Healthcare Jobs in Texas

Safe harbor and refusal are separate questions. 22 TAC 217.20(g)(1) lets a nurse who has invoked safe harbor work the assignment while peer review runs, unless they lack the basic knowledge, skills and abilities to perform it at a minimally competent level and taking it on would be an unjustifiable risk of harm, or the conduct would be unprofessional or criminal, in which case they must not proceed. Refusing is a right of its own under Occupations Code 301.352. Either way you can invoke safe harbor and have the committee evaluate the assignment. Refuse it and what Texas gives you is a determination your employer has to consider, and one that isn't binding if a nurse administrator believes in good faith the committee incorrectly determined your duty.

It is a 50-item exam on the Texas Nursing Practice Act and the board's rules, two hours long, needing 75% to pass. Rule 217.17(b)(2) says an applicant for initial Texas licensure isn't granted a license until they pass it, and (b)(4) keeps a passing grade good for a year. Rule 223.1(a)(17) caps the fee at $25. It sits alongside the NCLEX and replaces no part of it.

Yes. Occupations Code 301.257 lets someone with reason to believe they're ineligible petition the board for a declaratory order, either as an applicant or while enrolled in or planning to enroll in a nursing program. The order sets out each basis for potential ineligibility and the board's determination on it, and that determination holds unless new evidence appears that the petitioner knew and did not disclose, or that the board could not reasonably have had when the order issued. It settles the grounds written into the notice or the order, and either side can add grounds to the petition until the determination is final; the education, the NCLEX and the jurisprudence exam still stand between the order and a license.

No. Texas issues no medical assistant license or certificate, and the work runs on physician delegation under Occupations Code chapter 157. One task is carved out. An unlicensed person performing radiologic procedures under a physician has to complete the Medical Board's mandated training under rule 186.26 and be listed on its non-certified radiologic technician registry, or have an approved hardship exemption, before starting practice. Medical assistant openings in Texas sit on their own page.