Florida Nurse Practice Act: Facility Guide
The healthcare industry is constantly growing and adapting to meet patient needs. Consequently, nursing roles and responsibilities always evolve to keep up with changing healthcare systems, which can make it challenging to regulate care quality. It’s the responsibility of each state to enact its own laws that govern nursing practice. In Florida, this legislation is known as the Florida Nurse Practice Act.
For Florida healthcare providers, the Nurse Practice Act (NPA) provides a framework for providing safe and appropriate nursing care. The state’s laws also specify licensure requirements, rulemaking authority, and law violation penalties for nursing professionals practicing in Florida.
In this article, we summarize the contents of Florida’s Nursing Practice Act, outline key components of the NPA that affect a nursing professional’s daily practice, and provide tips for Floridian healthcare leaders looking to promote safe nursing care within their facilities.
The Florida Nurse Practice Act: Laws at a Glance
As nursing roles adapt to staffing challenges and rising patient acuity, it’s essential that treatments are provided according to each clinician’s scope of practice. The Florida Nursing Practice Act holds RNs, LPNs, and CNAs accountable for the care they provide by:
- Establishing Board of Nursing rulemaking authority.
- Describing requirements for Florida nursing education programs.
- Setting minimum care standards that must be met.
- Regulating the maintenance and renewal of a nursing license.
- Outlining disciplinary action and setting penalties for law violation.
While most state NPAs contain similar content regarding the functioning of their nursing regulatory board and legal requirements for licensure, each state outlines its own specific regulations like delegation rules and penalties for fraudulent practice. In the chart below, we review some of the key components unique to the Florida Nurse Practice Act.
| Florida Statute | Florida Statutes, Chapter 464: |
| Florida State Nursing Licensure Requirements | 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:
The Florida Board of Nursing website also provides approximate timeframes for application processing and outlines the steps to renew a nursing license. |
| Florida Nurse Practice Act Delegation of Duties | Nursing professionals are allowed to delegate:
A task that the registered nurse determines the certified nursing assistant or the home health aide is competent to perform and:
The administration of oral, transdermal, ophthalmic, otic, rectal, inhaled, enteral, or topical prescription medications can be delegated to qualified nursing assistants under certain circumstances. Nursing professionals are prohibited from delegating: Nursing activities not within the delegating or supervising nurse’s scope of practice or activities that include the use of the nursing process, including:
Those activities for which the QMA, CNA, or UAP has not demonstrated competence. The administration of any controlled substance listed in Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV of s. 893.03 or 21 U.S.C. s. 812, except for the administration of an insulin syringe that is prefilled with the proper dosage by a pharmacist or an insulin pen that is pre-filled by the manufacturer. |
| Penalties | The following actions are described as violations of the law under the Nurse Practice Act.
Felonies:
Misdemeanors:
Violations of this act’s scope of practice rules, and any of the specific offenses mentioned in Section 464.018, are punishable by law and may result in the revoking or suspending of a nursing professional’s license. |
| Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) State? | Florida is involved in the NLC compact, meaning that its state Nurse Practice Act encompasses rules and guidelines established by the NLC. |
Promoting Safe Nursing Practice: 3 Strategies for Facilities
By adhering to the laws included in the Florida Nurse Practice Act, Florida healthcare employees and facility leaders can ensure their team is able to provide exceptional patient care.
Taking the time to understand these laws can help facilities organize a staffing budget, establish brand reliability, promote patient safety, and improve health outcomes. Here are some strategies facility leaders can utilize to optimize care quality and ensure regulatory compliance.
1. Automate Licensure Renewal Reminders
Nurses are responsible for keeping track of their own professional certifications, including hospital CEU transcripts, BLS certificates, unit competency check-offs, and state license renewal timelines. There’s a lot to remember, and with all of the different expiration dates, it can be tough to stay compliant.
Some healthcare organizations relieve this burden by sending reminder emails for competency and license renewals. For example, employers can send a reminder email that the expiration date is fast approaching, triggering the nurse to pay and renew their state license with plenty of time to spare. This saves them from late fees and unpaid time away from work.
An easy way for facilities to offer this service is to document license expiration dates at every nurse onboarding session. Automated computer programs can distribute reminder emails to staff members who are close to their license expiration date.
2. Provide Annual Staff Training on Florida State NPA Laws
The key to staying legally compliant with the Florida Nurse Practice Act is educating your employees. Present NPA information upon hire and again annually to update employees on new rules, regulations, and relevant case law.
Distribute informational brochures about the Florida NPA and post FAQ posters in common areas like the cafeteria and employee restroom. It’s important that patients see NPA information as well — knowing that your organization works hard to provide exceptional care while following the required rules and guidelines helps build trust and patient engagement.
3. Partner With a Legal Team to Develop New Nursing Policies
Your clinical guidelines and nursing policies need to align with Florida state nursing laws. Working with your facility’s legal team (or outside counsel) to develop these guidelines can help protect your facility — and employees — from rule violation or accidental misconduct.
When creating new clinical care protocols, make sure to include information about appropriate task delegation to help staff members who may be unaware of which tasks they’re allowed to pass off to other licensed nursing professionals.
Maintain Regulatory Compliance and Keep Your Patients Safe
After reviewing the Florida Nurse Practice Act, you should have a better understanding of the rules and regulations that govern nursing professional practice in your organization. Follow along in our free nursing care newsletter for more tips and strategies to ensure regulatory compliance among your team.
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.