Written paper: please obtain a copy of your State Nurse Practice Act and Medical Practice Act, as well as any guidelines, position statements (has either Board adopted AORNs Official Statement on the RN First Assistant?), informed opinions, qualifications or restrictions issued by your State Board of Nursing [BON] related to functioning as an assistant-at-surgery. You will need to do an analysis of the practice act to identify how the BON defines nursing and what, if anything, your State BON has said about the RNFA. Review both the Nurse and Medical Practical Acts for an interpretation of delegated medical acts. You also need to review the practice act to determine what, if any, regulations the Board has about advanced nurse practice. You should request this when you write or call the Boards. Briefly also review the Consensus Model for APRN Regulation. In your paper, suggest how and where the RNFA might fit in the new proposed model.
