Colorado Nurse Practice Act: Facility Guide

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Without standards for nursing care, it can be challenging for healthcare facilities to assess and improve upon treatment quality. Because every state has different nursing degree requirements, delegation rules, and penalties for inappropriate conduct, each is responsible for establishing its own laws to govern its nursing practice. In Colorado, the legislation that lays out these rules and regulations is known as the Colorado Nurse Practice Act.

The Nurse Practice Act (NPA) holds LPNs, RNs, and nurse aides accountable for the care they provide. By familiarizing your team with the intricacies of the NPA, your facility can maintain regulatory compliance and optimize care quality.

In this article, we’ll summarize the contents of Colorado’s Nursing Practice Act, outline key sections of the NPA that impact a clinician’s daily practice, and provide tips for Colorado healthcare leaders looking to better understand the state’s NPA to boost patient satisfaction and health outcomes.

What Is the Colorado State Nurse Practice Act?

As nursing roles adapt to meet clinical demands, staffing challenges, and rising patient acuity, it’s essential that treatments are provided according to each clinician’s scope of practice. The Colorado Nurse Practice Act enforces this by:

The Nurse Practice Act: Colorado State Laws at a Glance

Each state’s Nurse Practice Act contains similar content regarding nursing board functioning and minimum licensure requirements. However, every state’s nurse practice act describes their unique nursing scopes of practice and rules for delegation. We’ve outlined some of the specific components of Colorado’s NPA in the table below.

Code of Colorado Regulations:

  1. Graduate from a board of nursing approved nursing education program.
  2. Submit final transcript or other proof of degree completion.
  3. Submit an online application with the appropriate fees.
  4. Complete fingerprinting and a criminal background check.
  5. Register for and pass the NCLEX examination.
  1. Upload an official nursing school graduation certificate and transcript.
  2. Present a valid license to practice nursing in another state.
  3. Complete a criminal history check.
  4. Submit a license application with the appropriate fees.

Note: The board may grant a temporary RN license to practice for up to 4 months while their permanent license is processing and under legal review.

Nursing professionals are prohibited from delegating:

Once the BON is notified of any of the above violations, they may initiate further investigation that could result in:

Improving Patient Safety With the NPA: 3 Strategies for Facilities

Following the rules outlined in the Colorado Nurse Practice Act can help your team maintain regulatory compliance. However, adhering to the laws is only the first step toward promoting a safe clinical environment for your patients.

In order to make a real impact on health outcomes, you’ll need to take additional steps to ensure your clinicians understand the significance of these regulations and are able to incorporate them into their daily practice. We’ve listed three strategies that can help your team get started.

1. Educate Staff on the Colorado NPA

The first step to ensuring team buy-in is making sure everyone is aware of their delegation rights and legal scope. Empowering your clinical staff with the knowledge to manage their own professional practice can improve satisfaction, engagement, and retention.

There are a few different ways you can disseminate this training. They include:

2. Verify Employee Credentials

Prior to hiring a new employee, it’s important to assess the validity of their state license, clinical certifications, and educational transcripts. You can verify the legitimacy of these documents on the Colorado license verification site or Nursys QuickConfirm portal.

It’s also important to ensure your staff members renew any nursing licenses and mandatory certifications (BLS, continuing education hours, violence-prevention modules, etc.) to ensure they can continue to legally practice in Colorado. Automated renewal reminders can keep your clinicians compliant and ensure safe and seamless clinical care.

3. Partner With a Legal Team to Develop Facility Policies

When drafting new clinical policies and procedures, it’s important to make sure they fall in line with state nursing laws. Collaborating with a legal team can protect your facility and employees from accidental misconduct and subsequent legal fines.

Establish strong partnerships between nursing shared governance councils and your facility’s legal team to ensure both groups are comfortable working with each other. Encourage each group to reach out to the other with any questions or concerns they may have at any step in the policy development process.

Find More Ways to Support Your Clinical Team

Familiarizing your team with the Colorado Nurse Practice Act rules and regulations can ensure your patients receive safe, high-quality care. Our newsletter, written by a team of legal and clinical experts, provides additional tips and evidence-based strategies for enhancing regulatory compliance and optimizing patient outcomes — follow along today.

Legal Disclaimer: This article contains general legal information, but it is not intended to constitute professional legal advice for any particular situation and should not be relied on as professional legal advice. Any references to the law may not be current, as laws regularly change through updates in legislation, regulation, and case law at the federal and state level. Nothing in this article should be interpreted as creating an attorney-client relationship. If you have legal questions, you should seek the advice of an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.