Independent Provider RN Requirements

The U.S. Code applies professional standards to nurses and the health providers that hire them. Nurses themselves must possess at least a license in order to be registered. Nurses who earn credentials are more specially qualified and are considered to have been competently trained. Registered nurses are held accountable long before their hiring.

Jurisdiction by Definition

• Broad U.S. health laws are more locally governed by states.

  U.S. Code 42 legally requires health care providers to employ registered nurses in order to be federally governed. For example, the code says a provider which qualifies for "Home Health Agency" status must "...administer a health strategy established by a group of professional personnel (associated with the agency or organization), including one or more physicians and one or more registered professional nurses, to govern the services." No registered nurse, no federal recognition as a Home Health Agency. So health services companies must address registered nursing criteria. When they hire, independent health providers scrutinize applicants in three registered nursing qualifications.

Licensure

• Nurses gain licenses upon successfully completing tests which establish their nursing competence. The test does nothing to acknowledge exceptional competence. Although nurses can be licensed for practice in multiple states, Columbia University author Barbara Stevens Barnum, R.N. notes that states are still legally free to write their own nursing rules and examinations. As regulatory requirements have changed, existing veteran RNs, who were licensed long before the new model, may be exempted from rewriting newly modeled examinations for licensing.

Certification

• Certification is a credential that assures independent providers of an RN's competence in specialized medical care. In a hospital setting, providers may employ certified registered nurses for services such as anesthesia, orthopedics, or oncology. However, medical specialists may employ certified RNs for services such as enterostomal care and intravenous therapy. Registered nurses can accrue many certification initials behind their monikers. Nurses can obtain those credentials through agencies that specialize in them, or through master's degrees from their universities.

Accreditation

• Accreditation is a "good" school's version of academic competence.

  Independent care providers may also scrutinize the accreditation of nursing schools attended by applicants. Accreditation is granted based on a school's educational quality. Learning institutions may apply for "accreditation," but (as of 2010) that status is not mandatory. Therefore, health providers may view an institution's accreditation as the sign of a registered nurse's academic achievement. The National League for Nursing (NLN) was established to provide nurse education services to schools as a way of formalizing the accreditation process.