HEALTH: NURSING LICENSING TO BE FORUM TOPIC

State Board of Nursing officials will be at Southeast Missouri Hospital Wednesday to discuss a push to adopt multistate licensing procedures for nurses who want to practice in Missouri and elsewhere.

Calvina Thomas, executive director of the Missouri State Board of Nursing, said the group will travel the state to inform nurses, medical officials, legislators and others about multistate licensing.

She said the board expects the Missouri legislature to consider a bill to allow Missouri to become part of a multistate compact.

"We know nurses move a great deal," Thomas said. "They're very mobile. We also know their practices take them across state lines, especially in border areas like Southeast Missouri."

Multistate licensing, Thomas said, will make it easier for nurses to practice in more than one state. States contiguous to Missouri that are part of the compact include Arkansas and Nebraska.

Thomas said the compact also makes it easier for officials to keep closer tabs on nurses who are on probation or who have had their licenses suspended.

"With the compact system, if a nurse has been disciplined or is on probation, they cannot participate in the compact system," Thomas said. "If they decide they are going to move, they would have to have permission from the home state and the remote state."

Wednesday's presentation will be from 10 to noon in the Harrison Room at the hospital. There will be a 30-minute presentation, with a question-and-answer period following.

Thomas encourages people interested in multistate licensing to contact the state nursing board or check the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Web site at www.ncsbn.org.

Thomas said the multistate licensing process has the potential to help with the national nursing shortage.

"It's not going to create more nurses, that's for sure," she said, "but it will make the nurses more marketable in terms of their mobility."

NURSING FORUM COMING TO CAPE

WHAT: Multistate licensisng forum

WHEN: 10 to noon Wednesday

WHERE: Harrison Room, Southeast Missouri Hospital