National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. 111 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 2900 Chicago, IL 60601-4277
Contact Information: Contact: Dawn M. Kappel Director, Marketing and Communications 312.525.3667 direct 312.279.1034 fax
NCSBN Welcomes New Members
| Source: NCSBN
CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - August 26, 2008) - The National Council of State Boards of
Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN®), www.ncsbn.org, welcomes the Nebraska Advanced
Practice Registered Nurse Board, as a new member board, and the College of
Registered Nurses of British Columbia (CRNBC) as its first international
associate member. Both boards were inducted at the NCSBN Annual Meeting and
Delegate Assembly held in Nashville, Tennessee, Aug. 5 - 8, 2008.
The expansion of NCSBN membership to include APRN boards, which are
separate entities from state and territorial boards of nursing, allows
these boards to have input at the national level. The Nebraska APRN was
established in 1996 to regulate nurse practitioners, but legislation passed
in 2007 expanded the authority of the board giving them regulatory
responsibility over all advanced practice nurses; nurse practitioners,
nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists.
"Becoming an NCSBN member board is an honor. As demonstrated by the
passage of the APRN Model Act/Rules and Regulations at the 2008 Annual
Meeting, NCSBN's commitment of time and resources to impacting the future
of APRNs' practice is ongoing. As a member we plan to actively participate
on issues and items directly connected to APRN practice. We thank both
NCSBN and our own Charlene Kelly, PhD, RN, executive director, Nebraska
Board of Nursing, for their vision in affording APRN boards a more
prominent role in NCSBN," notes Brenda Bergman-Evans, PhD, APRN-NP,
APRN-CNS, president of the Nebraska APRN Board.
Created by Delegate Assembly resolution in 2007, the associate membership
category is designed to provide a forum by which nursing regulatory bodies
from around the globe can join NCSBN in a dialogue regarding issues of
common concern as well as share information and knowledge in a
multicultural exchange of thoughts and ideas.
"We are very pleased to join this national group of state boards of nursing
and have for some time recognized the high caliber work NCSBN does to
advance regulatory excellence for our common goal of public protection,"
says Laurel Brunke, CRNBC's executive director. "We know we will benefit
from shared experiences and look forward to contributing, along with NCSBN,
to building regulatory expertise worldwide."
CRNBC is the nursing regulatory body in British Columbia empowered to
regulate registered nurses and nurse practitioners under the Health
Professions Act and regulates more than 40,000 registrants.
"We are thrilled to add these two boards to our membership," comments Laura
Rhodes, NCSBN President. "The opportunity for national and international
nursing regulators to come together in this way is very exciting. We look
forward to their active participation and hope that many other nursing
regulatory entities will join us in this vital endeavor."
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN) is a
not-for-profit organization whose membership comprises the boards of
nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S.
territories.
Mission: The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), composed
of Member Boards, provides leadership to advance regulatory excellence for
public protection.