Board of Nursing Meeting Highlights: March 15-16, 2005

Kansas Nurse, Apr 2005

Excelsior Program Students Given Options for Licensure in Kansas

During the Board of Nursing Committee meetings and full Board meeting there was considerable discussion about the Boards December decision to send a letter to the Excelsior College Program (formerly the Regents Program), an NLN accredited and New York Board of Nursing approved ADN program that is a distance learning program, that effective immediately Kansas would no longer accept their graduates as applicants to sit for the NCLEX exam because the program did not meet the technical requirements of faculty supervised clinical that is required pursuant to Kansas regulations. Many students wrote letters to their legislator and the Governor complaining about the decision and asking for reconsideration or recourse because they were vested in the program and wanted to finish their coursework. The legislature had added a carefully worded recommendation to the KBON budget report two weeks ago, that indicated the legislatures desire that the currently enrolled students have an opportunity to do clinical to meet the requirement, to enable them to graduate.

At the meeting this week Excelsior Program staff reviewed their curriculum framework and the mechanics of their self-paced self-study independent model of education for obtaining the ADN in nursing. The KBON was very responsive and adopted four different motions to address the 58 students currently enrolled and future graduates. The first two motions were to ensure that past Excelsior graduates that had received Kansas nursing licenses would retain licensure, and even if there licenses lapsed, this would not jeopardize their renewals or reinstatements. The third motion was passed to make accommodations for the current students, that when they complete clinicals that cover the "life-span" and it appears on their transcripts, they will be permitted to apply for Kansas licensure. The fourth option, which is what is done by other states in slightly different formats is to "accept" Excelsior educated RN's by endorsement (they have obtained licensure in another state, like Missouri or Colorado) after they have worked as an RN for 1000 hours. These motions were acknowledged by both the school representatives and Excelsior students present as meeting their needs.

First CNL Proposal Reviewed:

Kansas University School of Nursing submitted a request to the Board to modify by 3 credit hours their BSN curriculum for a special student population that they plan to admit Fall of 2006 that will continue their education beyond the BSN towards a Masters degree. The Board approved the change in the BSN curriculum requested. The students taking the modified BSN coursework will be piloting the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) role after their third year of education and receiving the Masters degree. It was repeatedly stated by the Board members that the CNL would "not be practicing or eligible for ARNP status" and would not be practicing in the "expanded role" described in the ARNP statutes.

LPN/IV and School Nursing Regulation Hearing Set:

The hearing date for the LPN/IV regulation and School Nursing regulation changes proposed in 2004 was announced for Friday, june 3 in Topeka at 1:30 p.m. That hearing notice will be posted 60 days before the hearing date and individuals wanting to comment can obtain copies of the proposed regulations from the KBON by writing, calling or e-mailing the Board office.

Clarification of EMS Training Component in Hospitals:

The Kansas Board of EMS sent a letter requesting clarification about the role of the RN in precepting (monitoring clinical) various EMS level students in the emergency room. Some hospitals were refusing to permit RN's to do this, because the hospitals position was that it was not clearly identified in the Kansas Nurse Practice Act that it was acceptable. The Board of Nursings' Practice Committee reviewed the statute that addresses the training, K.S.A. 65-6129a and it clearly states that it can be either an RN or a Physician who can assume this responsibility and the Board voted to send a letter indicating that it was permissible under the Kansas Nurse Practice Act for RN's to perform this role.