OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
IIre.El&men Yeaoh, il.W., Seontary-Tre
imwd or mrse xmmin~rr
1035 IdllamBuilding
8nn Autonlo, Texas
. cou&roiw, an *at pop-
rovidms rot Federal ala
tatea drelring to partlo-
oslorated war-tlm* training of nurm8.
both a8 to thr rdhool and lndlrldual
330thmamtmeet OSrtdn
8'th. re&Gationr &Wmul-
%tsali mnkoe olrar the
supplementtha training
brOa4 rule-makingpower
18 antrustedto the Surgeon General lo that the plan oay be
adjumted to hamonls~ with the dlrmno @iate lnwr. The plan
tarmlua,tes with the war nnd achoollrand rtudents not partioi-
pr~tlngare unalreoteid by it.
592
yts. Xcseh, Fags C
From your request, we undsrotana,ft haa been
propoeed under the Voltoo irot"and the re5uletIonspro-
mulgated thereunderthat eccr*dltad Texas nursicg. schoola
taklnQ:prrt In ths croexam will 5Ivo students applylne and
quallryingthareror R thirty zsontheoourse or "oomblned
study end praotleo* oovsrln5 preearlbsdrundanentalwork and
study end that tblr thirty month6 or twining will than be
supplsmoatsdby nn eCdltlms1 six months of 'suparvlaodex-
perieacr" to be had slthar In the same nurelng school.,
aaothor mohool, or a Federal.honpltol.
You wish to know If the thirty months of woom-
blned study end praotloe" In the home aohool plus six
months or''supervisedsxperlenosW In another Inetitutlon
under the y~darel plan nil1 comply with Art. 46186, Vernon's
Ann. Clv. Statutes or Texae, rhkah requires "three (3) rull
yaere of ocorkand study- ae a prorequisiteto (paduation lo
Peue.
Further inquiry Ia made aa to nhetber Art. 4518e,
Vsrnons Ann. Clv. Statutes 02 Texas, which requirea the ruU
thms ysers or work and study "In such ~lohool~,would permit
reoognltlonend allovionceor orsait toward graduationror the
81x montha or w8upenIssd praotIOeC propored to be oonpleted
under the Federal plan In another Inrtitutlonok Federal
Horpltal a8 dIstinguishedfrom the home a!ohoolwhere the
thirty nontho of waozlblnedstudy end praatIo@ le done.
Article 4518 reads as folloxr:
"ill speoial hoa::Italsapi:ravedby the -Board
of Nurse Zxamlners,end general hospitala,whioh
are equipped with not less than twenty-rive (25)
bade, end’rrhloh havo 8 daily aanual avera@ of not
less than fifteen (15) patients,end which teach
the oourac or study preecribed by ths Board of
Murae Examiners or the State of Texas, are hereby
constituted duly palif'ledend aoorsdited nursing
aohoole. ireensral hospital, 8% the term la hero
used, 1s a public or private InatItutIonwhere men,
women erd children are treated tar ill kinds Or
’
ti
aa. bbsoh, Pago 3
~ilaeaaea,bodily injury, or phyafoal dsforzultr
by manna of both modloal end rurglaal treetmont,
and whloh malntalna en 0rga20a 8tafr of phpaf-
olena end aurgoona llaonaod to preotioo modloino
in the Steto of Toxea.”
Artlolr 4513a Nada, in part, aa follows:
Wo per&on shell be oertiflod aa a graduate
or any lua hnur a ingaohool
g unloaa ruoh poraon hea
had thraa (3) full years of work and study in luoh
rohool under a roglatorad nurao, two (2) yoera or
rhloh muat bo oontlnuoua in tho aohool of nuralng
rrom nhioh &he her graduated or two (8) oontln-
,uouayoara in a spaolal hoaritrl end one (1) oon-
tlnuoua full year in a gonoral boapltal . . .*
ivithtoferenoe to the flrat queatlon, it la to be
noted that undrr the latter &fat&e quoted, Vihroo (3) full
yeera of work and study* are roqulred for graduation. se
think it ia evident, both iroar the language cu the atetuta
end e oonalderetlonor the purpose to be aoaompliahe&,thet
this proviaion la rmndatory end that the per196 rsqdrbd for
gndwtloa may not bo ahortenod. Howevbti., the term *work end
rkiay" la not def'lnedby the o$atute and we have no /ucUoisl
iatorpretetionto fnlde a. It 18 raqnod that the UN of
khla turniia a roOO@tictn of the feOt that a oombinatloa of
formal atudy and lotual workla$ experlenoe la noaoasary bo-
iore a rlnlahsd nurse sey be produoed. The 8,atuto doer not
ettoupt to pnaoribo tbo proportlon of work t t study la the
proooaa of trainIn&, nor dooa it require that-forml olaasoa
ahell be held for Eho ontira thrar year period 0r training.
