Highlights of Nursing in Virginia

About This Resource



"Highlights of Nursing in Virginia" was originally compiled by Mabel E. Montgomery, RN, Katherine R. Gary, RN and Marie Schmidt, RN, members of the Special Anniversary Observances Committee of the Virginia Nurses' Association and published in 1975. Under the guidance of Evelyn C. Bacon, Chair of the VNA History Committee, revisions were begun to the "Highlights" in the 1990s. This edition was completed by the Joint History Committee of the Virginia Nurses' Association and the Virginia League of Nursing, under the leadership of Corinne F. Dorsey in November of 2000.


Highlights

Decades 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

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Virginia Board of Nursing

About The Board

The Virginia General Assembly created the State Board of Examiners of Graduate Nurses with the enactment of the Nurse Practice Act in 1903 to provide for the registration of nurses. The act also provided for the inspection of the training schools. The purpose of the regulation of nursing by the state is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth. The name of the Board has changed several times and groups have been added to the registered nurses originally regulated.
Licensed attendants were added in 1918 and continued until 1946. Certified tuberculosis nurses were first regulated in 1926. None were added after an amendment to the law in 1970 after the educational programs had closed. In 1946, an amendment to the Nurse Practice Act established the regulation of licensed practical nurses. The categories of clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse aides were added in 1989. In 1996, the law was again amended to authorize the Board of Nursing to regulate massage therapists. Joint regulation of nurse practitioners by the Boards of Nursing and Medicine began in 1975 and prescriptive authority for nurse practitioners was initiated in 1992.

Members of the Virginia Board are appointed by the Governor to four-year terms. Composition of the Board has changed from the initial five registered nurse members to the current thirteen member Board comprised of seven registered nurses, three licensed practical nurses and three citizen members. The first licensed practical nurse member was appointed in 1947 and the first two citizen members in 1986.


Official Names

Years	Name
1903-1946	State Board of Examiners of Graduate Nurses
1946-1970	State Board of Examiners of Nurses
1970-1988	Virginia State Board of Nursing
1989-Present	Virginia Board of Nursing

Source : http://www.library.vcu.edu/tml/speccoll/nursing/board/

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