An Overview of the Campaign So Far

I realized recently that this blog may be confusing for new visitors. In order to help clarify this blog's objectives and history I will give a chronological summary of the campaign.

I completed the first 15 months (the pre-MSN phase) of Marquette University's Direct Entry nursing program back in August of 2005, and passed NCLEX and got my Wisconsin nursing license shortly after that. In the spring of 2006 my husband got a job in Mississippi, so we moved there. The Mississippi Board of Nursing rejected my application for RN licensure because I could not provide proof of graduation.

This is when I realized that something funny was going on with Marquette's Direct Entry program. Marquette provided proof of graduation to the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, while at the same time claiming that Direct Entry students do not graduate at the completion of the first 15 months of the program and refusing to provide proof of graduation to any other state.

As I researched the issue further, I discovered that the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04, a state law, requires graduation from a school of nursing in order to be eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin. As a student at Marquette, they told us that they had a "Special Agreement" with the State that allows Direct Entry students to become licensed as RNs. But this explanation no longer made any sense: the State of Wisconsin can't simply make a "Special Agreement" with a private university that contradicts State Law.

I sent a letter to Dr. Judith Miller, associate dean for graduate programs in Marquette's College of Nursing, asking that Direct Entry students be granted degrees for the work they do in the first 15 months of the program so that the program will meet the legal criteria for licensure in Wisconsin. Dr. Miller would not resolve the problem.

Next, I sent a letter to Father Wild, President of Marquette University. I didn't get a response, so I sent a letter to each member of Marquette's Board of Trustees explaining the problem, and again asking Marquette to grant Direct Entry students degrees at the end of the first 15 months of the program so that the program would meet the criteria for licensure in Wisconsin. The day after the Board of Trustee's got their letters, Father Wild responded to me, again unwilling to fix the problem.

Meanwhile I requested a copy of the "Special Agreement" from the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. At first they tried blow me off, but eventually I was provided with the documents I requested. All the "Special Agreement" was was a 1999 letter from Wayne Austin, then legal counsel for the Board of Nursing, to Madeline Wake, then Dean of the Marquette College of Nursing, stating that they would interpret progression from the 15-month pre-MSN portion of the Direct Entry program into the MSN portion to be considered "graduation" so that it would meet the Nurse Practice Act's requirement for "graduation." The whole "Special Agreement" was a farce! Marquette is fiercely adamant that Direct Entry students do not graduate until they have earned an MSN degree.

Next I sent letters to the members of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing asking that they reevaluate the "Special Agreement." I never heard back from anyone at the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, so I thought they they had also blown me off. Several weeks after the fact, however, I discovered that my letter had been discussed at the Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting on May 17th!

Now things are really getting ridiculous. The Wisconsin Board of Nursing is supposed to uphold the laws relating to the licensure of registered nurses, and here they are making unlawful exceptions to the very laws they should be upholding. I filed a formal complaint with Governor Doyle's office against Colleen M. Baird, legal counsel for the Board of Nursing charging her with two offences: not notifying me that my letter to the members of the Board would be brought up at a meeting so that I could participate in the meeting, and counseling the Board to continue with a policy that contradicts State Law. I have not yet heard back from the DRL regarding the formal complaint.

I was granted a personal appearance before the Wisconsin Board of Nursing on July 26th in Madison Wisconsin. In my presentation I asked the Board to immediately discontinue issuing nursing licenses to individuals who do not meet the criteria for licensure in the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04; including students who have completed the 15-month pre-MSN portion of Marquette's Direct Entry program because they do not hold a "diploma of graduation." The presentation went well, and the Board seemed very surprised about the situation and perhaps interested in working out a compromise between Marquette and me. The Board wanted to hear from a representative of Marquette's Direct Entry program before making any decisions and so decided that they would revisit the issue at their next meeting on August 30th so that Dr. Judith Miller could attend.

Marquette was informed ahead of time about my appearance before the Board of Nursing, and submitted some materials of their own to the Board. One of the materials that they submitted was a copy of the 1999 letter from Wayne Austin to Madeline Wake (the "Special Agreement"). But this was not the same letter that the DRL had provided to me with several months earlier. It turns out there are two conflicting versions of the "Special Agreement." The version of the letter that was actually sent to Marquette does not say that Direct Entry students are eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin at the completion of the pre-MSN phase. The letter simply states that graduates of the program are eligible for licensure - and Direct Entry students don't graduate until they have been awarded an MSN degree at the end of the three years.

Meanwhile, my parents (Wisconsin state residents) had contacted their state representatives and asked them to look into the RN licensure of Marquette Direct Entry students without having graduated. Debra Kraft, Interim General Counsel for the DRL, responded to my parents' state representatives with an August 2nd letter riddled with falsehoods. Since Ms. Kraft had sent this letter to many important individuals associated with the controversy, including the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, I responded with my own letter to make sure the individuals who got Ms. Kraft's letter had the facts before the next Board of Nursing meeting on August 30th.

The most important problem with Ms. Kraft's letter is that she based her stance on the licensure of Direct Entry students on the wrong version of the "Special Agreement." I do not know why the DRL had a version of this letter that directly contradicted what they actually sent to Marquette back in 1999.

Now I am waiting to see what happens at the Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting on August 30th.

Agenda for Next Wisconsin Board of Nursing Meeting

The agenda for the next Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting is up on line now. The meeting will be held on Thursday, August 30th at 1400 E. Washington Ave. in Madison, Wisconsin. The Board plans to address the licensure of Direct Entry students at around 9:45 a.m. but that is an estimate. These meetings are open to the public, so anyone who would like to attend is welcome.

