NRS639.1375. Advanced practice registered nurses: Authority to dispense controlled substances, poisons, dangerous drugs and devices; registration; regulations.

      1.   Subject to the limitations set forth in NRS 632.237, an advanced practice registered nurse may dispense controlled substances, poisons, dangerous drugs and devices if the advanced practice registered nurse:

      (a) Passes an examination administered by the State Board of Nursing on Nevada law relating to pharmacy and submits to the State Board of Pharmacy evidence of passing that examination;

      (b) Is authorized to do so by the State Board of Nursing in a license issued by that Board; and

      (c) Applies for and obtains a certificate of registration from the State Board of Pharmacy and pays the fee set by a regulation adopted by the Board. The Board may set a single fee for the collective certification of advanced practice registered nurses in the employ of a public or nonprofit agency and a different fee for the individual certification of other advanced practice registered nurses.

      2.  The State Board of Pharmacy shall consider each application from an advanced practice registered nurse separately, and may:

      (a) Issue a certificate of registration limiting:

             (1) The authority of the advanced practice registered nurse to dispense controlled substances, poisons, dangerous drugs and devices;

             (2) The area in which the advanced practice registered nurse may dispense;

             (3) The kind and amount of controlled substances, poisons, dangerous drugs and devices which the certificate permits the advanced practice registered nurse to dispense; and

             (4) The practice of the advanced practice registered nurse which involves controlled substances, poisons, dangerous drugs and devices in any manner which the Board finds necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public;

      (b) Issue a certificate of registration without any limitation not contained in the license issued by the State Board of Nursing; or

      (c) Refuse to issue a certificate of registration, regardless of the provisions of the license issued by the State Board of Nursing.

      3.  If a certificate of registration issued pursuant to this section is suspended or revoked, the Board may also suspend or revoke the registration of the physician for and with whom the advanced practice registered nurse is in practice to dispense controlled substances.

      4.  The Board shall adopt regulations setting forth the maximum amounts of any controlled substance, poison, dangerous drug and devices which an advanced practice registered nurse who holds a certificate from the Board may dispense, the conditions under which they must be stored, transported and safeguarded, and the records which each such nurse shall keep. In adopting its regulations, the Board shall consider:

      (a) The areas in which an advanced practice registered nurse who holds a certificate from the Board can be expected to practice and the populations of those areas;

      (b) The experience and training of the advanced practice registered nurse;

      (c) Distances between areas of practice and the nearest hospitals and physicians;

      (d) Whether the advanced practice registered nurse is authorized to prescribe a controlled substance listed in schedule II pursuant to a protocol approved by a collaborating physician;

      (e) Effects on the health, safety and welfare of the public; and

      (f) Other factors which the Board considers important to the regulation of the practice of advanced practice registered nurses who hold certificates from the Board.

      (Added to NRS by 1979, 592; A 1983, 1218; 1991, 791, 2017; 2013, 2077)