December 2007 Bulletin

Rumors have a way of spreading incorrect information. One such rumor is that Maine is "doing away" with practical nurses or is "phasing out" practical nurses. That is NOT true. The State of Maine is not doing any such thing. One thing that you may be seeing is the result of employers' decisions not to hire as many due to increased complexity of nursing care. The other factor that may be feeding into this rumor is that the five community colleges ( Southern Maine, Central Maine, Kennebec Valley, Eastern Maine and Northern Maine) that are authorized to administer practical nursing programs are not all doing so. The reason may be twofold: a business decision - meaning that the waiting list for students who wish to become registered professional nurses is long enough that choosing those students to enter the program makes more fiscal sense than entering individuals who will exit after one year; and, a market decision - meaning that it is possible that the administration of these programs do not see the same employment opportunities in their communities for practical nurses as they do for registered nurses. Currently, only Central Maine Community College is offering the practical nurse program option.

These five community colleges have articulated programs with the university system in Maine. This means that credits from the Maine community college system may be transferred into the Maine university system. The five community college nursing programs are all accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) as well as being programs approved by the Board of Nursing.

In addition to the five community colleges that have authority to offer a practical nursing program, the Board recently granted initial approval (September 26 , 2007) to the Intercoast Career Institute (ICCI) in South Portland. As represented to the Board at several of its meetings, ICCI is a career school and thus, its intent is to offer the practical nursing program to those individuals who aspire to practice solely as practical nurses. Since ICCI was recently granted initial approval by the Board, it does NOT have NLNAC accreditation. The NLNAC does not accredit a brand new program but waits for a graduating class to complete the program and for the school to apply for its accreditation. Maine law does not mandate national nursing program accreditation although all other nursing programs in Maine do have either NLNAC or Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accreditation.

Address Change

If your address changes, please notify the Board office as soon as possible, OR, you may change your address online at http://www.maine.gov/bon/

NCLEX "FIRST TIME" TEST TAKERS PASS RATES

Practical Nurses For the year October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007, 18 first time candidates educated in Maine wrote the NCLEX examination for practical nurses and
18 passed, a 100 % pass rate.

Registered Nurses For the year October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007, 678 first time candidates educated in Maine wrote the NCLEX examination for registered nurses and 570 passed, an 84.07 % pass rate.

NCLEX-RN "FIRST TIME" TEST TAKERS PASS RATES
For the year October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007

When reviewing statistics, keep in mind absolute numbers as well as percentages. (Percentages for smaller absolute numbers can vary widely.)

FDA Moves to Electronic Based Environment

As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moves from a paper based to an electronic based environment, the department is providing new ways to offer timely, science based and clinically relevant safety information to healthcare providers and consumers.
As part of this transition several new web based services are available by subscribing to the FDA's MedWatch listserve notification (http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/elist.htm), bookmarking the FDA's MedWatch web site
( http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety.htm ),
and downloading audio podcasts (http://www.daily-med.nlm.nih.gov ).

Disciplinary Action

Licensees fined from 08/01/07 - 12/31/07 for practicing during lapsed license status: 78

Complaints Dismissed from 08/01/07 - 12/31/07: 59

News About Online Licensure Renewals

The online licensure renewal rate for November, 2007 was 92.4 %. We are pleased to hear so many favorable comments about this service. Only one month had a higher percentage, and that was May, 2007 with a usage rate of 93.1%.

Effective now, Maine licensed nurses with non U.S. addresses can renew online.

The postcard reminder has a new look: the State of Maine seal replaces the picture of nurses.

News for Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives

Prescribers seeking confidentiality protection with the Maine Health Data Organization to prohibit carriers, pharmacies, and prescription drug information intermediaries from licensing, using, selling, or exchanging for value prescription drug information for any marketing purpose that identifies those prescribers may register with the Maine Health Data Organization by accessing its registration form on the following URL:
http://mhdo.maine.gov/imhdo/prescriberoptoutintro.aspx

APRN Reminder!!!!

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) renew their approval to practice biennially, concurrent with renewal of their registered professional nurse license. This means that the APRN will renew his/her registered professional nursing license on-line and complete a separate application to renew the approval to practice as an advanced practice registered nurse. The application will be mailed to the APRN approximately six weeks prior to the licensee's birthday.