Nurse Practitioner Rules and Schools

[weilandbetty]

My question is how many of you believe that all nursing schools should be honored by all states. I received my Bachelor's degree through Kaplan. NC laws state that I can go there for my Bachelors degree, and I am even currently enrolled in the Masters Of Nursing Nurse Educator Program because NC stated that I cannot take Nurse Practitioner through Kaplan university. I am a nurse of 25 years, I have had to go back to school because where I worked only hires BSN or higher degree nurses. If I can go to school and teach nursing in NC, do you think that I should have been able to take Nurse Practitioner? My dream was to become a NP, but according to standards in NC I have to attend a university in North Carolina to practice as a NP in NC. I know nurse practitioners that have come here from other states and they practice with the license of where they received it. I think that all nursing programs should be the same no matter what state you live in. I want to petition the state of NC to allow its residents to get training where they want to, and for the Board of Nursing of NC to honor the degree from any school. What is everyone else's thought on this?

[roser13, ASN, RN]

It seems that your issues would best be addressed on a state-specific forum? You can ask the moderators to transfer yout thread to the appropriate state forum.

[Jules A, MSN]

I'm not sure I understand the poll options but what I will say is I personally love that your state is particular about where their state's NPs are educated. There are so many shady schools admitting anyone with a pulse who can write a check for tuition that hearing somewhere there is a BON who is actually thoughtful makes me think there might be hope for what I fear is going to soon be a glut of inadequately prepared NPs.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I have a friend that cannot complete her BSN b/c she lives in NC, but enrolled in an online program in another state. The problem arose when she attempted to do her capstone here. NC won't let her finish. She either has to move to the state that the school is in or not finish. This JUST came up. She has been working on her degree part time and thought she was almost done. REALLY unfair. NC is good at that smh.

[elkpark]

More and more states are instituting this requirement (which is related to general education and has nothing to do specifically with nursing) that schools that want to offer online education which involves a practicum/clinical component must register with the state's department of education and meet the same requirements and standards that schools physically located within the state must meet.

If you look at the NC BON website FAQ page, it explains this and says that this is a new Federal requirement (meaning that all states will eventually require it; it just takes some states longer to come into compliance that other states).

OP, there is nothing stopping Kaplan from registering with the UNC board of governors and getting permission to provide education to NC residents; the school can do that at any time. A number of out-of-state schools have registered with the UNC board, and those schools are able to enroll NC residents in their programs. This has nothing to do with NC requiring NC students to attend NC schools -- it has to do with the state ensuring the NC residents are not getting ripped off by out-of-state schools. Which I think is a good thing.

And it has nothing to do with requiring that you attend a NC school in order to get licensed and practice as an NP in NC. You could get a degree from a school in another state and NC would be happy to license you, as long as you met the BON's requirements for licensure. People get licensed as advanced practice nurses in NC with degrees from other states all the time. I had no difficulty getting licensed as a in NC with a degree from an out-of-state school. Your only problem is that you want to attend an online program at a school which has not yet gone through the process it has to go through in order to be able to register NC residents as students. The school is free to do that at any time; other schools are doing it.

And, again, this is a Federal requirement. "Petitioning the state" won't have any effect, as the state has no choice in the matter.

Best wishes for your journey.

[Jules A, MSN]

I have a friend that cannot complete her BSN b/c she lives in NC, but enrolled in an online program in another state. The problem arose when she attempted to do her capstone here. NC won't let her finish. She either has to move to the state that the school is in or not finish. This JUST came up. She has been working on her degree part time and thought she was almost done. REALLY unfair. NC is good at that smh.

While I absolutely feel for your friend I doubt very seriously that she has in writing that this school was approved prior to her starting and now they have reneged without Grandfathering in those who had already started it.

In general I am continually amazed at the lack of background information people have done prior to taking on major career changes. I see it all the time in the NP arena and its a lack of preparation often seemingly driven by someone wanting what they want or what they think they want without being interested in doing the legwork.