California Definition of Registered Nurse

[DrugReptoNurse]

I've been looking at CA's Nurse Practice Act and can not find anywhere in the text where the Act has defined exactly what a registered nurse is according to the state. I've found the duties of a nurse, what credentials you need to have to obtain a CA license but nowhere can I find the definition of a RN. I've found the definition for a CRNA and a CRNM but thats it.

Can anybody steer me in the right direction in the Nurse Practice Act?

Thanks!

[elkpark]

I imagine that they don't bother to print it because it's considered pretty self-evident that the "definition" of a Registered Nurse is a person who is licensed by the (a) state to practice as a Registered Nurse. That's really the bottom line. Graduating from nursing school doesn't make you a Registered Nurse; neither does passing the NCLEX. You're not a Registered Nurse until (unless) you are licensed by the state. You can have practiced successfully as an RN for many years, but, if you allow your license to expire, the first day you are not licensed you are no longer a Registered Nurse. One's status as an RN is purely, solely a function of licensure by the state.

[pickledpepperRN]

The practice of nursing means those functions, including basic health care, that help people cope with difficulties in daily living that are associated with their actual or potential health or illness problems or the treatment thereof, and that require a substantial amount of scientific knowledge or technical skill.

http://www.rn.ca.gov/practice/pdf/npr-i-15.pdf

From the Standards of Competent Performance: "A registered nurse in California is required by licensure to act as a patient advocate, as circumstances require by initiating action to improve health care or to change decisions or activities which are against the interests or wishes of the patient (or client), and by giving the patient the opportunity to make informed decisions about health care before it is provided.

http://www.rn.ca.gov/practice/pdf/npr-i-20.pdf