HJBR May/Jun 2022

50 MAY / JUN 2022 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE COLUMN NURSING FROM March 15 through 17, 2022, nursing regulators from around the nation and in- ternationally met in St. Louis, Missouri, to craft the direction of the profession. It was the first time that nursing regulators had been together since February 2020, prior to the COVID pandemic. Our charge was to explore strategic issues for collaboration and promotion of the regulatory perspec- tive on evolving policy change at the local, state, and national levels. The dimensions we were asked to consider were the inter- actions of regulation, policy, education, and practice. LEADING PUBLIC PROTECTION Report from National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Midyear Meeting One of the important documents we considered was Regulation 2030: First Steps of a Journey, a process record in which nursing regulators from across the nation examined multiple aspects of nurs- ing regulation, including governance, pur- poses and processes of a nursing board, licensing, workforce issues, education, fitness for practice, and technology and information. The consideration for these dimensions is driven by the four strategic initiatives that currently guide NCSBN’s work. These will be further explained be- low. 1. Promote agile regulatory systems for relevance and responsiveness to change. Nursing regulation should focus on the pursuit of excellence in public protec- tion. NCSBN recognizes the rapid pace of change and the need to provide all nursing regulators with best evidence to inform decision-making and action. State and na- tional governments are watching boards closely and mandating occupational li- censure reform. We must critically exam- ine best practices for public protection and promote only those that truly benefit our constituents. Consideration should be made to regulations that are proportionate to risk of public harm with minimization of barriers to practice. Changing demo- graphics of our jurisdictional populations, increasing chronicity of healthcare needs, artificial intelligence, technology, and di- versity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) demand that we constantly analyze and revise reg- ulatory practices. 2. Champion regulatory solutions to address borderless healthcare delivery. Louisiana supports borderless health- care as a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) for RNs and LPNs. LSBN enacted the NLC on July 1, 2019, and since that time, all new licenses issued in the state to new graduates or RNs endors- ing into the state have been multistate licenses* that allow practice in 39 U.S. ju-