Nurse Reporter Winter 2007 - Wyoming State Board of Nursing

must investigate the complaint and
decide whether or not the nurse can
continue to practice in that state.
In addition, Wyoming, where the
nurse is licensed, is required to
investigate the complaint and
decide whether or not the nurse can
continue to be licensed. This means
that two states are investigating
incidents across state lines and the
cost of discipline is doubled.
In order to investigate the disciplinary
cases, states are required to
share information. However, even
though NLC is based on trust, flexibility,
communication, and collaboration,
the sharing of information is
also based on state laws. State laws
governing the sharing of information
regarding disciplinary actions
are not consistent. Because NLC
allows increased mobility of nurses,
the ability to evade discipline exists,
and states have difficulty tracking
the nurses.
Educational preparation and standards
related to licensure are also
concerns of the Board of Nursing.
The NLC means that the lowest
common denominator of standards
would exist. Wyoming must unconditionally
accept nurses’ licenses
from other states regardless of
whether those states require equally
rigorous licensure standards.
An issue the healthcare agencies in
Wyoming may need to be concerned
about is the possible depletion of the
nursing pool in Wyoming. Nurses
would be able to live in Wyoming but
work in adjoining states that pay
higher wages and have lower licensure
fees resulting in a migration of
nurses to bordering states.
The final concern of the WSBN
is the loss of revenue to the Board.
The loss is based on verification of
licensure, endorsement fees, and
renewal fees. There is also an
increased cost associated with the
NLCA and maintenance of
NURSYS, the database system all
states are required to use.
Additional costs include the need
for staff who must be employed to
oversee the implementation of the
NLC and assist with the increased
disciplinary workload. The only way
for the Board to recoup these costs is
to increase licensure fees for the
nurses in Wyoming.
■ What benefits are associated
with the NLC: It is common
knowledge that nurses now extend
their practices across state lines due
to electronic medicine, consolidated
health care agencies, and managed
care. All licensed nurses would
have increased mobility between
states, so traveling nurses would be
free to move about. There could be
an increase in the nursing workforce,
as nurses would be able to
practice in a state without licensure
barriers. Nurses would be readily
available to assist during times of
disaster. Telenursing could be utilized
across state lines via telephone,
videoconferencing, etc. Nurses
could receive rapid licensure verification
because NURSYS provides
online access.
■ How to achieve success of
NLC: The concept of the NLC has
been discussed since 1996. It officially
began in January, 2000, when
five states passed it into law. The
Board has been working towards the
goal of Compact implementation
over the past couple of years.
However, this would be a new system
of licensure in Wyoming if
adopted by the legislature in the
future. The key to success in
Wyoming is communication, collaboration,
information sharing, education,
technical assistance, and standardization.
All those involved need
to be made aware of the benefits and
the problems.
■ Summary: The Nurse Licensure
Compact is a state nursing license
recognized nationally and enforced
locally. You, the nurse, would have
a license in your home state, in this
case, Wyoming, but would be able to
practice in other states within the
Compact. In order for this to happen,
the Wyoming Legislature must
pass a statute allowing Wyoming to
enter into the Nurse Licensure
Compact. The Wyoming State
Board of Nursing would then adopt
Rules and Regulations, implementing
the agreement between the compact
states. You need to be aware
that there are benefits to nurses, the
public, health care institutions, and
governing bodies. You also need to
know the concerns and problems
associated with a NLC such as
depletion of the nursing pool, revenue
loss to the WSBN, increased
costs in maintaining the NLC, discipline
issues, and timely sharing of
information between states.
The information for this article came
from the Wyoming State Board of
Nursing, a memorandum written by
Cheryl Koski, Executive Director,
Wyoming State Board of Nursing, to
the Honorable Governor Dave
Freudenthal, August, 2006; Slides of the
Wyoming State Board of Nursing; the
Nurse Licensure Compact
Administrators, Final Version,
November 6, 1998, and the National
Council of State Boards of Nursing.
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