For the purposes of this chapter:

1. (a) "Board" means the State Board of Nursing for South Carolina.
2. (b) "Temporary permit" means a current time-limited document which permits the practice of nursing at the level for which one is seeking licensure.
3. (c) "License" means a current document permitting the practice of nursing as a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse.
4. (d) "Registered nurse" means a person to whom the board has issued a license as registered nurse.
5. (e) "Licensed practical nurse" means a person to whom the board has issued a license as licensed practical nurse.
6. (f) "Practice of nursing" means the provision of services for compensation that assist individuals and groups to obtain or maintain optimal health. Nursing practice is commensurate with the educational preparation and demonstrated competencies of the individual who is accountable to the public for the quality of nursing care. Nursing practice includes the provision of direct care and treatment services including the implementation of a medical regimen as authorized and prescribed by a licensed physician, dentist, or other person authorized by law, teaching, counseling, administration, research, consultation, supervision, delegation, and evaluation of practice. Nursing process includes the assessment and nursing diagnosis of human responses to actual or potential health problems and the planning, intervention, and evaluation of care in the promotion and maintenance of health, the casefinding and nursing management of illness, injury, or infirmity, the restoration of optimum function, or the achievement of a dignified death.
7. (g) "Practice of professional nursing" means the performance for compensation of any acts in the health care process involving the process of assessment, intervention, and evaluation. This process includes observation, care, and counsel of the ill, injured, infirm, the promotion and maintenance of health, the administration of medications, and treatments as authorized and prescribed by a licensed physician or a licensed dentist. The application of the nursing process requires substantial specialized independent judgment and skill and is based on knowledge and application of the principles of biophysical and social sciences. The practice of professional nursing includes the teaching and administration, supervision, delegation, and evaluation of nursing practice. A professional nurse may perform additional acts in the extended role requiring special education and training which are agreed to jointly by both the Board of Nursing and the Board of Medical Examiners. Those additional acts agreed to by both boards must be promulgated by the Board of Nursing in its regulations.
8. (h) "Practice of practical nursing" means the performance for compensation, under the direction of a registered nurse, licensed physician, or licensed dentist, of acts in health care maintenance, care of the ill, injured, and infirm, and in administering treatments and medications as authorized and prescribed by a licensed physician or licensed dentist, which acts require knowledge, judgment, and skill as prerequisites to licensure under this chapter, and which do not include acts of diagnosis or prescription of therapeutic or corrective measures. A licensed practical nurse may perform additional acts requiring special education and training, approved by the board, which are proper for the licensee to perform and which are recognized by the board through its regulations.
9. (i) "Lapsed license" means the termination of an individual's privilege to practice nursing due to the individual's failure to renew the nursing license within a specified period of time.
10. (j) "Voluntary surrender" means the invalidation of the nursing license at the time of its relinquishment and thereafter. No person whose license is voluntarily surrendered may practice nursing or represent himself to be a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse until the board takes action.
11. (k) "Inactive license" means the temporary retirement of an individual's privilege to practice nursing upon the individual's notice to the board that he does not plan to practice nursing for at least one year.
12. (l) "Accreditation" means official authorization or status granted by an agency other than a state board of nursing.
13. (m) "Approval" means the process by which the board evaluates and grants official recognition to nursing education programs which meet established uniform and reasonable standards.
14. (n) "Nursing diagnosis" means a clinical judgment about an individual, family, or community which is derived through a nursing assessment.
15. (o) "Attendant care services" means those basic and ancillary services that enable an individual in need of in-home care to live in the individual's home and community rather than in an institution and to carry out functions of daily living, self-care, and mobility.

16. (p) "Basic services" includes, but is not limited to:

    1. (1) getting in and out of a bed, wheelchair, motor vehicle, or other device;
    2. (2) assistance with routine bodily functions including, but not limited to, health maintenance activities, bathing and personal hygiene, dressing and grooming, and feeding, including preparation and cleanup.

17. (q) "Ancillary services" means services ancillary to the basic services provided to an individual in need of in-home care who needs one or more of the basic services and includes:

    1. (1) homemaker-type services including, but not limited to, shopping, laundry, cleaning, and seasonal chores;
    2. (2) companion-type services including, but not limited to, transportation, letter writing, reading mail, and escorting; and
    3. (3) assistance with cognitive tasks including, but not limited to, managing finances, planning activities, and making decisions.
18. (r) "Health maintenance activities" include, but are not limited to, catheter irrigation, administration of medications, enemas and suppositories, and wound care, if these activities could be performed by the individual if the individual were physically capable.
19. (s) "Individual in need of in-home care" means a functionally disabled individual in need of attendant care services because of impairment who requires assistance to complete functions of daily living, self-care, and mobility including, but not limited to, attendant care services.