HJBR Mar/Apr 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  MAR / APR 2023 53 Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN-CNS, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing Leverage LSBN’s influence as a recognized leader in nursing regulation • LSBN is currently working with the following organizations and individu- als to leverage LSBN leadership: • LSNA: Specific issues are nursing workforce, safety of nurses in the workplace, nurses on boards initiative, precepted clinical nursing student experiences, utilization of part-time clinical nursing faculty, removing scope of practice barriers, and enabling nurses to lead change to advance health. • Health Works Commission : Presentation of the 2021 Survey of Newly Licensed Nurses and 2021 NursingSupplySurvey inLouisiana as well as participation on the sub- committee examining factors that contribute to the recruitment and retention of nursing faculty. • Nurse Supply and Demand Council: Covering diversity of the nursing workforce, nurse capacity and availability in rural hospitals, and proposed collaboration between nurse educators and nurse practice leaders related to nursing best practices. • Expand outreach to educate influenc- ers including legislative leaders. • Provided testimony to relevant legislative committees on HB143 (Act 103) regarding state agencies’ policies on ADA compliance; HB312 (Act 461), the Workplace Violence Act; SB136 (Act 129) regarding criminal penalties for assaults of emergency room personnel and other healthcare providers; and HB555 (Act 483) requiring state agencies to publish all requirements for licensing. Maintain organizational effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability Training has continued with all staff through the past 12 months. Chiefs are involved in monthly Passport leadership seminars; directors are involved with simi- lar training entitled Emerge, and staff have continued training in the Optimal Regula- tory Board System (ORBS) updates. LSBN concluded its normal three-month licen- sure renewal process on Dec. 31, 2022, and concluded late licensure renewal on Jan. 31, 2023. Any registered nurse or advanced practice registered nurse due to renew their license in 2022 who did not complete that process by Feb. 1, 2023, will be subject to discipline for practicing without a cur- rent Louisiana license. LSBN continues to support the training of all staff for practi- cal customer support in a virtual world. Critical issues for 2023 Based on the analysis reviewed above, LSBN’s board of directors has established critical issues requiring our attention over the next year. • What is the long-term impact of COVID-19 on our nursing workforce? Will there be an increase in retire- ments, resignations, and enrollments in nursing schools? How do we man- age this change in the nursing work- force? • Will the stress of working during a pandemic result in more complaints against nurses and violations of the Nurse PracticeAct and/or LSBN rules and regulations? • How does LSBN address the rampant disinformation placed on social me- dia platforms by nurses? • How will LSBN support our external partners’ efforts to pass legislation impacting nursing regulation? • Are we fully engaged with employers, educators, and other nursing organizations to design the nursing workforce of the future? • The board has requested operational- izing formal, ongoing training in reg- ulatory board governance, role clarity and codification, self-evaluation for the board collectively and individu- ally, and succession planning for both the board and executive level staff. LSBN will use the priorities identified above to develop tracks of work to orga- nize our work toward accomplishing our objectives. For the next 12 months, those tracks of work will be related to collabo- rating with our stakeholders to develop the future nursing workforce, supporting the transition to practice for our new nurs- es, developing a board evaluation process, promoting board professional develop- ment, and responding to the changing practice and learning environments. n