We thorofon aoeno rooaon why t.hoBoerd oou14 not approve by
it& rogulatlonas plan whlcrhwotildlntenalfy the fm~b study.
during the eerllar part of tha t&roe ysttr:erioliand oomploto
it aith more &tress on the *or& 0%~pnrctiyil ~~perienoo. As
w road the E~odoralplan, th) ~‘B~~t~rn.,Act!’ ;4 dothe Regulations
of tho Surgeon CJeneral,wrk to a0 just that‘Lsy iatonritylng
the formal or baaiu trelnlng 0r the etudont nurse, ropulrlng
0onplrtlon0r the aourse In e ImxilEWBof thirty months (etoept
in ceaoa of students ontaring the sahool prior to January 1,
gra. Jioaah,iase 4
1942, w&e provision la mado for thirty-twomonths of be&lo
training),and by peraittlng tho atudont thereafterto oom-
pleto the rlod of trainin& requlrod for &Nduatlon under
the State rew by six month8 of eddltlonel -ruponiaod oxpor-
ienoe” in enothor institution. Worlded other requlreaeatr
of our Texea etatutoaare met, we oonolude thet thirty montha
of 'Oon~bined study and ptaOtioe” plua six months oi qaUpenlaed
lxperlenaew would antiripthe Texoa requirement of a VU.1
threo (3) yoera of work and 8tutlf*.
Psrein& to the next quoatlon,Art. 4518a requires
U~l~,;reefull yeera of work on6 study to be done "in ruoh
“. %e think it oleer that thlr provleion doer not
oont‘mplat‘ that the ‘UtiN:.,thN‘ year8 muet be spent in the
aeme aobool, but on the aontrary, moana that the three yoera
nuat be spent In a aohool or aohoola aoaredltod under the
requlromentaof Art. 4518 and the rogulationa ot the Board
of Nurse Exaatinera.In frot, the statute ltaolf reoognlzeatho
tNU8tOr of atudonta among aohoola by requlrlng, in the on80 0r
work dono in a genenl aohool, that two years of tho work end
rtudy *muet bo oontlnuouaIn the aohool of auralag from whloh
&be has graduated .*. And in the oes# OS training bed
In a apoofal hoapit;l: *two (2) ount~nuoua years in a apoolel
hoopltelend ono (1) oontlnuouafull yoer in e general hor-
pita1 . : .* aro required. Tranafora have also been reaognlzad
ma errootu4todun,dor the rogulatlcnaor the Board or Nurse
1Sxestnera. Se0 ~Tmmrora*, p. 10, *~ollolea,Zeguletlon8
end Recczimondetlonr for tho Aoorodltetion or Texas Sahoola
Of F;ural~.”
In vleu of this interpretetlonof Art. 4518a, we
see no lo&al objootlonto the trefnlng OS e atudoat for
thirty i?iontha.in on0 eooreditod gonenl hoapitel nuralry
lohool and for en addltlonelair anonthetre$nlng in enothor
eooredltodaohool, provided euch lubaequent tra&.sfer ir ep-
proved by tho board and otber requlrementafor f;roduatlon
lr o art. h‘aturallythis would involve en lnveatigetlonend
rpprovelfor eooredltotlonby tho Board of Nurse Exanlnorr
Of any 1netltutionor Fodorel hoo~itel to whioh it war pro-
Poaod to transfer a student for tho lost &lx aontha of ho2
t
595
Nra. Keaob, PaEe 5
training,end euoh en lnstltutionwould nooeaaerllyhave to
meet tho requirements of Art. 4518 beforo it could be OCoNd-
itea. Xn this aonneotlon, M wlah to solnt out that where
thirtymonths of trbining wua had in the ltudont~a haao aohool
(8 general rohool) an4 lubaoqueBt transfer to a Pederal hoqlt-
llwhloh had been duly aooredltedwore nIlowed, then it would
be neoeaaer~ for the rtudent aftor tho oowletlon of the rix
month& &ddltfon&l training to re4renaror to the home rohool
ror gradwtlon, otharwlao the statutory requirement of two
year6 of oontinuour training *in the lohool of nursing froar
whioh &he h&a greduetod” would not be met.
80 trust th&t wo h&vu &atl&f&&torlly anawored your
~nqulrlea in thL& a&tter en4 the d&t& furnished u6 end whicrh
you requeatod us to return la enoloaed.
Qory truly yourr
AX’QRNEY PSXERALO?’TEXhS
BY
+ LCug‘MAlvlr
Aa$irtant
e