Board of Registered Nursing tells IECs to stop blanket requirement that participants work in bedside roles or "pass narcotics" without patient-safety evidence

The Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) on Sept. 12 directed Intervention Evaluation Committees (IECs) to stop imposing, as a blanket rule, requirements that nurses in the intervention program return to direct patient-care roles or obtain access to narcotics unless there is documented evidence of patient-safety concerns.

John Gorney, intervention analyst for the BRN, read the board motion to the committee: “suspend the imposition of the requirement that participants work in direct patient care unless there is additional evidence of patient safety issues.” The statement was presented as the board's guidance to IECs for how completion requirements should be applied.

The guidance matters because IEC decisions determine whether nurses in BRN’s voluntary intervention program have met conditions to demonstrate safe practice and regain full practice privileges. Committee members heard staff say the board’s intent is rehabilitative: program completion should focus on evidence of recovery and safety rather than automatic placement back into bedside roles when that placement is not supported by patient-safety documentation.

Executive Officer Loretta (Laurie) Melby told the IEC that staff reviewed prior practices after complaints that…