Profession-specific standards3 hours
Ethics for Nurses
The 2025 ANA Code provision by provision: moral agency, unsafe orders, errors, diversion, refusals, end-of-life care, abandonment and documentation.
US$89DetailsAdd to cart
Profession-specific standards
Professional Standards for Nurses
Nurse Practice Acts, scope, delegation, assignments and accountability for RNs, LPN/VNs and APRNs
- 3hours
- 10sections
- 20final questions
- 80%pass mark
- PDFcertificate
- Online and self-paced, on any device
- Reflective account template
- Knowledge checks in every section
- Instant certificate of completion
What you will learn
- Explain how state Nurse Practice Acts, board rules, ANA professional standards and employer policy combine to set the standard for nursing practice.
- Compare the legal scope of LPN/VNs, RNs and APRNs, including the four APRN roles and six population foci in the APRN Consensus Model.
- Apply the minimum standards of nursing practice in 22 TAC §217.11 to assessment, escalation, medication administration and documentation.
- Use the Scope of Nursing Practice Decision-Making Framework to decide whether to perform a new or unfamiliar activity.
- Distinguish assignment from delegation and apply the five rights of delegation, including what can never be delegated.
- Describe the responsibilities of employers, licensed nurses and delegatees under the National Guidelines for Nursing Delegation.
- Respond professionally to unsafe assignments, including using Texas Safe Harbor peer review or equivalent processes, and distinguish refusal from abandonment.
- Apply Nurse Licensure Compact rules to travel and telehealth practice and manage license records honestly.
- Plan continuing competence that meets state renewal requirements and matches the nurse's actual role.
- Describe how boards of nursing handle practice concerns and build a targeted, evidenced remediation plan.
Who this course is for
U.S. nurses: registered nurses (RN), licensed practical and vocational nurses (LPN/LVN) and advanced practice registered nurses (NP, CNM, CNS, CRNA), and nurse leaders who supervise them.
After a concern
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a board inquiry.
Routine learning
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
About this course
This course explains the professional standards that govern nursing practice in the United States and how boards of nursing apply them. It covers the Nurse Practice Act and board rules, the relationship between law, ANA's Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice and employer policy, the scope of LPN/VNs, RNs and APRNs, minimum standards of practice using Texas rule 22 TAC §217.11 as a worked model, assessment and escalation, medication administration and the duty to clarify orders, scope-of-practice decisions, delegation and assignment under the National Guidelines for Nursing Delegation, accepting and refusing assignments, Texas Safe Harbor peer review, mandatory reporting, multistate practice under the Nurse Licensure Compact, license integrity and continuing competence.
It is written for registered nurses, licensed practical and vocational nurses and advanced practice registered nurses in any U.S. state, whether you are new to practice, moving states or roles, supervising others, or responding to a concern about your practice. Cases are set in hospitals, long-term care, home and outpatient care, telehealth and non-traditional settings in states including Texas, California, Florida and New York.
Nursing is licensed and disciplined state by state, and the standards that apply to you change when you cross a state line, move to a new license level or take on a new role. Many board cases begin with practice decisions made under pressure: an unclear task, an unsafe assignment, a delegation without follow-up or a late chart entry. This course gives you the frameworks to make those decisions safely and defensibly, and shows you where to check your own board's requirements.
