Nurse Reporter Winter 2007 - Wyoming State Board of Nursing

Compact Nursing
What Is It and What It
Would Mean To You
Compact nursing was a topic considered
in this year’s Wyoming
Legislature. It did not progress
through the system, however, it is an
issue that the Board of Nursing has
been working on for the past few
years. Nurses in Wyoming need to
be knowledgeable about the term
and what it would mean to them, if
the law were passed and rules and
regulations were written to implement
the Nurse Licensure Compact
(NLC). The NLC is administered by
the Nurse Licensure Compact
Administrators (NLCA).
■ What is it: According to the
Nurse Licensure Compact, the NLC
is a mutual recognition model of
nurse licensure that allows a nurse
to have one license in his/her state
of residency and to practice in other
states who are part of the Compact.
This practice may be physical or
electronic. So, you, the nurse,
would be licensed in the state in
which you live, but you could practice
in states that belong to the
NLC, knowing that you are subject
to each state’s practice laws and discipline.
Currently, there are 23
states that belong; 20 have implemented
the compact. States
around Wyoming that have implemented
the Compact are Nebraska,
Idaho, Utah, and South Dakota.
WSBN, Memorandum August,
2006). Colorado has passed legislation
regarding the Compact but has
not begun implementation.
■ Why have it: The purposes of
the NLC are to: facilitate the states’
responsibility to protect the public’s
health and safety; ensure and
encourage the cooperation of party
states in the areas of nurse licensure
and regulation; facilitate the
exchange of information between
states; promote compliance with the
laws governing the practice of nursing;
invest all party states with the
authority to hold a nurse accountable
for meeting all state practice
laws in the state in which the
patient is located at the time care is
rendered. (Nurse Licensure
Compact, November,1998).
■ How is it implemented: In
order to achieve mutual recognition,
each state must enact legislation
authorizing the NLC. Once the
Wyoming Legislature enacts law
authorizing a NLC, the Wyoming
State Board of Nursing (WSBN)
would then need to adopt and promulgate
the Rules and Regulations for
the NLC that have been established
by the NLCA to implement the law.
The NLC and the Rules and
Regulations may not be modified
without consent of the member
states. Both the home state and the
states in the agreement may take
disciplinary actions. The home state
may take licensure action while the
remote state may limit or deny the
privilege to practice in their state.
■ What problems, concerns, or
issues does NLC present: The
WSBN works to protect the public
against unsafe practice. To do this,
the State requires all licensees in
Wyoming to undergo a Criminal
Background Check. If Wyoming
were to become a member of the
Compact, licensees from some of the
Compact states could practice in
Wyoming without having had a
Criminal Background Check. That
means that some licensees might
have been convicted of such things
as drug diversion, sexual assault,
fraud, or abuse and yet still practice
in Wyoming.
If a complaint is filed against a
nurse in a remote state, that state
6 W Y O M I N G N U R S E R E P O R T E R