Definitions

1   In this regulation:

"Act" means the Health Professions Act;

"compound" means,

(a) in section 7 (1) (i), to mix 2 or more ingredients, and

(b) in any other case, to mix a drug with one or more other ingredients;

"dispense" has the same meaning as in the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act,

(a) excluding a sale as defined in that Act, and

(b) including receipt of payment on behalf of a registrant's employer for a drug dispensed or administered by the registrant, if the registrant's employer lawfully requires payment for that drug from a person in respect of the individual for or to whom the drug is dispensed or administered;

"Drug Schedules Regulation" means the Drug Schedules Regulation, B.C. Reg. 9/98;

"enteral instillation" means instillation directly into the gastrointestinal tract;

"health professional" means

(a) a person who is authorized under the Act to practise the designated health profession of dentistry, medicine, midwifery, naturopathic medicine, nursing, podiatric medicine, psychiatric nursing or the practice of pharmacy, or

(b) a person who, in Alberta, Yukon or the Northwest Territories, is the equivalent of a person described in paragraph (a), but only if

(i) the person has issued an order in respect of a patient who has been assessed by the person,

(ii) the patient has transferred from one of the other jurisdictions to British Columbia,

(iii) the patient, on transfer, requires immediate health services or treatment, and

(iv) the patient has not been assessed by the equivalent person described in paragraph (a);

"issue" means to issue by any method;

"nursing diagnosis" means a clinical judgment made by a registrant of an individual's mental or physical condition to determine whether the condition can be ameliorated or resolved by appropriate interventions of the registrant to achieve outcomes for which the registrant is accountable;

"order" means an instruction or authorization, issued by a health professional, for a registrant to provide a service that includes the performance of an activity described in section 7 (1) to or for a named individual whom the health professional has assessed, whether or not the instruction or authorization

(a) makes provision for the time or times at which the service is to be initiated by a registrant, or

(b) incorporates by reference, in whole or in part and with any changes the health professional considers necessary or appropriate, a guideline, protocol or other recorded description of a course of action or decision-making process to be used by a registrant in providing the service to or for a specified class of individuals;

"parenteral instillation" means instillation directly into the blood stream;

"practical nursing" means the health profession in which a person provides the following services:

(a) health care for the promotion, maintenance and restoration of health, with a focus on stable or predictable states of health;

(b) prevention, treatment and palliation of illness and injury, with a focus on stable or predictable disorders and conditions, primarily by

(i) assessing health status,

(ii) planning, implementing and evaluating interventions, and

(iii) coordinating health services;

"registrant" means a registrant who is authorized under the bylaws to practise practical nursing;

"substance" includes air and water but excludes a drug specified in Schedule I, IA, II or IV of the Drug Schedules Regulation;

"wearable hearing instrument" has the same meaning as in the Speech and Hearing Health Professionals Regulation, B.C. Reg. 413/2008.

[am. B.C. Regs. 93/2018, Sch. 1, s. 1; 100/2023, Sch. 1.]

College name

2   The name of the college responsible for carrying out the objects of the Act in respect of practical nursing is "British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives".

[en. B.C. Reg. 93/2018, Sch. 1, s. 2; am. B.C. Reg. 167/2020, Sch. 2, s. 1.]

Reserved titles

3   (1) The following titles are reserved for exclusive use by registrants:

(a) nurse;

(b) licensed practical nurse;

(c) practical nurse.

(2) This section does not prevent a person from using the title "nurse" in a manner authorized by another regulation under section 12 of the Act.

Scope of practice

4   A registrant may practise practical nursing.

Patient relations program

5   The college is designated for the purpose of section 16 (2) (f) of the Act.

Provisional registrant classes

5.1   The college is authorized to establish, under section 19 (1) (i) of the Act, a class of provisional registrants for the purposes of section 20 (4.3) of the Act.

[en. B.C. Reg. 93/2018, Sch. 1, s. 3.]

