49 Pa. Code Ch. 21 — State Board of Nursing

§ 21.273. Application for certification. (a) Applicants for certification shall pay a fee set forth in § 21.253 (relating to fees), and submit an application form provided by the Board to the Board for its review and approval. Applicants shall verify compliance with section 8.7 o…

§ 21.28. Licensure by endorsement. (a) A registered nurse who has graduated from an approved professional nursing education program in the United States or Canada and who obtained licensure in another jurisdiction having passed an examination considered by the Board to be equival…

CRNP PRACTICE § 21.282a. CRNP Practice. (a) A CRNP may collaborate only with physicians who hold a current license to practice in this Commonwealth. (b) When acting in collaboration with a physician as set forth in a collaborative agreement and within the CRNP’s specialty, a CRNP…

§ 21.283. Authority and qualifications for prescribing, dispensing and ordering drugs. (a) A CRNP with prescriptive authority approval may, when acting in collaboration with a physician as set forth in a prescriptive authority collaborative agreement and within the CRNP’s special…

§ 21.284. Prescribing and dispensing parameters. (a) The Board adopts the American Hospital Formulary Service Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classification to identify drugs which the CRNP may prescribe and dispense subject to the parameters identified in this section. (b) A CRNP with…

§ 21.284a. Prescribing and dispensing drugs. (a) Professional samples. A CRNP who holds current prescriptive authority approval may request, receive and sign for professional samples and may dispense professional samples to patients. (b) Prescriptions. (1) Prescriptions must bear…

§ 21.284b. Prescribing, administering and dispensing controlled substances. (a) A CRNP authorized to prescribe or dispense, or both, controlled substances shall register with the Drug Enforcement Administration. (b) A CRNP shall carry out the following minimum standards when pres…

§ 21.285. Prescriptive authority collaborative agreements. (a) The prescriptive authority collaborative agreement between a physician and a CRNP who will prescribe and dispense drugs and other medical therapeutic or corrective measures, as set forth in § 21.283(a) (relating to au…

§ 21.286. Identification of the CRNP. (a) A CRNP shall comply with State, Federal and facility regulations regarding identification of personnel. (b) The listing of a CRNP in an advertisement or publicly displayed sign shall identify CRNPs who use the designation ‘‘Dr.’’ as CRNPs…

§ 21.288. CRNP standards of conduct. A CRNP shall undertake a specific practice or procedure only if the CRNP has the necessary knowledge, preparation, experience and competency to properly execute the practice or procedure and the practice is within the scope of the CRNP’s speci…

§ 21.29. Expiration and renewal of license. (a) The Board will assign registered nurses to one of the following license expiration dates: (1) April 30 in the even-numbered years. (2) October 31 in the even-numbered years. (3) April 30 in the odd-numbered years. (4) October 31 in …

§ 21.29a. Reporting of crimes and disciplinary action. (a) A registered nurse shall notify the Board of pending criminal charges within 30 days of the filing of the criminal charges or on the biennial renewal application under § 21.29(c)(4) (relating to expiration and renewal of …

§ 21.29b. Reporting of address changes. A registered nurse shall notify the Board within 14 days of a change of address. Authority The provisions of this § 21.29b issued under section 2.1(k) of The Professional Nursing Law (63 P.S. § 212.1(k)). Source The provisions of this § 21.…

§ 21.30. Registered nurses licensed outside of the United States or Canada. (a) A registered nurse educated and licensed outside of the United States or Canada may not practice professional nursing in this Commonwealth until the registered nurse is issued a license or temporary p…

§ 21.30a. Continued competency. (a) A registered nurse whose license has lapsed for 5 years or longer or has been placed on inactive status for 5 years or longer, as permitted in section 11(b) of the act (63 P.S. § 221(b)), may reactivate the license by doing one of the following…

APPROVAL OF SCHOOLS OF NURSING § 21.31. Surveys; list of approved nursing education programs. (a) Survey visits are made of basic nursing programs conducted in hospitals, colleges or universities of exchange visitor programs and of cooperating agencies. In this section, ‘‘coopera…