It looks like the Board is allotting 45 minutes to address the issue, and I'm sure they will need at least that much time. I believe representatives from Marquette and UWM will be in attendance.

I don't understand why they keep calling Marquette "UW-Marquette." Marquette is just called Marquette, although UWM is sometimes called UW-Milwaukee for clarity.

Response From Dr. Miller

I got this today in response to my August 2nd letter to Dr. Miller at Marquette University. The gist of the letter is: "go bug somebody else."
__________________________________________________
August 14, 2007

Dear Ms. Bertrand:

I received your letter of August 2, 2007 in which you request Marquette University to grant you an Associate Degree. Marquette is an institution of higher learning which issues Baccalaureate and higher degrees. Marquette University does not award associate degrees in nursing.

If you have not already appealed to the Mississippi Board of Nursing to grant you a license to practice as a professional nurse in their state, I urge you to do so. Dr. Mary Ware, Director of the Institute for Higher Learning in the state of Mississippi indicated some time ago that if you appealed to the state of Mississippi Board of Nursing, she felt certain they would grant you licensure in Mississippi.

Good luck with this.

Judith Fitzgerald Miller, Phd, RN, FAAN

cc. Ellen Rudy, Interim Dean

Step #8: Refutation of DRL's Misinformation

I have not posted much recently, but there has been quite a bit going on behind the scenes in the last couple of weeks. A couple of months ago my parents contacted their state representatives (Since they are Wisconsin state residents) asking them to look into the legal status of the RN licensure of Direct Entry students in Wisconsin without holding a "diploma of graduation" as is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04. They did make inquiries of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL) on our behalf, but unfortunately did not act as advocates for us as we had hoped.

In any event our letters, and the letter from my parent's state representatives, did cause the DRL to investigate Marquette's Direct Entry program and their procedures for licensing these students without graduation dates. Debra Kraft (Interim General Counsel for the DRL) responded to my parents' State Representatives with this letter dated August 2, 2007. The letter contains several serious factual errors, and was cc'd to a wide range of individuals: including the Chair of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office, lawyers at Marquette and Lawyers at the DRL among others.

I want to make sure that the individuals who have received this letter from Ms. Kraft become aware of the falsehoods and misrepresentations in the letter before the next Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting which will be held on August 30, so I mailed out this letter this morning:
__________________________________________________

August 18, 2007

Debra J. Kraft
Interim General Counsel
Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing
P.O. Box 8935
Madison, WI 53708-8935

RE: RN LICENSURE OF MARQUETTE DIRECT ENTRY NURSING STUDENTS

Dear Ms. Kraft:

I would like to correct some misinformation that was contained in your August 2nd letter to Senator Mark Miller and Representative Joseph Parisi regarding the licensure of Marquette University’s Direct Entry nursing students. (Enclosed)

First, there is a serious problem with the 1999 letter from Wayne Austin to Madeline Wake that you discussed and attached with your letter. The version of the letter from Mr. Austin to Ms. Wake that you attached, the version provided by the Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL), is not the same letter that was actually sent to Ms. Wake. Marquette University has produced a different letter of the same date in which Mr. Austin comes to the exact opposite conclusion about Marquette’s Direct Entry students’ eligibility for RN licensure in the State of Wisconsin. Please notice that the version of the letter produced by the DRL, the version that you are basing your stance on, does not contain Mr. Austin’s signature. The version of the letter produced by Marquette University, which does not advocate for the RN licensure of Direct Entry students in Wisconsin at the completion of the pre-MSN portion of the Direct Entry program without graduating, does contain Mr. Austin’s signature. I have enclosed both versions of this 1999 letter from Mr. Austin to Ms. Wake.

At the bottom of the second page of the real version of the 1999 letter from Wayne Austin to Madeline Wake, Mr. Austin states (emphasis mine):

If graduates of the new program will also have completed education and training which conform with the curriculum standards cited above, it is our opinion that graduates of the program would qualify both to sit for NCLEX and for licensure to practice professional nursing.

Nowhere in the letter does Mr. Austin state that "completion of the pre-MSN portion of the Direct Entry program" is to be considered a "diploma of graduation" under the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04. Nor does the letter indicate that completion of the pre-MSN portion of the program is sufficient for RN licensure in the State of Wisconsin. The letter clearly states that only graduates of the Direct Entry MSN program are eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin. Marquette University is quite adamant that Direct Entry students do not graduate until they have earned an MSN degree. Mr. Austin’s letter simply confirms that they would be eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin at the time that they have graduated with an MSN degree, not at the completion of the pre-MSN phase of the program.

You state in your August 2nd letter that "the Department [of Regulation & Licensing] has again concluded that it will continue to recognize the conclusions reached by Mr. Austin in his 1999 letter." If this is the case, then the DRL has already concluded that Marquette Direct Entry students are legally eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin not at the completion of the pre-MSN phase of the program, but only upon graduation from the MSN program. This is the conclusion that was reached by Wayne Austin in the letter that was actually sent to Madeline Wake back in 1999.

