Dean testifies in support of Nurse Licensure Compact
February 22, 2022
Dean Connie White Delaney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, FNAP, provided testimony to the Minnesota Senate Health & Human Services Finance and Policy Committee in support of the Nurse Licensure Compact on Feb. 21.
The compact would allow Minnesota-licensed nurses to practice in the other 39 member states of the Nurse Licensure Compact and would allow nurses from other states in the compact to practice in Minnesota.
“While 39 other states have supported a modern, flexible, dynamic model of nurse licensure, the State of Minnesota is among those few states that still must function under a 100-year-old nurse licensure model that is not flexible, adaptable, nor nimble enough to address the needs of Minnesotans, our nursing education programs, and modern health care delivery,” Delaney said.
She said the compact would not only assist in addressing the national nursing shortage but provide relief for the national nursing faculty shortage. When the school partners with clinical training sites in other states to provide clinical experiences for University of Minnesota students, the faculty who supervise them must be separately licensed in those states using a process that she said is slow, costly and inefficient.
“The time is now for you to support the health of our people of Minnesota with a modern, collaborative, flexible, dynamic model of nurse licensure, the Nurse Licensure Compact,” said Delaney.