HJBR May/Jun 2025

50 MAY / JUN 2025 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE NURSING COLUMN NURSING market the program, hire a program administrator, and begin admitting students. • Approved Louisiana Administrative Code 46.XLVII.4303 - Employment of Student Nurses and Unsuccessful Can- didates on the NCLEX-RN examina- tion.The proposed rule changes will al- low an undergraduate nursing student currently enrolled in a professional pre-licensure education degree pro- gram or a graduate nurse who has not passed the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) within 12 months of their first attempt, to be employed in a nurs- ing setting and to perform procedures and tasks for which they have been educated and certified as competent by their educational institution and/ or by graduation from an LSBN-ap- proved prelicensure nursing education program. The nursing student or new graduate must be supervised by an RN or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), and healthcare institutions must develop policies and procedures to regulate these providers. • Upheld an advisory opinion on intra- venous hydration and existing rules regarding compounding of medica- tions by RNs. The board considers mix- THE Louisiana State Board of Nursing (LSBN) will join the estimated 5.75 mil- lion actively licensed nurses in the Unit- ed States to shine a light on The Power of Nurses. 1 National Nurses Week is histor- ically planned around the May 12 birth- day of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale was the daughter of a wealthy British family and dedicated her life to English social re- form. Born in 1820, both she and her sis- ter, Parthenope, benefited from their fa- ther’s advanced ideas on the importance of education for women, studying history, mathematics, classical literature, and phi- losophy. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing frequently publishes licensure statistics provided through the nation- al databank, Nursys, for 57 of its 58 U.S. members. The 2025 theme for National Nurses Week is “The Power of Nurses,” honoring our nurses for their invaluable contribu- tions throughout the world. While most patients interact with nurses through di- rect patient care, nurses also develop pub- lic policy for community health; advance the profession through research; and ad- vocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in achieving health outcomes. Following is a summary of how LSBN’s board members interacted with the over 70,000 active RNs in Louisiana in 2024 to safeguard the life and health of the citizens of Louisiana: • A contingent of nursing leaders from Ochsner Health System, led by Presi- dent Tracey Moffat, participated in the American Organization for Nursing Leadership’s Advocacy Day in Wash- ington, D.C., promoting the following initiatives: • Increasing the healthcare work- force and strengthening capacity. • Protecting and supporting health- care workers. • Addressing nurse faculty and clini- cal site shortages. • Approved the licensed practical nurse (LPN) to registered nurse (RN) ap- prenticeship program between Bossier Parish Community College and Wil- lis-Knighton. The RN apprenticeship program will utilize a “dyad” model during training days, with RN appren- tices working alongside preceptors to provide patient care while developing the cognitive and clinical skills re- quired to be a registered nurse. • Approved Tulane University for the second step to establish a BSN nursing education degree program and grant- ed initial approval allowing Tulane to The POWER of Nurses