Second, your letter states that in my July 26th presentation before the Wisconsin Board of Nursing that I asked the Board to "dissolve the Marquette Direct Entry MSN Program." This is not true. I asked the Board to dissolve the "Special Agreement" with Marquette’s Direct Entry MSN program under which students are being granted Wisconsin nursing licenses without holding a "diploma of graduation" as is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04. I have no desire for the program to end: I ask only that the program be held to the same standards and legal procedures as every other school of nursing in the State of Wisconsin. A complete transcript of my presentation is available on my website: http://lydiaslicense.blogspot.com/2007/07/success-at-board-of-nursing-meeting.html

Third, the second footnote on the bottom of page two of your letter says: "The document used to verify completion of the pre-MSN phase is DRL form #259, a standard internal administrative form used to process all nursing student applications." It was not mentioned in your letter that the #259 form is also called the "Statement of Graduation" form. Marquette University lied on the #259 "Statement of Graduation" portion of my licensure application by falsely indicating that I had actually been awarded a BSN degree from their institution - and the DRL knowingly accepted this fraudulent document. (Enclosed)

In conclusion, it is vital for the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing to again re-examine the original conclusions that were drawn by Wayne Austin in 1999. I do not know why there are two conflicting versions of the letter in circulation, but the version of the letter that was signed by Mr. Austin and was actually sent to Marquette University does not in any way indicate that Marquette’s Direct Entry students are eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin at the completion of the pre-MSN portion of the program.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

cc: Senator Mark Miller, 16th Senate District
Representative Joseph Parisi, 48th Assembly District
Celia Jackson, Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing
Larry Martin, Executive Assistant, Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing
Kimberly Nania, Division Administrator, Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing
Marilyn Kaufmann, Chair, Wisconsin Board of Nursing
Colleen Baird, Legal Counsel, Wisconsin Board of Nursing
Thomas J. Balistreri, Assistant Attorney General, Wisconsin Department of Justice
Jeffrey Kipfmueller, Associate General Counsel, Marquette University
Richard Sweet, Senior Staff Attorney, Wisconsin Legislative Council

Two Versions of the "Special Agreement"?

Early on in this campaign, I requested a copy of the written official agreement between Marquette and the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL) regarding the licensure of Direct Entry students who do not hold a "diploma of graduation" as is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act. I requested this document, which I am calling the "Special Agreement," from both Marquette and from the DRL, but only the DRL responded (the DRL is legally required to provide this of information under the Wisconsin Public Records Law).

The DRL provided this document. It is a 1999 letter from Wayne Austin (then legal counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing) to Madeline Wake (then Dean of Marquette University's College of Nursing). I never followed up with trying to get this information from Marquette as well since, as a private institution, they are not legally required to provide me with this information, and I thought that they would just produce the same document.

The most important sentence in the copy of the "Special Agreement" produced by the DRL can be found at the bottom of the second page (emphasis mine):

"If participants in the new program will also complete educational and training which conform to the curriculum standards cited above, it is our opinion that persons completing the basic nursing education phase of the program would qualify both to sit for NCLEX and for licensure to practice professional nursing."

Marquette University provided a copy of this 1999 letter from Wayne Austin to Madeline Wake to the Wisconsin Board of Nursing for review at the July 26th meeting, presumably in defense of the licensure of their Direct Entry students. But the most important sentence in the letter provided by Marquette is significantly different, in fact it completely changes the entire meaning of the letter. The text of the "Special Agreement" provided by Marquette is exactly the same as the one provided by the DRL except for that the sentence quoted above is replaced with this sentence (emphasis mine):

"If graduates of the new program will also have completed education and training which conform with the curriculum standards cited above, it is our opinion that graduates of the program would qualify both to sit for NCLEX and for licensure to practice professional nursing."

[I'm sorry I don't have a pdf of this version of the "Special Agreement" that I can link to yet]

The version of the "Special Agreement" provided by the DRL seems to answer Marquette's question (does "completion of the pre-MSN part of the Direct Entry program legally constitute "graduation" for the purposes of licensure in Wisconsin?) by indicating that, yes, this would be sufficient for licensure in Wisconsin.

The version of the "Special Agreement" provided by Marquette answers the same question exactly the opposite way: it clearly states that only graduates of the program will be eligible for licensure. I don't quite understand why Marquette is interpreting this letter as "permission" for Direct Entry students to become licensed at the end of the pre-MSN phase of the program without graduating.

There was one other small difference between the "Special Agreement" provided by the DRL and the one provided by Marquette. The letter provided by the DRL is not signed by Wayne Austin, and the one provided by Marquette is. It seems most likely to me that the version of the "Special Agreement" produced by Marquette, the one that specifically requires graduation and has Wayne Austin's signature on it, is the real document.

I would be interested to know why there are two versions of the "Special Agreement," and which one is real? Why does the DRL apparently not have on file the same letter as the one that Marquette has produced? Was the document tampered with at the DRL, or are they just being sloppy?

In any event, it really does not matter which version was actually sent to Marquette back in 1999. Either way the the licensure of Marquette's Direct Entry students who do not hold a "diploma of graduation" from a school of nursing is against Wisconsin State Law:

1. If Marquette's version is the real one, then it clearly states that only graduates of the program are eligible for licensure. This is exactly what is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 and the Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 (1)(c). Marquette's Direct Entry program is operating in direct violation of this letter, which clearly requires graduation.



2. If the DRL's version is the real one then Wayne Austin and the Wisconsin Board of Nursing were acting outside of their scope of authority to make such an exception to state law to allow the licensure of Direct Entry students who do not hold a "diploma of graduation" from a school of nursing. The letter is invalid because it violates Wisconsin State Law.

