Table 2 Synthesis of the set of permitted and prohibited practices for Brazilian nurses based on legal provisions

Authorized practices

Law No. 7.498/1986—Professional Practice Law

Nurse's exclusive practices

a) Manage entities and head nursing services and units

b) Plan, organize, coordinate, execute, and evaluate nursing assistance services

c) Consult, audit, and issue opinions on nursing matters

d) Nursing consultations

e) Prescribe nursing assistance

f) Direct nursing care for critically ill patients at risk of death

g) More technically complex nursing care that requires scientific knowledge and the ability to make immediate decisions

The nurse as a member of the healthcare team (shared practices)

a) Participates in the planning, execution, and evaluation of healthcare programs and plans

b) Prescribes drugs provided for in public healthcare programs and routinely approved by the healthcare institution

c) Prevents and systematically controls nosocomial infection, communicable diseases in general, and harm that may be caused to patients

d) Nursing care for pregnant women, prenatal and postnatal care

e) Monitor progress and labor and delivery

f) Delivery without dystocia

g) Education that aims to improve the population’s health

The obstetric nurse as a member of the healthcare team (shared practices)

a) Provides assistance in prenatal care and in normal childbirth

b) Identifies obstetric dystocia and takes measures until the physician’s arrival

c) Performs episiotomy and episiorrhaphy and applies local anesthesia, when necessary

Resolutions issued by the Federal Nursing Council

Nurse’s exclusive practices within the nursing team

a) The nurse can request routine and complementary exams

b) Collect material for oncotic colpocytology by Pap smear

c) Classify risk and prioritize assistance in urgent care services

d) Insert urinary catheters

Guidelines, manuals, and thematic journals orienting primary care, issued by the Ministry of Health

Nurse’s specific practices in primary care depending on local clinical protocols

a) Provide healthcare to individuals and families linked to teams in the unit, at home, and in other community spaces

b) Perform nursing consultations and procedures, request complementary exams, prescribe medications according to protocols, clinical and therapeutic guidelines, or other technical norms established by the federal, state, or municipal administrator, observing the legal provisions for the profession

c) Receive patients with qualified listening and risk classification

d) Conduct group activities and refer patients to other services, when necessary

e) Perform prenatal consultations for low-risk pregnant women, alternating with the presence of the physician

f) Perform rapid tests

g) Perform clinical breast examinations and collections for cervical cytopathological examinations

h) Family planning and prescription of contraceptive methods (except definitive ones)

i) Normal delivery without dystocia

Prohibited practices

Nursing Code of Ethics and resolutions issued by the Federal Nursing Council

a) Deny nursing care in urgent, emergency, epidemic, disaster, and catastrophic situations

b) Perform surgical acts, except in emergency situations or in those expressly authorized by law, provided that the nurse has the necessary technical/scientific skills

c) Prescribe medications that are not established in public healthcare programs and/or in routines approved by a healthcare institution, except in emergency situations

d) Provide services that are, by their nature, the responsibility of another professional, except in emergencies or those expressly authorized by current legislation

e) Delegate exclusive activities to other members of the healthcare team

f) Apply sutures, except in urgent cases where there is an imminent and serious risk of life

g) Comply with a remote medical prescription or after the expiration date