CHAP. 254.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2, 4, and 5, of an act
entitled an act to regulate the professional nursing of the sick in the
State of Virginia, approved May 14, 1903, and to add an independent
section to said act, designated as section 13. (H. B. 300.)

Approved March 16, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections two, four and five, of an act entitled an act to regulate
the professional nursing of the sick in the State of Virginia,
approved May fourteenth, nineteen hundred and three, be
amended and re-enacted and an independent section, designated
as section thirteen be added, so as to read as follows:

2. The members of the State board of examiners of regis-
tered nurses shall, before entering on the discharge of their
duties, make and file with the secretary of the Commonwealth
the constitutional oath of office. They shall as soon as organ-
ized, and annually thereafter in the month of January, elect
from their number a president and secretary, who shall be the
treasurer. The treasurer, before entering upon his or her
duties, shall file a bond with the secretary of the Commonwealth
for such sum as shall be required of him or her by said secretary
of Commonwealth. The board shall adopt rules and regulations
not inconsistent with this act to govern its proceedings, and
also a seal, and the secretary shall have the care and custody
thereof, and he or she shall keep a record of all proceedings of
the board, including a register of the names of all nurses duly
registered under this act, which shall be open at all reasonable
times to public scrutiny, and the board shall cause the prosecu-
tion of all persons violating any of the provisions of this act, and
may incur necessary expense on that behalf. The secretary of
the board may receive a salary, which may be fixed by the board,
and which shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per an-
num; she or he shall also receive traveling and other expenses in-
curred in the performance of her or his official duties. The other
members of the board shall receive the sum of four dollars for
each day actually engaged in this service, and all legitimate and
necessary expenses incurred in attending the meeting of said
board. Said expenses and salaries shall be paid from the fees
received by the board under the provisions of this act, and no
part of the salary or other expenses of the board shall be paid
out of the State treasury. All money received in excess of said
per diem allowance and other expenses provided for shall be
held by the treasurer as a special fund for meeting the expenses
of said board and the cost of (annual) reports of the proceed-
ings of said board.

4. Provision shall be made by the board hereby constituted
for holding examinations at least twice in each year. Alli ex-
aminaticns shall be made directly by said board or a committee
of two members designated by the board, and due notice of the
time and place of holding such examination as in the case pro-
vided for the publication of the rules and regulations of said
board. The examinaticn shall be of such character as to deter-
mine the fitness of the applicant to practice professional nurs-
ing of the sick. If the result of the examination of any appli-
cant shall be satisfactory to a majority of the board, the secre-
tary shall, upon an order of the board, issue to the applicant a
certificate to that effect; whereuvon the person named on the
certificate shall be declared duly licensed to practice professional
nursing in this State.

5. The applicant who desires to practice professional nurs-
ing shall furnish satisfactory evidence that she or he is more
than twenty-one (21) years of age, is of good moral character,
has received sufficient preliminary education as may be deter-
mined by the board, and has graduated from a training school
of a hospital giving practice in medical, surgical, and obstetrical
nursing. either through and under the hospital organization,
or by affiliation, and maintaining the standards required by the
board, and where at least two years’ training in the hospital
and systematic courses of instruction are given, provided that
the applicant must have attended for at least two years the said
training school from which she graduated. Every aoplicant
for registration shall pay a fee of ten dollars upon filing the
application.

13. The board of examiners upon written application, to-
gether with such references and proof of identification as the
board may by rule prescribe may issue a certificate without
examinat’on to any person who shall have been registered as a
registered nurse under the law of any other State, the require
ments of which for securing such registration were at the time
of issuance thereof equivalent to the requirements prescribed
by this act. and which gives the same privilege to registered
nurses of this State.