Step #7: Third Letter To Dean Miller

August 2, 2007

Dr. Judith Miller
Associate Dean for Graduate Programs & Research
Marquette University College of Nursing
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201

RE: RN LICENSURE OF MARQUETTE DIRECT ENTRY STUDENTS

Dear Dr. Miller:

I am sorry that you were not able to attend the Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting on July 26th in Madison. I am hopeful, and I think you may be as well, that the issue of the legality of the RN licensure of Marquette’s Direct Entry students can be finally resolved at the Board of Nursing meeting on August 30th. I will not be able to attend the August meeting myself.

There is a strong case for requesting BSN degrees for Direct Entry students, particularly because Marquette has been marking the box for "BSN" on the licensure applications of its Direct Entry students for the last 8 years, and because Direct Entry students complete all of the nursing theory and practical coursework required of their regular BSN students.

However, in the interests of resolving the problem in a timely manner, I propose a compromise. A dual purpose would be served if Marquette University were to issue ADN degrees to Direct Entry students (past, present, and future) who successfully complete, or have completed, the 15-month pre-MSN portion of the program.

If Marquette’s Direct Entry nursing students were awarded ADN degrees at the end of the pre-MSN phase, these students would then be legally eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin: which is what Marquette promises in the "Memorandum of Understanding." Clearing up this loophole would prevent Marquette University from facing liability around this issue from former, current or future Direct Entry students.

In addition, if Direct Entry students were issued ADN degrees, it would discourage students from intentionally misusing the Direct Entry program by planning to only stay through the first 15 months of the program. The pre-MSN portion of Marquette’s Direct Entry program is significantly more expensive, more competitive to enter, and requires much more work and more advanced work (including 9 graduate credits) than would ever be expected at a regular ADN program. For these reasons it is unlikely that issuing ADNs to Direct Entry students would significantly increase the drop-out rate at the end of the pre-MSN phase.

In order for this plan to make Marquette’s Direct Entry students legally eligible for RN licensure under the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 and the Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 (1)(c), Marquette will need to become accredited and board-approved to issue ADN degrees. I am sure this can be accomplished since Marquette is already accredited and board-approved to issue BSN degrees.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

cc: Dr. Kerry Kosmoski-Goepfert, Associate Dean, Marquette University College of Nursing
Madeline Wake, Provost, Marquette University
Father Wild, President, Marquette University
Marquette University Board of Trustees
Wisconsin Board of Nursing
Colleen Baird, Legal Counsel, Wisconsin Board of Nursing
Celia M. Jackson, Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing

More Good Questions From the Board of Nursing Meeting

There were many good questions and issues that were brought up at the Board of Nursing meeting on July 26th that I was not able to fully address at the meeting, so I will attempt to do so here.

_____________________________________________
Isn't Mississippi a Compact State?

I think what they mean is: does Mississippi participate in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC)? The NLC allows nurses who hold a license in the state that they reside in to practice nursing in another state without getting a second license; as long as both states participate in the NLC. Since Wisconsin and Mississippi both participate in the NLC and I hold a valid Wisconsin nursing license, I would be able to practice nursing in Mississippi if I were still a Wisconsin resident.

Most of the people who make use of the NLC live near the border between two states: they live in one state but commute to a job in another state. Since Mississippi and Wisconsin do not border each other, I don't think anyone would believe that I actually still live in Wisconsin and commute to a job in Mississippi. This means that even though Wisconsin and Mississippi both participate in the NLC and I have a Wisconsin nursing license, since my permanent residence at this time is Mississippi I will need to get a Mississippi nursing license to practice nursing here.

__________________________________________________
There is a program just like Marquette's Direct Entry program in Tennessee, and Wisconsin accepts RN's from their program.

It is true that Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee has a program very similar to Marquette's Direct Entry program. Students in Vanderbilt's program do not get a degree or diploma at the end of the pre-MSN portion of the program and are still able to become RNs in Tennessee at that time.

The difference is the Tennessee Nurse Practice Act. The Tennessee Nurse Practice Act does not specifically require graduation from a school of nursing in order to become licensed as an RN in that state: so it is perfectly fine for them to run their program in this way and to still have their students become legally eligible for licensure. The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act does specifically require a "diploma of graduation" in order to become licensed as a nurse in Wisconsin: so if Marquette wants its Direct Entry students to become licensed as RN's in Wisconsin at the end of the pre-MSN portion of the program they must supply their students with a "diploma of graduation" at that time.

I did a whole post on this very issue back in February.

Marquette Promised Me Eligibility for Licensure in *Wisconsin*

One issue that came up several times during the discussion following my presentation before the Wisconsin Board of Nursing last Thursday was whether or not Marquette had ever indicated to me that my nursing license would be transferable to other states, and whether or not the Direct Entry program must make its students eligible for licensure in other states.

To put it simply: Marquette never falsely led me to believe that I could become licensed as an RN in any state other than Wisconsin at the end of the pre-MSN part of the Direct Entry program, and they are in fact not required by anybody to make their students eligible for RN licensure in any state other than Wisconsin.

My problem with Marquette's Direct Entry program is that they indicate in the "Memorandum of Understanding" that must be signed by every student before they begin the program that they will be eligible to sit for NCLEX and for RN licensure in Wisconsin. But this is not true: unless Marquette starts issuing a "diploma of graduation" at the end of the pre-MSN phase of the program, these individuals are not in fact eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin at that time. For the last 8 years the Wisconsin Board of Nursing has been issuing nursing license to Marquette's Direct Entry students illegally.

If Marquette started issuing graduation dates for Direct Entry students at the end of the pre-MSN phase of the program, they would probably be able to transfer their RN licenses to more states than they can now, but that is just a side effect. The real issue here is that Marquette University is located in Wisconsin, and promises their students eligibility for RN licensure in Wisconsin. That means issuing a "diploma of graduation" at the end of the pre-MSN phase of the Direct Entry program.

Success at the Board of Nursing Meeting This Morning

My presentation at the Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting this morning went as well as I could have realistically expected. No decisions were made today, but the members of the Board listened to what I had to say and it seemed like they are interested helping to find a reasonable resolution to the problem with the RN licensure of Marquette University's Direct Entry nursing students.

Dr. Judith Miller, the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs at Marquette's College of Nursing, was not able to attend today's meeting. The Board would like to give her the opportunity to address the issue at a meeting, so the Board will be again addressing the licensure of Marquette's Direct Entry students at the next board meeting on August 30th.

I don't have time to give all the details about what happened at the meeting right now, but for now I will post the content of my presentation:
__________________________________________________

– My name is Lydia Bertrand. I would like to thank the members of the Board for allowing me to make a personal appearance at this meeting today.

– Before I get started I would like to give everyone a copy of some materials relevant to my presentation. [Distribute handouts]

– I was a member of the 6th cohort of Marquette’s Direct Entry nursing program from 2004 to 2005, but left the program at the end of the 15-month pre-MSN portion because my family was forced to move to another state for my husband’s work. The state of Mississippi, where I am now living, has been unable to issue me a nursing license by endorsement even though I was granted a Wisconsin license. But even worse, having attended Marquette’s Direct Entry program has actually made it even more difficult for me to get a nursing license in Mississippi than it would have been if I had never taken a nursing class before. Because of this, my husband is currently supporting our family of three on only a few thousand dollars per year more than the amount of my outstanding student loans that I took in order to attend the Marquette University Direct Entry program.

– Back in 1999 the Wisconsin Board of Nursing made a terrible mistake. The Board OK’d a letter from Wayne Austin, then legal counsel for the Board of Nursing, to Madeline Wake, then Dean of Marquette’s College of Nursing. Both the DRL and Marquette seem to believe that this letter gives permission for students in Marquette University’s Direct Entry nursing program to sit for NCLEX and to become licensed as RN s at the end of the 15-month pre-MSN portion of the program even though students do not graduate from the program at that time.

– I call this arrangement between the Board of Nursing and Marquette University the "Special Agreement" because that is what the administrators at Marquette called it when I was a student in the Direct Entry program.

– There are two problems with this interpretation of the "Special Agreement." The first problem is that the letter from Wayne Austin does not say that Direct Entry students can sit for NCLEX and become licensed as RN s at the end of the pre-MSN part of the program without graduating.

– I have highlighted the pertinent section of the letter on page 5 of your handout. Wayne Austin says in the letter that: "it is our opinion that graduates of the program would qualify both to sit for NCLEX and for licensure to practice professional nursing." Nowhere in the letter is it indicated that students who have not graduated from the program are eligible for licensure in Wisconsin.

– The second problem with the "Special Agreement" is that even if Wayne Austin and the Board of Nursing had stated that Marquette’s Direct Entry students could become licensed as RN s at the end of the pre-MSN phase of the program without graduating, the agreement would be invalid because it is outside of their scope of authority to make such exceptions to Wisconsin State Law.

– The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 and the Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 (1)(c) both require graduation from a nursing program - but Marquette’s Direct Entry students don’t graduate at the end of the pre-MSN portion of the program, so they do not meet the legal criteria for RN licensure in WI at that time.

– On page 2 of your handout I have printed out the relevant text of the Nurse Practice Act and the Wisconsin Administrative Code. The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 reads:
"Any person who has graduated from a high school or its equivalent as determined by the board, does not have an arrest or conviction record, subject to ss. 111.321, 111.322 and 111.335, holds a diploma of graduation from an accredited school of nursing and, if the school is located outside this state, submits evidence of general and professional educational qualifications comparable to those required in this state at the time of graduation may apply to the department for licensure by the board as a registered nurse, and upon payment of the fee specified under s. 440.05 (1) shall be entitled to examination."

– The Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 (1) reads:
"An applicant is eligible for the examination for registered nurses if the applicant:
(a) Does not have an arrest or conviction record, subject to ss. 111.321, 111.322 and 111.335, Stats.;
(b) Has graduated from high school or its equivalent; and,
(c) Has graduated from a board-approved school of professional nursing."

–Both the Nurse Practice Act and the Administrative Code specifically list graduation as a requirement for taking the licensure exam. The only reasonable interpretation of the intent of these passages is that they actually require graduation.

– Since the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act is clear about requiring graduation from a nursing program, it might seem surprising that The American Association of Colleges of Nursing lists 60 schools that offer graduate entry programs for people who hold non-nursing bachelor’s degrees similar to the one at Marquette. [it's on page 4 of the pdf file]

– I have not had time to research every one of these programs, but I randomly chose 12 programs from the list that are outside of Wisconsin to look into further. I found that very few of the programs are run the same way as Marquette’s Direct Entry program. Most of them do not have the same legal problem with the RN licensure of their students at the end of the pre-MSN phase for one of four reasons:

1) One of the programs I researched, the one at the University of South Alabama, confers a BSN degree at the end of the pre-MSN phase so that their students are legally eligible to sit for NCLEX and to become licensed as RN’s at that time.

