Professional Order

Nurses General Nursing

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Do the nurses in USA have a professional order to help the nurses in any kind of legal problem and working problem?

What other kind of support you are getting?

There is the American Nurses Association and every state has a state Nurses Association, but they advocate and lobby on the national and state level, and rarely get involved in situations involving individual nurses (there are lots of national nursing organizations for different types of specialty practice, as well, but they, too, work on behalf of nurses as a group rather than offering assistance to individual nurses). Nurses in some part of the US are members of labor unions, which provide the same kinds of advocacy and support services that other unions do. Also, many of us carry individual professional liability (malpractice) insurance which provides legal representation if needed.

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

In the US, some nurses work under a union and thus have a contract which might address some of the things you are asking about.

However, others (myself included) do not work under a union. Legal and work-related problems are handled individually.

Do you have an organization where you have to register to get the authorization to practice the nursing activity when you are finishing university?

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

We have to pass a national exam: either the NCLEX-PN for practical nurses or NCLEX - RN for registered nurses. You only need to take the exam once (provided you pass of course), then you just do paperwork if you want to move from one state to another.

What kind of exam is it?

In Italy we have the Federation of the Ipasvi Colleges (Federazione dei Collegi Ipasvi) which is the body that represents Italian nurses on a national basis.

The national Federation coordinates the Provincial Colleges and one of their main institutional duties is to keep the Registers of the professionals.

In order to practice their profession, nurses are obliged to register.

The elections to renew the local and national boards of directors are held every three years.

The Provincial Colleges

The Provincial Colleges are non-profit bodies by public law, established and regulated by specific laws (Dlcps 233/46 and Dpr 221/50).

The law grants Colleges an external and an internal aim. The first one is the protection of the citizen/client, who has the right, sanctioned by the Constitution, to receive health care services by qualifies personnel, holding a specific fitness-to-practice title, with no pending suits against them, etc. The latter aim is for the registered nurses, because the College has to ensure their level of competence, by exerting discipline, opposing abuses, being sure that nurses comply with the Deontological Code, exerting the tariff regulations, encouraging the cultural development of the registered nurses, guaranteeing information, providing supporting services that help nurses practice their profession in the most correct manner.

In Italy there are 100 Ipasvi Colleges: the first ones were established in 1954 (Law 29th October 1954), the most recent ones to be established are those of Avellino, Caserta, Benevento, Lecco, Prato, Vibo Valentia, Biella and Crotone.

All the activities are financed by the registration fees, which each College fixes according to its operating costs, its activities (courses, information, journal, legal advice, etc.) and to the fee to pay to the Federation in order to finance the activities organized on a national basis.

The governing body of the College is the Board of Directors, which is re-elected every three years through an election where any registered nurse belonging to that College may choose to run as a candidate. The members of the Board vary between 5, for Colleges with less than 100 registered nurses, to 15 for those who have more than 1500 registered nurses. Throughout Italy, the nurses who become board members in the Provincial Colleges are over 1500.

Then each Board autonomously appoints a president, a vice-president, a secretary and a treasurer. The president will have the duty to represent the Provincial College and by right becomes members of the National Council.

Do you have anything similar in USA?

Just to clarify -- passing the nationally standardized licensure exam (known as the "NCLEX-RN" for registered nurses and "NCLEX-PN" for practical/vocational nurses) is just one requirement for licensure. Each state has a Board of Nursing (BON) that regulates the practice of nursing within that state, and each Board of Nursing regulates the practice of nursing within that state and issues licenses to practice.

You must be licensed by a particular state to practice as an RN or an LPN in that state -- that's the "paperwork" traumaRus mentioned.

I didn't mention the BONs in my original response to the OP because the BONs do not advocate for or protect nurses; they exist to protect the public by ensuring (through the licensure process, and disciplinary actions when indicated) that nurses practicing in the state are competent and safe practitioners. It sounds like (from your post) that our BONs correspond to your Provincial Colleges.

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