441.001 Definitions. In this subchapter:

(1g) Board. “Board” means the board of nursing.

(1r) Compensation. “Compensation" includes indirect compensation, direct compensation, and the expectation of compensation, whether actually received or not.

(2) Nurse. Except as provided under s. 441.08, “nurse," when used without modification or amplification, means only a registered nurse.

(2m) Nursing. “Nursing," when used without modification or amplification, means professional nursing.

(3) Practical nursing.

(a) “Practical nursing" means the performance for compensation of any simple acts in the care of convalescent, subacutely or chronically ill, injured or infirm persons, or of any act or procedure in the care of the more acutely ill, injured or infirm under the specific direction of a nurse, physician, podiatrist licensed under ch. 448, chiropractor licensed under ch. 446, dentist licensed under ch. 447 or optometrist licensed under ch. 449, or under an order of a person who is licensed to practice medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, dentistry or optometry in another state if that person prepared the order after examining the patient in that other state and directs that the order be carried out in this state.

(b) In par. (a), “simple act" means an act to which all of the following apply:

1. The act does not require any substantial nursing skill, knowledge, or training, or the application of nursing principles based on biological, physical, or social sciences, or the understanding of cause and effect in the act.

2. The act is one that is of a nature of those approved by the board for the curriculum of schools for licensed practical nurses.

(4) Professional nursing. “Professional nursing" means the performance for compensation of any act in the observation or care of the ill, injured, or infirm, or for the maintenance of health or prevention of illness of others, that requires substantial nursing skill, knowledge, or training, or application of nursing principles based on biological, physical, and social sciences. Professional nursing includes any of the following:

(a) The observation and recording of symptoms and reactions.

(b) The execution of procedures and techniques in the treatment of the sick under the general or special supervision or direction of a physician, podiatrist licensed under ch. 448, chiropractor licensed under ch. 446, dentist licensed under ch. 447, or optometrist licensed under ch. 449, or under an order of a person who is licensed to practice medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, dentistry, or optometry in another state if the person making the order prepared the order after examining the patient in that other state and directs that the order be carried out in this state.

(c) The execution of general nursing procedures and techniques.

(d) Except as provided in s. 50.04 (2) (b), the supervision of a patient and the supervision and direction of licensed practical nurses and less skilled assistants.

History: 1975 c. 303; 1977 c. 86; 1981 c. 314, 317; 1983 a. 189; 1983 a. 273 s. 8; 1987 a. 264; 1991 a. 181; 1997 a. 62; 1999 a. 22; 2001 a. 107 ss. 72, 75 to 80; Stats. 2001 s. 441.001; 2003 a. 321; 2005 a. 149; 2017 a. 180; 2017 a. 364 ss. 32, 33.

This section is not a safety statute. Leahy v. Kenosha Memorial Hospital, 118 Wis. 2d 441, 348 N.W.2d 607 (Ct. App. 1984).