Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Minnesota Session Laws - 2002, Regular Session
Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language
CHAPTER 272-S.F.No. 2463
An act relating to employment; regulating overtime for
nurses; allowing reciprocity for border state nursing
licensees; amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, sections
148.211, by adding a subdivision; 148.261, subdivision
1; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes,
chapter 181.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 148.211, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 2a. [LICENSE RECOGNITION FOR NURSES FROM BORDER
STATES; RECIPROCITY.] (a) A license to practice professional or
practical nursing issued by Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, or
Wisconsin (border state) to a resident in that state must be
recognized by the board as authorizing a licensure privilege to
practice professional or practical nursing in Minnesota, if:
(1) the licensure standards in the state licensed are
substantially the same as Minnesota licensure standards;
(2) the border state has not taken adverse action against
the nurse license;
(3) the nurse is not participating in an alternative or
diversion program; or
(4) the nurse has not been refused a license to practice
nursing in Minnesota.
(b) Within ten days of employment by a hospital, clinic,
prepaid medical plan, or other health care institution or
organization located in this state, a nurse who practices
professional or practical nursing in Minnesota under the
authority of a licensure privilege as provided in this
subdivision shall report the employment to the board on a form
provided by the board. The board shall maintain a list of the
nurses practicing in Minnesota under this subdivision.
(c) A nurse who practices professional or practical nursing
in Minnesota under the authority of a licensure privilege as
provided in this subdivision has the same obligations as if the
nurse was licensed in Minnesota and is subject to the laws and
rules of Minnesota and the regulatory authority of the board,
including taking all forms of disciplinary action provided for
in section 148.262, subdivision 1, and corrective action
provided for in section 214.103, subdivision 6, against an
individual's licensure privilege based on the grounds listed in
section 148.261, subdivision 1, any other statute authorizing or
requiring the board to take corrective or disciplinary action,
and issuing a cease and desist order to limit or revoke a
nurse's authority to practice in Minnesota. The board is
authorized to recover from a nurse practicing professional or
practical nursing in Minnesota under this subdivision the cost
of proceedings as provided in section 148.262, subdivision 4.
The board shall promptly report any such actions to the border
state licensing board.
(d) The board shall seek reciprocity of nurse licensure
with Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Lack of
reciprocity does not limit the board's recognition of nurse
licenses from border states.
Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 148.261,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1. [GROUNDS LISTED.] The board may deny,
revoke, suspend, limit, or condition the license and
registration of any person to practice professional, advanced
practice registered, or practical nursing under sections 148.171
to 148.285, or to otherwise discipline a licensee or applicant
as described in section 148.262. The following are grounds for
disciplinary action:
(1) Failure to demonstrate the qualifications or satisfy
the requirements for a license contained in sections 148.171 to
148.285 or rules of the board. In the case of a person applying
for a license, the burden of proof is upon the applicant to
demonstrate the qualifications or satisfaction of the
requirements.
(2) Employing fraud or deceit in procuring or attempting to
procure a permit, license, or registration certificate to
practice professional or practical nursing or attempting to
subvert the licensing examination process. Conduct that
subverts or attempts to subvert the licensing examination
process includes, but is not limited to:
(i) conduct that violates the security of the examination
materials, such as removing examination materials from the
examination room or having unauthorized possession of any
portion of a future, current, or previously administered
licensing examination;
(ii) conduct that violates the standard of test
administration, such as communicating with another examinee
during administration of the examination, copying another
examinee's answers, permitting another examinee to copy one's
answers, or possessing unauthorized materials; or
(iii) impersonating an examinee or permitting an
impersonator to take the examination on one's own behalf.
(3) Conviction during the previous five years of a felony
or gross misdemeanor reasonably related to the practice of
professional, advanced practice registered, or practical nursing.
Conviction as used in this subdivision includes a conviction of
an offense that if committed in this state would be considered a
felony or gross misdemeanor without regard to its designation
elsewhere, or a criminal proceeding where a finding or verdict
of guilt is made or returned but the adjudication of guilt is
either withheld or not entered.
(4) Revocation, suspension, limitation, conditioning, or
other disciplinary action against the person's professional or
practical nursing license or advanced practice registered
nursing credential, in another state, territory, or country;
failure to report to the board that charges regarding the
person's nursing license or other credential are pending in
another state, territory, or country; or having been refused a
license or other credential by another state, territory, or
country.
(5) Failure to or inability to perform professional or
practical nursing as defined in section 148.171, subdivision 14
or 15, with reasonable skill and safety, including failure of a
registered nurse to supervise or a licensed practical nurse to
monitor adequately the performance of acts by any person working
at the nurse's direction.
(6) Engaging in unprofessional conduct, including, but not
limited to, a departure from or failure to conform to board
rules of professional or practical nursing practice that
interpret the statutory definition of professional or practical
nursing as well as provide criteria for violations of the
statutes, or, if no rule exists, to the minimal standards of
acceptable and prevailing professional or practical nursing
practice, or any nursing practice that may create unnecessary
danger to a patient's life, health, or safety. Actual injury to
a patient need not be established under this clause.
(7) Failure of an advanced practice registered nurse to
practice with reasonable skill and safety or departure from or
failure to conform to standards of acceptable and prevailing
advanced practice registered nursing.
(8) Delegating or accepting the delegation of a nursing
function or a prescribed health care function when the
delegation or acceptance could reasonably be expected to result
in unsafe or ineffective patient care.
