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This study identifies the knowledge needed by newly licensed RNs. The results of this study (i.e., the important knowledge statements) will be used to inform item development.

This annual publication provides national and state summary data of member boards’ licensure activities, as well as data on candidate performance on the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN Examinations.  

This study reports the importance ratings for activities performed by certified entry-level nurse aides/nursing assistants (NAs) employed in various health care settings. The findings from this study are used to evaluate the validity of the test plan, content outline and examination questions for the nurse aide certification examination.

A survey conducted in 2001, and replicated in 2003 with the same results, found that fewer than 50% of employers thought newly licensed nurses were safe and effective in practice. These findings caused concern for boards of nursing, so in 2002 the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) began to examine transition to practice (TTP) in nursing, developing an evidence-based model program and studying its effectiveness in hospital and nonhospital settings. After completion of the TTP study in hospitals with registered nurses (RNs) published earlier in 2015, a study was conducted in nonhospital facilities with RNs and licensed practical nurses to determine if NCSBN’s TTP program could be used effectively across settings. Sites volunteering to participate, however, faced many challenges while the study was underway. This article presents the TTP program, study design, challenges faced by nonhospital sites trying to implement a TTP program, and limited findings

A key message from the Institute of Medicine’s report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, addresses the need for better health care workforce data collection and information infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for effective workforce planning and policy making. Health care workforce forecasting models provide a mechanism for making future projections, which can be valuable in quantifying supply and demand and identifying the most appropriate strategies to prevent future shortages. Forecasts or predictions about future nursing supply and demand at the state level, although becoming more prevalent, are limited to a minority of states using a variety of methodologies. The Louisiana Multi-Regional Statewide Nursing Workforce Forecasting Model offers a unique and powerful tool to both monitor and forecast changes in the supply of, and demand for nurses at both the state and regional levels relative to specific health care settings. Development of such a model requires collaboration with agencies and/or entities having access to state-level data as well as the support of stakeholders interested in using the model in strategic planning and policy development.

This multisite study of transition to practice included 105 hospitals in three states. Hospitals volunteered to participate and were randomly assigned to either the study group or the control group, and all new graduate registered nurses hired between July 1 and September 30, 2011, were invited to participate. The study hospitals adopted the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s Transition to Practice model program; control hospitals continued using their existing onboarding programs, which ranged from simple orientation procedures to structured transition programs with preceptorships. The new graduate nurses who volunteered for the transition to practice study (n = 1,088) filled out surveys at baseline, 6, 9, and 12 months after beginning their first nursing position. Competence was reported by both the new nurses and their preceptors. New nurse self-reported data included the number of errors, safety practices, work stress, and job satisfaction. The hospitals provided retention data on the all the new graduates hired during the study period. Though the results showed few statistically significant differences between the two groups, when the hospitals in the control group were categorized as having established or limited programs, differences were detected. Hospitals using established programs had higher retention rates, and the nurses in these programs reported fewer patient care errors, employed fewer negative safety practices, and had higher competency levels, lower stress levels, and better job satisfaction. Structured transition programs that included at least six of the following elements were found to provide better support for newly graduated RNs: patient-centered care, communication and teamwork, quality improvement, evidence-based practice, informatics, safety, clinical reasoning, feedback, reflection, and specialty knowledge in an area of practice.

The African Health Profession Regulatory Collaborative (ARC) was launched in 2011 to help countries develop or strengthen nursing regulations to ensure safe and sustainable nurse-initiated and nurse-managed HIV treatment. ARC supports teams of national nursing leaders from 17 countries to engage in rapid regulatory strengthening through regional meetings, regulation improvement grants, and in-country technical assistance. The ARC initiative has awarded 33 regulation improvement grants on topics such as continuing professional development, scopes of practice, nurse practice acts, and entry-to-practice examinations. Progress is measured by a novel tool that captures meaningful advancements in national regulations. The ARC initiative facilitates rapid improvements in professional nursing regulation. The model and evaluation framework are highly transferable to other health care cadres and offer a platform for regulators, policy makers, professional bodies, and educators to collaborate on prioritized regulation issues.

Emerging evidence indicates that harmful nursing home resident outcomes occur because of ineffective collaboration between registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) during assessment, care planning, delegation, and supervision. This observational, factorial vignette survey related video vignettes of RN–LPN collaboration in nursing home care to RN perceptions of: 1) current practice in their home; and 2) preferred practice in their home (N = 444 rated vignettes of nursing practice).

Medication order discrepancies pose safety risks when nursing home residents transition between health care settings. In nursing homes, both registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) frequently are assigned to detect medication order discrepancies, using the process of medication reconciliation. This study was undertaken to examine the extent to which licensure (RN, LPN), years of experience performing medication reconciliation, and the perceived Need for Closure were related to differences in the detection of medication order discrepancies. The Multiple Segment Factorial Vignette design was used to explore and compare nursing home nurses’ detection of such discrepancies.

Hospitalizations of nursing home residents are costly and adversely affect the health of already vulnerable residents, and reducing avoidable hospitalizations has been identified as a priority quality and safety outcome by the U.S. government. However, existing interventions to reduce hospitalizations do not account for differences in scopes of practice among licensed nursing staff. This article describes the development of an educational innovation for nursing home staff members to learn to collaborate in ways that differentiate registered nurse and licensed practical/vocational nurse scopes of practice and strengthen connections among licensed and unlicensed nurses to improve detection and management of conditions associated with avoidable hospitalizations. The innovation was developed using situated learning theory and facilitated unfolding case discussions, reflecting the actual care environment. Evaluation data indicated the feasibility of this approach to staff education.

Nursing programs are seeking guidance from boards of nursing about how much simulation can be substituted for traditional clinical practice. To address this question and to assess educational outcomes when simulation is substituted for clinical time, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) conducted a study using 10 nursing schools across the United States. This article focuses on the faculty development needed to maintain fidelity in the intervention, implementation, and evaluation processes of initiating simulation programs.

The aim of this study was to describe newly licensed RN (NLRN) preceptorships and the effects on competency and retention.