§ 21.32. Objectives. Nursing schools in this Commonwealth are approved to effectuate the following: (1) Safeguard the preparation of nurses and assure safe standards of nursing practice in this Commonwealth. (2) Stimulate and maintain continued growth and improvement of nursing e…

§ 21.33. Types of approval. (a) The Board grants the following types of approval to nursing education programs: (1) Initial. The Board may grant initial approval to a new nursing education program, with evidence that the standards of this subchapter are being met, for a period of…

MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION § 21.331. Biennial renewal of certification. (a) The certification, and prescriptive authority approval, if applicable, of a CRNP will expire at the same time as the CRNP’s registered nurse license as provided in § 21.29 (relating to expiration and re…

§ 21.332. Requirement of continuing education. (a) A CRNP shall comply with this section and § § 21.332a—21.337. (b) Continuing education requirements shall be completed each biennial renewal cycle. (1) A CRNP who does not meet the continuing education requirements for a biennial…

§ 21.332a. Inactive status and reactivation. (a) A CRNP who places his certification on inactive status is not required to meet the continuing education requirements in section 8.1(c) of the act (63 P.S. § 218.1(c)) during the period the certification is on inactive status. Upon …

§ 21.333. Continuing education content. (a) Continuing education activities must address the CRNP’s specialty. (b) Pharmacology continuing education activities must provide the knowledge and skills to understand the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of broad categories of dru…

§ 21.334. Sources of continuing education. (a) The following providers of continuing education and credentialing organizations have currently met the standards for approval for continuing education. Therefore, all activities offered by these providers are approved for continuing …

§ 21.335. Requirements for courses. Each course shall have: (1) An established mechanism to measure its quality, established criteria for selecting and evaluating faculty, and established criteria for the evaluation of each participant who completes the course. (2) Adequate facil…

§ 21.336. Continuing education course approval. (a) As a condition of approval, providers and credentialing organizations are required to provide CRNPs who complete continuing education courses with a certificate of completion which contains the information listed in § 21.337(a) …

§ 21.337. CRNP responsibilities. (a) A CRNP is required to maintain documentation of completion of continuing education, including: (1) CRNP name. (2) Dates attended. (3) Continuing education hours. (4) Title of course. (5) Course provider. (6) Location of course. (7) Course numb…

§ 21.33a. Failure to comply with standards. (a) If the Board receives information suggesting that a nursing education program has not maintained the standards of this subchapter, the Board will validate the information and will notify the program, in writing, of the alleged defic…

§ 21.33b. Minimum rate for graduates of nursing education programs to pass the National licensure examination. A nursing education program shall prepare its graduates to pass the National licensure examination at a rate at least equal to the minimum rate set by the Board. The min…

§ 21.34. Removal from approved list. (a) The Board may remove a nursing education program from the approved list in accordance with the following procedures if the program fails to meet and maintain minimum standards, including the minimum passing rates on the National licensure …

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION § 21.351. Penalties for violation. Certification as a CRNP may be suspended, revoked or otherwise restricted or subjected to remedial measures when, after notice and opportunity to be heard, the Board finds that: (1) The CRNP has engaged in the performance…

APPROVAL OF CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSEPRACTITIONER PROGRAMS § 21.361. General criteria for approval of programs. (a) A CRNP program must require, at a minimum, a baccalaureate degree in nursing for admission and must culminate with a master’s degree in nursing or postmaster’s cer…

§ 21.362. Annual reports and compliance reviews; list of approved programs. (a) Approved programs must complete an annual report to the Board on a form provided by the Board. The annual report must update information regarding the program’s administration, faculty, curriculum and…

§ 21.363. Approval process. (a) A program that meets and maintains the requirements of § § 21.361, 21.365—21.369 and 21.372—21.375 will be granted full approval status. (b) The Board will place a CRNP program on provisional approval status if, as evidenced by the compliance revie…

§ 21.364. Removal from approved list; discontinuance of CRNP program. (a) The Board will give at least 30 days notice of intent to remove a CRNP program from full approval status to provisional approval status or from provisional approval status to removal from the approved list …

§ 21.365. Establishment. (a) A CRNP program must be developed and maintained under the authority of a regionally accredited university or college or have current accreditation by the Credentialing Commission for Nurse Education or the National League of Nursing. (b) A CRNP progra…

§ 21.366. Organizational requirements. (a) The CRNP program must be a definable entity distinguishable from other educational programs and services within the institution. (b) Relationships with central administrative officers, interrelationships among other disciplines and servi…

§ 21.367. Faculty requirements for CRNP programs. (a) The minimum faculty requirements submitted under § 21.365(d)(3) (relating to establishment) for the program are: (1) Qualified faculty members teaching in their areas of specialized practice encompassed within the curriculum. …

§ 21.368. Faculty policies. (a) The faculty shall be employed by and be responsible to the college or university. (b) Policies, including personnel policies in effect for CRNP program faculty, must be those in effect for faculty members throughout the college or university. (c) F…

§ 21.369. General curriculum requirements. (a) The curriculum shall be developed, implemented and evaluated by the faculty and be based on the philosophy and objectives of the school. (b) The curriculum must be organized and developed to include the knowledge, attitudes, skills a…

§ 21.370. Evaluation. (a) As part of the CRNP program approval process, the CRNP program shall submit an outline of, and appropriate time line for, its planned evaluative process. The evaluative process must include, at a minimum, the following: (1) A self-evaluation process comp…

§ 21.371. Curriculum changes requiring Board approval. Curriculum changes that require Board approval include changes in: (1) Program objectives, course content or instruction that affect the integration of material into the total curriculum. (2) An approved program which deems a…

§ 21.372. CRNP program philosophy; purposes and objectives. (a) A clear statement of philosophy and purposes of the CRNP program, consistent with the philosophy and purposes of the college or university, shall be formulated and adopted. (b) The philosophy, purposes and objectives…

§ 21.373. Facility and resource requirements. (a) The support of the college or university must be adequate to meet CRNP program needs and include the following: (1) Faculty and staff offices. (2) Classrooms, conference rooms and laboratories. (3) Administrative and secretarial s…

§ 21.374. Selection and admission standards. (a) Policies and procedures related to the selection and admission of students are the responsibility of the individual program. Consideration must be given to scholastic aptitude, academic achievement, personal qualities and physical …

§ 21.375. Advanced standing. The school shall have a written policy consistent with its philosophy and objectives concerning criteria for granting advanced standing. The policy of master’s degree programs must be consistent with that of the college or university. Authority The pr…

§ 21.376. Program records. (a) The program shall employ a record system that ensures the operation of the program. Records shall be maintained in locked files which assure their safe keeping. (b) Each nursing faculty shall select record forms specifically for the CRNP program tha…

§ 21.377. Custody of records. (a) When a program closes, the college or university is responsible for the safekeeping of the records of students for at least 50 years after graduation of the last class. (b) If the college or university also closes, advice should be obtained from …

§ 21.4. Applicability of general rules. Under 1 Pa. Code § 31.1 (relating to scope of part) 1 Pa. Code Part II (relating to general rules of administrative practice and procedure) is applicable to the activities of and proceedings before the Board. Source The provisions of this §…

GENERAL PROVISIONS § 21.401. Interpretations: scope of practice. (a) The Board may, upon request of a licensed nurse, nursing association, health care facility or licensed health care professional, or upon its own motion, issue interpretations of this chapter as they apply to the…

DISCONTINUANCE OF A SCHOOL OF NURSING § 21.41. Notification; completion of program; records. (a) Written notification of intent to discontinue a program of nursing shall be submitted to the Board within a reasonable time, but not less than 6 months prior to discontinuance. (b) Wh…