2) Another program through the Medical College of Georgia, does not have its students sit for NCLEX or become RN s until they graduate from the program with an MSN degree, which makes them legally eligible for RN licensure at that time.

3) At three of the institutions I researched, San Francisco State University, The University of South Florida, and the University of Tampa, having an RN license is a prerequisite for entering the "graduate entry" program, so there is no need for the program to make its students legally eligible for RN licensure.

4) And lastly: four of the programs I looked at, the ones at Vanderbilt, Yale, the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Minnesota, are in states where their Nurse Practice Act does not require graduation from a school of nursing in order to become licensed as an RN. For this reason their students can become legally eligible to sit for NCLEX and to become licensed as RN s even though these programs do not confer a degree or diploma at the end of the pre-MSN phase.

– Marquette never led me to believe that I would be granted a BSN degree at the end of the pre-MSN portion of the Direct Entry program. They did lead me to believe that I would be legally eligible to sit for NCLEX and to become licensed as an RN in Wisconsin at the end of the pre-MSN portion of the program - and that was simply not true. The only way I became eligible to sit for NCLEX and became licensed as an RN in Wisconsin is because Marquette filed a fraudulent "259" or "Statement of Graduation" form with the DRL as a part of my licensure application that falsely indicated I had in fact been awarded a BSN. I have included a photocopy of this "Statement of Graduation" form on page 7 of your handout.

– I am not the only person who has been hurt by the "Special Agreement" between the Wisconsin Board of Nursing and Marquette University. There are other students who continued with the MSN portion of the program but did not graduate from it. These students - many of them experienced nurses - could be unable to obtain licensure in another state if they ever leave Wisconsin. Also, I know of a student who has been threatened with losing her job unless she goes back to school to get a BSN – even while working on her MSN.

– This is the bottom line: The Wisconsin Board of Nursing never gave permission for Marquette’s Direct Entry students to become licensed as RN s without graduating from a nursing program. The 1999 letter from Wayne Austin to Marquette states that graduates of the program would be eligible to sit for NCLEX and to become licensed as RNs.

– And even if they had given permission for Marquette’s Direct Entry students to become licensed at the end of the pre-MSN part of the program without holding a "diploma of graduation," the agreement would be invalid because the Board of Nursing does not hold the authority to make such an exception to a State Law.

– I traveled all the way from my home in Mississippi to be here today to ask the Board to fix the mistake that was made 8 years ago – by immediately dissolving the "Special Agreement" with the Marquette University Direct Entry nursing program, and any other similar programs in Wisconsin.

– I believe that the Board has no alternative but to immediately stop issuing nursing licenses to individuals who do not hold a true "diploma of graduation" from a school of nursing, as is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act.

– Are there any questions for me?

Heading To the Dairy State

I'm leaving for Wisconsin later today! I will be giving updates from Wisconsin later this week.

Board of Nursing Agenda for July 26th Meeting

The agenda for the July 26th meeting of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing went up on-line today. Marquette University is aware of my appearance at the meeting and has submitted some materials of their own for the discussion.

DRL Changes "Statement of Graduation" Form

I was doing some research for my presentation today, and I happened to notice that just this month (the date of revision is on the bottom left corner of the form) the Department of Regulation & Licensing changed its "Statement of Graduation" form into a "Statement of Graduation or Completion of Pre-MSN Registered Nursing Program Requirements (Direct Entry)" form.

It's sure interesting that they decided to change the form at this particular time, since Marquette University has been marking the box for "BSN" for it's Direct Entry students on the old "Statement of Graduation" form for the last eight years. This is how Marquette filled out my own "Statement of Graduation" form that Marquette submitted to the DRL as a part of my licensure application in 2005. I did a whole post about it back in April, including pictures.

The fact that they added a "Direct Entry" box on this form does not really matter though - the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act specifically requires graduation from an approved school of nursing. "Completion of a Direct Entry program" is not sufficient for RN licensure in Wisconsin under the law.

Formal Confirmation of Appearance Before the Board of Nursing

I got this letter in the mail today. I'm not sure why they keep referring to it as the "UW-Marquette Direct Entry program." As far as I know the Marquette Direct Entry program and the UWM Direct Entry program are two separate programs - and I will only be directly addressing Marquette's program. I suppose they are lumping them together because whatever decision is made about Marquette's program will also affect UWM's program.
______________________________________________
July 9, 2007

SUBJECT: APPEARANCE REQUEST REGARDING UW-MARQUETTE DIRECT ENTRY PROGRAM - LYDIA BERTRAND

Dear Ms. Bertrand:

An appearance has been scheduled for you to appear before the Wisconsin Board of Nursing regarding your request to discuss the UW-Marquette Direct Entry Program. Please report on July 26, 2007 at 8:45 a.m., in Room 121A, 1400 E. Washington Avenue, Madison, WI. You will be allowed 15 minutes for your presentation.

Please acknowledge receipt of the scheduled time.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Nania, Ph.D.
Division Administrator
Bureau of Health Service Professions

Clarification of Typo

July 9, 2007

RE: Correction to Prior Correspondence

Dear Ms. Bertrand:

This is to clarify there was an inadvertent clerical error in my prior correspondence dated July 6, 2007. I unintentionally omitted the word "not" which may have led you to believe that the Board had taken action in regard to your request for reevaluation of the Marquette University Direct Entry Graduate Nursing Program.

