Rhode Island § 5-34-24 - Nurses

§ 5-34-24. Grounds for discipline of licensees.

The board of nurse registration and nursing education has the power to deny, revoke, or suspend any license to practice nursing; to provide for a nondisciplinary alternative only in situations involving alcohol or drug abuse; or to discipline a licensee upon proof that the person is:

(1) Guilty of fraud or deceit in procuring or attempting to procure a license to practice nursing;

(2) Guilty of a crime of gross immorality;

(3) Unfit or incompetent by reason of negligence or habits;

(4) Habitually intemperate or is addicted to the use of habit-forming drugs;

(5) Mentally incompetent;

(6) Guilty of unprofessional conduct that includes, but is not limited to, all of the above and also:

(i) Abandonment of a patient;

(ii) Willfully making and filing false reports or records in the practice of nursing;

(iii) Willful omission to file or record nursing records and reports required by law;

(iv) Failure to furnish appropriate details of a client’s nursing needs to succeeding nurses legally qualified to provide continuing nursing services to a client;

(v) Willful disregard of standards of nursing practice and failure to maintain standards established by the nursing profession; or

(7) Guilty of and willfully or repeatedly violating any of the provisions of this chapter and/or rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter.