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Council urges states to adopt uniform licensure requirements
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8-23-99 Atlanta. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing has approved model uniform licensure requirements for the initial licensing of RNs, LPNs, and LVNs, and is encouraging states to adopt these requirements locally. The NCSBN voted in the requirements at its national meeting last month in Atlanta. The council maintains that uniform regulations would make it easier for nurses to move from state to state and help promote mutual recognition. Similar to the legal concept of a driver's license, the mutual recognition model would allow nurses to hold licenses in their home state and practice in other states-provided the nurse acknowledges being subject to each state's practice laws and discipline. Not all nursing organizations are lining up behind the model. The American Nurses Association (ANA) prefers a state-based licensure system, which it says offers greater protection to the public while still allowing for state flexibility. "Professional licensure requirements assure that the individuals who are granted the authority to practice nursing have demonstrated specific education, examination, and behavioral requirements that establish a minimal level of safe practice in order to protect the public," the ANA said in a statement. "Such changes in licensure requirements will have far-reaching effects that have not yet been fully explored or supported by the professional nursing community." The support of the ANA\California, the state ANA affiliate, would depend on knowing more of the specifics of the requirements. "Certainly uniformity in licensure is beneficial to the patient, but the devil is in the details,'' said Marian Lowe, executive director of ANA\California. In other business at the convention, the national council chose National Computer Systems of Eden Prairie, Minn., as the new test service for the NCLEX examination beginning Oct. 1, 2002. The new service will provide online exam scheduling, registration, and appointment confirmation for nurse candidates.
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