Valued Voice

The Wisconsin Board of Nursing (BON) continues to work on their revisions to provide greater flexibility to allow baccalaureate registered nurses (BSNs) to serve as clinical faculty for nursing programs. The Board is undertaking this work at the urging of WHA and nursing organizations, including the Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Leaders (WONL), the Administrators of Nursing Education of Wisconsin (ANEW) and the Wisconsin Nurses Association (WNA).

At the February 12 meeting of the BON nursing school, deans from across Wisconsin continued to encourage the nursing board to not inadvertently create barriers for BSNs to attain their goal of becoming clinical faculty by focusing on a single criterion, national certification, to determine eligibility. ANEW provided the accreditation standards nursing schools must meet as a model for faculty criteria, noting that multiple criteria create greater flexibilities and would allow well-qualified BSNs practicing at the bedside the opportunity to serve as clinical faculty.

WHA Senior Vice President Workforce and Clinical Practice Ann Zenk also provided input to BON.  “Wisconsin top ratings in health care quality rely on and demonstrate the top quality of Wisconsin’s nursing schools, hospitals and health systems and our nursing workforce.” Zenk continued, “By expanding the criteria and allowing an expanded role for BSNs to serve as clinical faculty, Wisconsin is keeping pace with the most current nursing school accreditation standards and moving Wisconsin forward ahead of other states.”   

The BON will continue to work on revising Chapter N1, the administrative rules guiding board approval of nursing schools, and will utilize the Emergency Rules process to make this expanded pool of clinical faculty available to nursing schools as soon as possible.

WHA attends each BON meeting to monitor the progress on this important rule change, to provide feedback and assistance to the board and to advocate for issues important to hospitals and health systems and the nursing workforce.

Contact WHA’s Ann Zenk about this or any other workforce topic.