Restricted activities that do not require an order

6   (1) A registrant in the course of practising practical nursing may do any of the following:

(a) make a nursing diagnosis identifying a condition as the cause of the signs or symptoms of an individual;

(b) for the purpose of wound care other than the suturing of skin lacerations, perform a procedure on tissue below the dermis or below the surface of a mucous membrane;

(c) administer, by inhalation, oxygen or humidified air;

(d) administer purified protein derivative by injection, for the purpose of tuberculosis screening;

(e) for the purpose of assessment, put an instrument or a device or finger

(i) into the external ear canal, up to the eardrum, or

(ii) beyond the anal verge;

(f) for the purpose of assessment or ameliorating or resolving a condition, put an instrument or a device or finger beyond the anal verge;

(g) for the purpose of providing personal hygiene care, put an instrument or a device, hand or finger beyond the labia majora, up to the cervix;

(h) put a wearable hearing instrument, or a part of or an accessory for it, into the external ear canal, up to the eardrum;

(i) for the purpose of assessment, put into the external ear canal, up to the eardrum, air that is under pressure no greater than the pressure created by the use of an otoscope;

(j) apply ultrasound for the purpose of bladder volume measurement or blood flow monitoring;

(k) apply electricity using an automatic external defibrillator for the purpose of defibrillation in the course of emergency cardiac care;

(l) apply electricity for the purpose of providing transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation;

(m) in respect of a drug specified in Schedule I or II of the Drug Schedules Regulation,

(i) compound the drug,

(ii) dispense the drug, or

(iii) administer the drug by any method

for the purpose of

(iv) treating

(A) anaphylaxis,

(B) respiratory distress in a known asthmatic, or

(C) hypoglycemia, or

(v) preventing disease using immunoprophylactic agents;

(n) in respect of a drug specified in Schedule II of the Drug Schedules Regulation,

(i) compound the drug,

(ii) dispense the drug, or

(iii) administer the drug

(A) orally,

(B) intranasally, or

(C) by intradermal, intramuscular or subcutaneous injection.

(2) A registrant may perform an activity described in subsection (1) (m) or (n) of this section only if standards, limits or conditions have been established, under section 19 (1) (k) or (l) of the Act, respecting the compounding, dispensing and administering of the drug by registrants.

Restricted activities that require an order

7   (1) A registrant in the course of practising practical nursing may do any of the following:

(a) perform a procedure on tissue below the dermis or below the surface of a mucous membrane;

(b) cast a fracture of a bone;

(c) administer a substance by

(i) injection,

(ii) inhalation,

(iii) mechanical ventilation,

(iv) irrigation, or

(v) enteral instillation or parenteral instillation;

(d) for the purpose of establishing intravenous access, maintaining patency or managing hypovolemia,

(i) perform venipuncture, or

(ii) administer a solution by parenteral instillation;

(e) put an instrument or a device, hand or finger

(i) into the external ear canal, up to the eardrum,

(ii) beyond the point in the nasal passages where they normally narrow,

(iii) beyond the pharynx,

(iv) beyond the opening of the urethra,

(v) beyond the labia majora,

(vi) beyond the anal verge, or

(vii) into an artificial opening into the body;

(f) put into the external ear canal, up to the eardrum, a substance that is under pressure;

(g) apply ultrasound for diagnostic or imaging purposes, except that ultrasound may be applied to a fetus only for the purpose of fetal heart monitoring;

(h) in respect of a drug specified in Schedule I, IA or II of the Drug Schedules Regulation,

(i) compound the drug,

(ii) dispense the drug, or

(iii) administer the drug by any method;

(i) if nutrition is administered by enteral instillation, compound or dispense a therapeutic diet.

(2) A registrant may provide a service that includes the performance of an activity described in subsection (1), other than the activity described in subsection (1) (b), only as follows:

(a) to the extent the activity is one described in section 6 (1), without an order as described in paragraph (b) of this subsection;

(b) to the extent the activity is not one described in section 6 (1), if the registrant provides the service for the purpose of implementing an order and, at the time that the registrant provides the service,

(i) the health professional who issues the order is authorized, under the Act or by the body in Alberta, Yukon or the Northwest Territories that regulates the health profession of that health professional, to

(A) provide the service without an order or equivalent instruction or authorization, or

(B) issue an order or equivalent instruction or authorization for the service to be provided, and

(ii) the registrant is authorized under the Act to provide the service.

(3) A registrant may provide a service that includes the performance of the activity described in subsection (1) (b) only if

(a) the registrant provides the service for the purpose of implementing an order issued by a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner, and

(b) at the time that the registrant provides the service,

(i) the medical practitioner or nurse practitioner who issues the order is authorized under the Act to provide the service or to issue an order for the service to be provided, and

(ii) the registrant is authorized under the Act to provide the service.

Restricted activities limited to registrants

8   Only a registrant may provide a service that includes the performance of an activity set out in section 6 (1) or 7 (1).

[en. B.C. Reg. 167/2020, Sch. 2, s. 2.]