The National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. Reaches 30 Year Anniversary

Founded in 1978 as an independent not-for profit-organization, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (NCSBN) marked the milestone of reaching its 30th anniversary this year.

NCSBN’s membership is comprised of the boards of nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories — American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands. These boards of nursing protect the public by ensuring that safe and competent nursing care is provided by licensed nurses and NCSBN is the vehicle through which the boards act and counsel together on matters of common interest.

NCSBN member boards are charged with the responsibility of providing regulatory excellence for public health, safety and welfare. They recognize that the best way to guard the safety of the public is to ensure that nurses entering the workforce have the necessary knowledge and skills to practice. U.S. boards of nursing regulate more than 2.9 million licensed nurses, the second largest group of licensed professionals in the U.S.

The reason for its creation arose out of recognition that in order to guard the safety of the public, the regulation needed to be a separate entity from the organization representing professional nurses.

NCSBN recognizes that health care is a constantly evolving field. In order for nursing regulation to keep pace in this rapidly changing environment, NCSBN has adopted numerous position statements, guiding principles and model acts and rules for use by member boards of nursing. In recent years, these include: the approval of the NCSBN Model Practice Act, which includes the authority to conduct criminal background checks; the adoption of the proposed standard for drug screening results; approving position papers, “Working with Others: Delegation and Other Health Care Interfaces” and “Nursing Education Clinical Instruction In Pre-licensure Nursing Programs”; and enacting the Model Act and Rules For Delegation, the Nursing Assistant Regulatory Model and the Model Process for Criminal Background Checks.

NCSBN works collaboratively with other nursing and health care organizations as well as local, state, national and international government agencies aiming toward realizing its vision of building regulatory expertise worldwide.

“We always have been and always will be proud to be on the forefront of nursing regulation,” concludes Rhodes.