient outcomes — follow along today.
Legal Disclaimer: This article contains general legal information, but it is not intended to constitute professional legal advice for any particular situation and should not be relied on as professional legal advice. Any references to the law may not be current, as laws regularly change through updates in legislation, regulation, and case law at the federal and state level. Nothing in this article should be interpreted as creating an attorney-client relationship. If you have legal questions, you should seek the advice of an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.