Instead, the third full sentence in the first paragraph should correctly read as follows:

"I can confirm that the members briefly discussed the issues which you have raised, however, they did not decide on any course of action."

Also, I understand that you have requested a personal appearance before the Board and that Ms. Nania is scheduling that for the July 26th meeting. We look forward to meeting you then.

Sincerely,

Colleen M. Baird
Legal Counsel
Wisconsin Board of Nursing

Update

I have received confirmation that I will be on the agenda for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing Meeting on July 26th. This is great news, but I'm still waiting for a response from the Department of Regulation & Licensing regarding the formal complaint.

Step #6: Request to Appear Before the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

I spoke with Ms. Nania on the phone this morning, and it looks like it is very likely that they will put me on the agenda for the meeting on July 26. This is wonderful news because it means that I will be able to present my case to the Board in person. I submitted my request to her via email a few moments ago.
_________________________________________________
Dear Ms. Nania:

I would like to schedule a personal appearance before the Wisconsin Board of Nursing. The reason I am requesting an appearance is in order to discuss the Board’s "Special Agreement" with Marquette University under which Marquette’s Direct Entry nursing students are eligible for RN licensure. I plan to ask the Board to immediately dissolve this "Special Agreement" because it violates both the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 and the Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 (1)(c).

If possible, I would like to appear before the Board of Nursing at the July 26th meeting because I am making a special trip from my home in Mississippi to Madison specifically in to attend that meeting in person. If another date is necessary, then I give permission for [NAME] to appear before the board in my place.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

Letter From Colleen Baird Regarding Meeting That Discussed My Correspondence

On June 7, 2007 I sent a letter to Marilyn Kaufmann, chair of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, that I did not post on this blog. In this letter I asked her for more information about what happened at the May board meeting at which my letter to the members of the board was discussed. I got this response from Colleen Baird, legal counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing:
_____________________________________________
July 6, 2007

RE: Correspondence with the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

Dear Ms. Bertrand:

I am writing in response to your letter dated June 7, 2007, to Marilyn Kaufmann, the Chair of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing. You indicated that you would like to know about the discussion of your correspondence regarding the Marquette University Direct Entry Graduate Nursing Program and whether the Board has decided to reevaluate the program. I can confirm that the members briefly discussed the issues which you have raised, however, they did decide on any course of action. [sic]

For your information, correspondence to Board members is typically reviewed and discussed in open session at the next available meeting. Members of the public may attend the open session. The meeting agendas are publicly posted on the Department's website at least 24 hours in advance of a meeting. Individual notices of specific agenda items are only provided if there is a written request or a scheduled appearance before the Board.

If you would like to make a personal appearance before the Board you should submit a written request. If you are granted an appearance, you will be notified of the date and time for your appearance. Also, if someone else is authorized to appear on your behalf, please let us know. Please contact Ms. Kimberly Nania, the Bureau Director for the Board of Nursing, and she will assist you in requesting an appearance. The next Board meeting dates are July 26 and August 30, 2007.

Sincerely,

Colleen M. Baird
Legal Counsel
Wisconsin Board of Nursing

A Little Humor

I thought you might enjoy a little Onion-style humor while we wait to get a response from the DRL.

Customer's Attempt To Complain To Manager Thwarted By Employee

ELGIN, IL-A customer's repeated attempts to complain to the store manager about Mama Z's Pizza employee Matt Wheaton were successfully thwarted by Wheaton, restaurant sources confirmed Monday.

DRL Needs More Time to Respond to Complaint

It has been over two weeks since the Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL) was notified by the Governor's office of the formal complaint I registered with them against Colleen Baird, legal counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing. Although complaints of this kind are usually handled within two weeks, the DRL is still working on a response and will need an additional week or two.

I'm hoping this process does not take too long, because I would like to see the matter addressed at the next Wisconsin Board of Nursing board meeting on July 26th. If that were to happen then I could present my case to the Board in person.

Wisconsin Board of Nursing Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the May 17th meeting of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, the meeting where my letter to the board was discussed, went up on the web today. It does not give a whole lot of information, but here it is.

Formal Complaint Filed Against Legal Counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

Formal complaints of this nature are handled through the Governor's office. They should receive my letter tomorrow, and I should hear back from them within two weeks.
________________________________________________
Thursday June 14, 2007

Governor Jim Doyle
c/o Nick Coenen, Constituent Services
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707

Dear Governor Doyle:

With this letter I would like to file a formal complaint against Colleen Baird, legal counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing.

In her capacity as legal counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, Ms. Baird has advised the Board to issue RN licenses to individuals who do not meet the legal criteria for licensure set forth in Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act. Specifically, she has counseled them to license as registered nurses students who have completed the first 15 months of Marquette University’s Direct Entry nursing program. Students in this program do not graduate at that time, and thus are not eligible for licensure. The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 clearly requires graduation from a school of nursing in order to become licensed as an RN in Wisconsin. Neither Ms. Baird, nor the Wisconsin Board of Nursing hold the authority to override the law in this matter, and yet this is exactly what they are doing.

On April 19, 2007 I sent a letter to each member of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, cc’d to Colleen Baird, asking them to reevaluate the Board’s "Special Agreement" with Marquette University under which the Board has been illegally issuing RN licenses to Direct Entry students who have not graduated from a school of nursing (enclosed). I was never notified that my correspondence with the Board would be discussed at the Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting on May 17, 2007, and so I was not able to attend the meeting myself or present my case more fully directly to the Board. After the board meeting I was not notified that my correspondence had been discussed or what, if any, decisions had been made by the Board.

