Today's Wisconsin Board of Nursing Meeting

I was not able to attend today's Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting in person, but my Mother attended and told me what happened. Representatives from Marquette were also in attendance.

Today the Board voted on and passed a motion in closed session that basically stated that the Board will consider my "Certificate of Completion" of the pre-MSN phase of Marquette's Direct Entry nursing program to legally constitute a "diploma of graduation" so that Marquette's Direct Entry students are legally eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin under the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act. (The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 requires one to hold a "diploma of graduation" from a school of nursing in order to be eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin.) It does not matter that this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, or that Marquette is very clear that Direct Entry students do not graduate or earn any kind of degree or diploma at the completion of the pre-MSN phase.

Representatives from Marquette stood before the Board today and called the "Certificate of Completion" that is given to Direct Entry students at the end of the pre-MSN part of the Direct Entry program nothing more than a "celebratory piece of paper." Very interesting that the DRL is considering this "celebratory piece of paper" a "diploma of graduation."

Unfortunately I do not have a copy of the exact wording of the motion that was passed by the Board today, and I won't have it until the minutes for today's meeting are approved at their next meeting on November 8th.

Debra Kraft, interim legal counsel for the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing, presented to the Board a lengthy document that gives her legal interpretation of the term "diploma of graduation" and an explanation of how she interprets Marquette's "Certificate of Completion" to actually be a form of a "diploma of graduation." I will have a copy of this document tomorrow and will post more about it then.

[Update: turns out the "legal interpretation" I mentioned above was actually written and presented by Colleen Baird, legal counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, not Debra Kraft.]