NLC Story

Triage Nurse Manager Sees the Benefits of the NLC on a Daily Basis

Posted 07/08/2019
In the last year, the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) has experienced extraordinary growth and change. The current status of the compact can be viewed via this interactive map. With the NLC’s current state of evolution, the compact is becoming ever more vital to nurses and those who employ them. NCSBN is sharing compelling NLC success stories to show how the compact positively impacts nurses and patients.

As a compact state nurse manager for Night Nurse Triage Services, Karen Holland, RN, sees the benefits of the NLC on a daily basis. Night Nurse offers triage services for patients of community-based pediatricians, family practitioners, internists and health care centers across the U.S. Night Nurse pediatric nurses take calls nationally from parents who may be worried about their children and are trying to reach their physicians after hours. This vital service helps to connect sick children with the medical care that they need. Holland has been with the organization for 11 years and oversees a staff of more than 30 pediatric nurses. She is also responsible for licensing coordination and assisting staff with their licensing issues.

As more states are added to the compact, this opens up a wider pool of candidates for Holland. “Bringing more states onboard means I have a lot more places I can work,” she says. “I just hired my first nurse from Kansas because they are now a part of the NLC. I hadn't been able to do that before. I also just hired a nurse in Georgia and two nurses in Florida -- until those states came onboard, that wasn’t an option for us. It’s exciting because I’m able to reach out to more nurses throughout the country to bring them onboard. That’s certainly an advantage for me.”