SUBPART B. ARTICULATED CURRICULA

§1005. Articulated curricula; duties of the nursing boards; cooperation with educational agencies; cooperation with the Nursing Supply and Demand Council; report

A. It shall be the policy of this state that programs of training for nurses, including nurse assistants, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and nurses with baccalaureate degrees, be organized and integrated in a fashion that permits the maximum amount of prior training to be credited against the requirements of any subsequent training. This policy shall exist to facilitate the continued professional development of nurses and to establish an adequate supply of nurses to meet the requirements of the employers and health care institutions in this state, as well as to assure the availability of sufficient numbers of nurse educators.

B. The Louisiana State Board of Nursing and the Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners, hereafter referred to as the nursing boards, shall meet together and with the various state education agencies, particularly including the Board of Regents, the college and university management boards, the Nursing Supply and Demand Council, and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and with the public and private hospitals, to develop and implement nurse training curricula that articulates from one level of nursing to the next.

C. The nursing boards shall review the nursing program approval standards and the accreditation and licensing standards they require in order to identify and make such adjustments as are necessary in order to implement the articulated curricula required by Subsection A of this Section.

D. The Board of Regents, the higher education management boards, the public institutions of higher education, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the vocational institutes, and the hospitals which provide training facilities shall undertake whatever changes in procedure or policy are necessitated by the articulated curricula required by Subsection A of this Section.

E. The implementation of the curricula changes and the policy of articulation expressed and required by this Section shall begin, if on a gradual basis, not later than January 1, 1993.

Acts 1991, No. 818, §4; Acts 2008, No. 534, §3, eff. June 30, 2008.