SB 49: PRO: Equalize our standards

There is a desperate need for more qualified registered nurses in Georgia. Statistics indicate that Georgia has one of the lowest per capita nurse rates, placing it among the bottom one-fourth nationwide. The “Final Report of the Senate Study Committee on the Shortage of Doctors and Nurses in Georgia” concluded in 2007 that “nursing education systems in Georgia are struggling to keep up with the pace of demand.”

Senate Bill 49 does not lower standards for out-of-state nursing schools, as its opponents argue, nor does it provide a means for less qualified individuals to become licensed as RNs. It provides a consistent and equitable means for determining when an out-of-state school has a program “similar to, and no less stringent” than those in Georgia. There are obvious differences of opinion on the appropriate path to entry-level RN practice. There is no difference of opinion, however, when it comes to Georgia’s shortage of RNs. This is why the need for SB 49 is so clear.

Last year, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1041, which called for nursing programs outside Georgia to “meet criteria similar to, and no less stringent than, those established by” the Georgia Board of Nursing.

The intent was to ensure background checks for all candidates for RN licensure, but the nursing board’s interpretation is now keeping quality RNs out of Georgia.

Last November, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office spoke to this interpretation of HB 1041, stating that “bona fide nontraditional education institutions can have a place in Georgia.”

SB 49 requires that nontraditional nursing programs have specialty accreditation and be part of an institution that itself holds appropriate accreditation. For example, the nontraditional nursing program at the Excelsior College School of Nursing is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, just as 16 of Georgia’s 18 associate degree programs are. Beyond being accredited, Excelsior has been designated as one of only 13 Centers of Excellence in Nursing Education by the National League for Nursing.

The associate degree program at Excelsior only admits those with significant health care experience — an average of 10 years’ worth — such as LPNs, paramedics and certain classifications of military corpsmen. Once admitted, all of Excelsior’s nursing students must pass a rigorous array of nationally recognized nursing examinations and an intensive 2 1/2-day examination of nursing clinical skills in order to graduate.

Although different in methodology, Excelsior’s focus is on the same outcome as all other nursing programs: the preparation of registered nurses to provide safe and competent patient care.

In the last 30-plus years, more than 1,000 Excelsior graduates have been licensed as RNs in the state and have been providing safe and effective nursing care in Georgia, without any evidence of problems with their performance.

SB 49 will not eliminate Georgia’s nursing shortage. It will, however, reopen career opportunities for adults with significant health care experience who have completed a rigorous program of study in an accredited, nationally distinguished program. It will do so without any cost to Georgia taxpayers, and it will enable Georgia to take a national leadership position in positively approaching the nursing shortage.

• Lee Hawkins, the sponsor of SB 49, is a Republican state senator from Gainesville.