Pandemic underscores value of Nurse Licensure Compact

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing shared a success story highlighting how the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) positively impacted nurses and patients in New Jersey and Missouri during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NLC facilitates practice across borders by allowing nurses who live and practice in an NLC-member state to hold one multistate license. The arrangement increases access to care and enhances disaster preparedness. New Jersey had not planned to implement NLC until later in 2020, but at the outset of the pandemic, they proceeded with a partial implementation as part of their emergency response. Nurse leaders hailed the decision for allowing the onboarding of qualified nurses from outside the state. Similarly, as an NLC member, Missouri was able to keep travel nurses from outside the state on staff during the pandemic while also allowing Missouri-based nurses to leave the state to help in areas of need. (NCSBN story, summer 2020)