Florida Nursing Regulations

The Florida Department of Health, Division of Medical Quality Assurance (DMQA), licenses and regulates 200-plus license types in more than 40 healthcare professions.•  The Florida Board of Nursing (FBON) is one of the agencies administered by the DMQA. The DMQA assures that the consumer is protected, that unlicensed activity is curtailed and determines what improvements the FBON must make. The DMQA also works to maintain consistency between the nurse practice act and the practice acts of other professions.

The duty of the FBON is to protect the public from unqualified or unsafe nurses. To enable this responsibility, the FBON is authorized to implement the Florida Nurse Practice Act and Florida Administrative Code. Using the authority granted by the Florida Legislature, the FBON "monitors, disciplines, educates and, when appropriate, rehabilitates its licensees to assure their fitness and competence in providing health care services for the people of Florida."•  

The FBON can make recommendations that support the need for changes due to recent and current health issues, such as the COVID-19 crisis. Here is a recommended but not mandated model for academic and practice partnerships regarding nursing students' education about COVID-19.

• Health care facilities and nursing education programs are encouraged to partner during the COVID-19 crisis.•
  
• Pre-licensure RN students from diploma, associate degree and baccalaureate degree nursing programs and PN/VN students from certificate nursing programs could augment and support nursing services in health care facilities.•
  
• Nursing students would be employed by the facility on a full- or part-time basis and would work in the role of a student nurse for compensation and, in conjunction with the student’s nursing education program, would receive academic credit toward meeting clinical requirements.
  
• Nursing students would be required to be enrolled in a State Board of Nursing approved (or its equivalent) RN or PN/VN pre-licensure program.
  https://floridasnursing.gov/pdfs/policy-brief-covid19.pdf

The power of the FBON is constrained by statute. Chapter §120.536 limits the rulemaking authority, powers and functions of an agency to extend no further than implementing or interpreting the specific powers and duties conferred by the enabling statutes.

• Florida Statutes are organized within 48 TITLES and 1013 Chapters.
  • TITLE 32, REGULATION OF PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS, contains Chapters 454 through 493. Two of these chapters, 456 and 464, directly impact the nursing profession.
    • Chapter 456 contains legal requirements that apply to all health-related professions and occupations in the state of Florida.
    • Chapter 464 is divided into two parts; Part I contains the Florida NURSE PRACTICE ACT, Part II contains regulations pertaining to the practice of certified nursing assistants.
• Florida Administrative Code (FAC) is the official compilation of administrative rules for the state of Florida. The FAC details how the various departments of state government will implement statutes.
  The FAC is organized by government department, agency and finally rule number. The Department of Health has been assigned the number 64, the Florida Board of Nursing (FBON) identifier is B9. For example, FAC rule 64B9-5.013 is the Dept. of Health rule implemented by the FBON that mandates two hours of continuing education on the topic of the rules and laws that govern the practice of nursing in Florida.

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