(9) Actual or potential inability to practice nursing with
reasonable skill and safety to patients by reason of illness,
use of alcohol, drugs, chemicals, or any other material, or as a
result of any mental or physical condition.
(10) Adjudication as mentally incompetent, mentally ill, a
chemically dependent person, or a person dangerous to the public
by a court of competent jurisdiction, within or without this
state.
(11) Engaging in any unethical conduct, including, but not
limited to, conduct likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the
public, or demonstrating a willful or careless disregard for the
health, welfare, or safety of a patient. Actual injury need not
be established under this clause.
(12) Engaging in conduct with a patient that is sexual or
may reasonably be interpreted by the patient as sexual, or in
any verbal behavior that is seductive or sexually demeaning to a
patient, or engaging in sexual exploitation of a patient or
former patient.
(13) Obtaining money, property, or services from a patient,
other than reasonable fees for services provided to the patient,
through the use of undue influence, harassment, duress,
deception, or fraud.
(14) Revealing a privileged communication from or relating
to a patient except when otherwise required or permitted by law.
(15) Engaging in abusive or fraudulent billing practices,
including violations of federal Medicare and Medicaid laws or
state medical assistance laws.
(16) Improper management of patient records, including
failure to maintain adequate patient records, to comply with a
patient's request made pursuant to section 144.335, or to
furnish a patient record or report required by law.
(17) Knowingly aiding, assisting, advising, or allowing an
unlicensed person to engage in the unlawful practice of
professional, advanced practice registered, or practical nursing.
(18) Violating a rule adopted by the board, an order of the
board, or a state or federal law relating to the practice of
professional, advanced practice registered, or practical
nursing, or a state or federal narcotics or controlled substance
law.
(19) Knowingly providing false or misleading information
that is directly related to the care of that patient unless done
for an accepted therapeutic purpose such as the administration
of a placebo.
(20) Aiding suicide or aiding attempted suicide in
violation of section 609.215 as established by any of the
following:
(i) a copy of the record of criminal conviction or plea of
guilty for a felony in violation of section 609.215, subdivision
1 or 2;
(ii) a copy of the record of a judgment of contempt of
court for violating an injunction issued under section 609.215,
subdivision 4;
(iii) a copy of the record of a judgment assessing damages
under section 609.215, subdivision 5; or
(iv) a finding by the board that the person violated
section 609.215, subdivision 1 or 2. The board shall
investigate any complaint of a violation of section 609.215,
subdivision 1 or 2.
(21) Practicing outside the scope of practice authorized by
section 148.171, subdivision 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, or 21.
(22) Practicing outside the specific field of nursing
practice for which an advanced practice registered nurse is
certified unless the practice is authorized under section
148.284.
(23) Making a false statement or knowingly providing false
information to the board, failing to make reports as required by
section 148.263, or failing to cooperate with an investigation
of the board as required by section 148.265.
(24) Engaging in false, fraudulent, deceptive, or
misleading advertising.
(25) Failure to inform the board of the person's
certification status as a nurse anesthetist, nurse-midwife,
nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist.
(26) Engaging in clinical nurse specialist practice,
nurse-midwife practice, nurse practitioner practice, or
registered nurse anesthetist practice without current
certification by a national nurse certification organization
acceptable to the board, except during the period between
completion of an advanced practice registered nurse course of
study and certification, not to exceed six months or as
authorized by the board.
(27) Engaging in conduct that is prohibited under section
145.412.
(28) Failing to report employment to the board as required
by section 148.211, subdivision 2a, or knowingly aiding,
assisting, advising, or allowing a person to fail to report as
required by section 148.211, subdivision 2a.
Sec. 3. [181.275] [REGULATING NURSES' OVERTIME.]
Subdivision 1. [DEFINITIONS.] For purposes of this
section, the following terms have the meanings given them:
(1) "emergency" means a period when replacement staff are
not able to report for duty for the next shift or increased
patient need, because of unusual, unpredictable, or unforeseen
circumstances such as, but not limited to, an act of terrorism,
a disease outbreak, adverse weather conditions, or natural
disasters which impact continuity of patient care;
(2) "normal work period" means 12 or fewer consecutive
hours consistent with a predetermined work shift;
(3) "nurse" has the meaning given in section 148.171,
subdivision 9; and
(4) "taking action against" means discharging;
disciplining; threatening; reporting to the board of nursing;
discriminating against; or penalizing regarding compensation,
terms, conditions, location, or privileges of employment.
Subd. 2. [PROHIBITED ACTIONS.] Except as provided in
subdivision 3, a hospital or other entity licensed under
sections 144.50 to 144.58, and its agent, or other health care
facility licensed by the commissioner of health, and the
facility's agent, is prohibited from taking action against a
nurse solely on the grounds that the nurse fails to accept an
assignment of additional consecutive hours at the facility in
excess of a normal work period, if the nurse declines to work
additional hours because doing so may, in the nurse's judgment,
jeopardize patient safety. This subdivision does not apply to a
nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for persons with
mental retardation, a licensed boarding care facility, or a
housing with services establishment.
Subd. 3. [EMERGENCY.] Notwithstanding subdivision 2, a
nurse may be scheduled for duty or required to continue on duty
for more than one normal work period in an emergency.
Subd. 4. [EXCEPTION.] Section 645.241 does not apply to
violations of this section.
Sec. 4. [EFFECTIVE DATE.]
Sections 1 and 2 are effective January 1, 2003.
Presented to the governor March 22, 2002
Signed by the governor March 25, 2002, 2:13 p.m.
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes