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Concept
Registered nurse
Summary
A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to obtain a nursing license. An RN's scope of practice is determined by legislation, and is regulated by a professional body or council.
Registered nurses are employed in a wide variety of professional settings, and often specialize in a field of practice. They may be responsible for supervising care delivered by other healthcare workers, including student nurses, licensed practical nurses (except in Canada), unlicensed assistive personnel, and less-experienced RNs.
Registered nurses must usually meet a minimum practice hours requirement and undertake continuing education to maintain their license. Furthermore, there is often a requirement that an RN remain free from serious criminal convictions.
Florence Nightingale was a British nurse who provided the foundation of the nursing profession. Nightingale obtained her experience during the Crimean War. St. Thomas Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses was established in 1860 by Florence Nightingale.
The registration of nurses by nursing councils or boards began in the early twentieth century. New Zealand registered the first nurse in 1901 with the establishment of the Nurses Registration Act. Nurses were required to complete three years of training and pass a state-administered examination. Registration ensured a degree of consistency in the education of new nurses, and the title was usually protected by law. After 1905 in California, for example, it became a misdemeanour to claim to be an RN without a certificate of registration. Now typical requirements for an RN licence in the United States include earning either an associate degree (community college) or a baccalaureate degree (college or university) in nursing and passing an examination.
Registration acts allowed authorities a degree of control over who was admitted to the profession.
Official source
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