Course details
- Learning time
- Approximately 3 hours (estimated learning time including knowledge checks, reflection and assessment)
- Standards covered
- State Nurse Practice Acts and board rules (e.g. 22 Tex. Admin. Code §§216.3, 217.11 and 217.20; Tex. Occ. Code §303.005; N.Y. Education Law §6902; Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §2725); NCSBN/ANA National Guidelines for Nursing Delegation (2019); Scope of Nursing Practice Decision-Making Framework (2016); APRN Consensus Model (2008); ANA Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (4th ed., 2021); Nurse Licensure Compact; Nursys; NPDB
- Format
- Self-paced, gated lessons with knowledge checks, case studies and reflection
- Assessment
- 20 scenario-based questions, 80% to pass (16 of 20)
- Outcome
- Certificate of completion and a written reflection for your learning record
- Alignment
- Mapped to the practice standards used by state boards of nursing and to national nursing guidance from NCSBN and ANA; education, not board-approved
Course curriculum
10 sections · 24 lessons · 3 hours · 20-question final assessment
-
1The legal and professional framework for U.S. nursing3 lessons
- Your Nurse Practice Act, your board and the rules that bind you
- Three layers of standards: law, the profession and the employer
- License levels: LPN/LVN, RN and APRN
-
2Standards of nursing practice at the bedside3 lessons
- Minimum standards of nursing practice: a worked model
- Assessment, clinical judgment and escalation
- Medication administration and clarifying orders
-
3Scope of practice decisions3 lessons
- Deciding whether a task is within your scope
- Scope pressure: protocols, custom and new settings
- Competence, orientation and new procedures
-
4Delegation, assignment and supervision3 lessons
- Delegation, assignment and accountability: the language that matters
- The five rights of delegation and what cannot be delegated
- Responsibilities of the employer, the nurse and the delegatee
-
5Assignments, staffing pressure and raising concerns3 lessons
- Accepting, questioning and leaving an assignment
- Texas Safe Harbor peer review: a model for raising practice concerns
- Mandatory reporting and nursing peer review
-
6Licensure across states, license integrity and continuing competence3 lessons
- Practicing across state lines: the Nurse Licensure Compact and telehealth
- Your license record: Nursys, the NPDB and honest declarations
- Continuing competence and renewal requirements
-
7When nursing practice is questioned: board processes and remediation3 lessons
- Practice concerns that reach boards of nursing
- How boards of nursing handle practice concerns
- Showing accountability and remediating a practice concern
-
8Conclusion and key points1 lesson
- Conclusion and key points
-
9References and further reading1 lesson
- References and further reading
-
10Your reflective account1 lesson
- Your reflective account
Assessment and certificate
Final assessment
20scenario-based questions
- Pass mark 80%: 16 correct out of 20
- Knowledge checks in each section as you go
- Tests whether you can apply the standards, not recall a page
- Not passed yet? Review the sections and retake it
Certificate of completion
Certificate of completion. Not CE or CME credit unless accepted by your board.
- Your name, the course title and the hours
- Completion date and a unique certificate ID that can be verified
- Ready to download as a PDF as soon as you complete the course
Your reflective account
The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your learning portfolio.
Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.
Questions about this course
What is the difference between delegation and assignment in nursing?
Assignment is giving a task to someone whose license or role already includes it, while delegation is allowing a less-qualified person to perform a specific nursing task they would not otherwise do. The course applies the five rights of delegation and the National Guidelines for Nursing Delegation, including what can never be delegated.
How do I decide whether a new task is within my scope?
The course uses the national Scope of Nursing Practice Decision-Making Framework, which asks whether the task is permitted by your Nurse Practice Act, consistent with standards and evidence, within your education and competence, and supported by your employer. If any answer is no, you should not perform the task.
What is Texas Safe Harbor peer review?
It is a Texas process that lets a nurse invoke protection when asked to do an assignment the nurse believes could cause harm or violate their duty, so the request can be reviewed. The course explains how it works, equivalent processes in other states and the difference between refusing an assignment and abandoning patients.
Does the course explain the Nurse Licensure Compact?
Yes. It covers multistate practice under the NLC, including the rule that nursing law follows the patient's location, how travel and telehealth nurses should check that law, and why honest license records matter. It also covers continuing competence for renewal.
What comes with the nursing standards course?
$89 and three self-paced hours for RNs, LPN/LVNs and APRNs. Checks run through each module and the final 20 questions require 16 correct; you then receive a certificate and a self-assessment against nursing standards. No contact hours or board approval are claimed.
How this course was built
Official sources only
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: state practice acts and board rules, federal law and national professional codes of ethics. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.
Original, edition by edition
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
Reviewed when rules change
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
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