Not only has Ms. Baird been advising the Wisconsin Board of Nursing to continue with a policy that directly violates Wisconsin State Law, but she has prevented me from presenting my case directly to the Board itself. My participation was precluded because I was not notified beforehand about the board meeting that discussed my correspondence, nor was I notified about the Board’s decision after the meeting. I demand to have the opportunity to present my case directly to the Board.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

Agenda for June 21 Meeting Up Today

The Agenda for the next Wisconsin Board of Nursing meeting that will be held on Thursday, June 21 went up on the web today. Here it is. I'm not on it.

What I Want From The Wisconsin Board of Nursing

This one is pretty simple: I want the Wisconsin Board of Nursing to immediately stop providing RN licenses to individuals who do not meet the legal criteria for licensure set forth in the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act. Since students in Marquette University's Direct Entry program do not graduate at the end of the first 15 months (the pre-MSN portion of the program), they are not legally eligible for RN licensure at that time.

Neither the Board, nor anyone else, has the authority to override the law in this matter. The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 and the Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 (1)(c) both require individuals to graduate from a nursing program before sitting for NCLEX, the licensure exam.

The Wisconsin Board of Nursing must immediately stop issuing RN licenses to Marquette University's Direct Entry students at the end of the pre-MSN portion of the program before they have graduated from an approved school of nursing.

Step #5b: Letter to WI Legislators on Health Committees

I sent this slightly revised letter to each member of the State Senate Committee on Health & Human Services and the State Assembly Committee on Health & Healthcare Reform today. In this letter I tried to be more clear about exactly what I am asking of them.
___________________________________________________
Thursday June 7, 2007

Senator/Representative [name]
Committee on Health & Human Services/ Committee on Health & Healthcare Reform
Room XXX
State Capitol
PO Box XXXX
Madison, WI 5370X

Dear Senator/Representative [name]:

As a member of the Wisconsin State [Senate Committee for Health & Human Services/ Assembly Committee on Health & Healthcare Reform] I would like to bring your attention to a problem with the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing's relationship with Marquette University. I will give an overview of the problem here, but further details and documents can be found on my web site:

http://lydiaslicense.blogspot.com

Marquette University runs a Direct Entry nursing program that is designed for individuals who hold a bachelor's degree in an area unrelated to nursing. Students become RN's after the first 15 months of the program (the pre-MSN phase), and then move directly into master's studies. At the end of the 3-year program students are awarded a master's degree (MSN) in a nursing specialty.

As a Direct Entry nursing student at Marquette University I was told that Marquette and the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL) hold a "Special Agreement" that allows Direct Entry students to gain RN licensure in Wisconsin without holding a degree. When I requested a copy of this "Special Agreement" from the DRL under the Wisconsin Public Records Law I was provided with documents indicating that Wisconsin would consider completion of the pre-MSN phase of Marquette's Direct Entry program to constitute "graduation" for the purposes of RN licensure, even though Marquette is adamant that Direct Entry students do not actually graduate at that time.

This is a problem because the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act requires individuals to graduate from a school of nursing in order to become licensed as an RN. Section 441.04 of the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act lists requirements to sit for the licensure exam in Wisconsin (emphasis mine):

Any person who has graduated from a high school or its equivalent as determined by the board, does not have an arrest or conviction record . . . holds a diploma of graduation from an accredited school of nursing, and if the school is located outside this state, submits evidence of general and professional educational qualifications comparable to those required in this state at the time of graduation may apply to the department for licensure by the board as a registered nurse, and upon payment of the fee . . . shall be entitled to examination.

One of the forms required by the DRL before individuals can take the licensure exam is a "Statement of Graduation" form. Marquette fills out this "Statement of Graduation" form for Direct Entry nursing students; complete with a graduation date filled in, the signature of Dr. Judith Miller, associate dean for graduate programs & research in Marquette's College of Nursing, and the Marquette University seal. At the same time Marquette refuses to certify graduation to any other party. For your convenience I have enclosed a copy of the "Statement of Graduation" form that Marquette filed with the DRL for me, although the Marquette seal is not visible on this photocopy.

It is the DRL's job to enforce occupational licensing laws, and yet they have entered into an agreement with Marquette University that violates the very laws they should be enforcing. The DRL has not yet responded to my requests that they require Marquette's Direct Entry students to hold a degree before they may become licensed as RN's in Wisconsin (as is clearly required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act) so I am appealing to you to become an advocate for my cause. Any "Special Agreement" between the DRL and a private university that allows for individuals to become licensed as RN's in Wisconsin without holding a degree is not legal, and must be immediately stopped.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

What I Want From Wisconsin State Senators and Representatives

According to their own web site the Wisconsin State Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL) is ordinarily in charge of "enforcing occupational licensing laws" among other things.

Unfortunately, the DRL has actually entered into a "Special Agreement" with a private institution, Marquette University, that violates the very laws that they are supposed to be upholding. Let me be as clear as possible: the DRL is not authorized to allow Marquette's Direct Entry students to become licensed as registered nurses without graduating because state law requires RN's to have graduated from a nursing program.

Allowing students in Marquette's Direct Entry nursing program to become RN's in Wisconsin without graduating violates both the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 and the Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 (1)(c).

Since the DRL has not yet responded to my requests that they bring their policies regarding Marquette's Direct Entry nursing program into compliance with state law, I am appealing to Wisconsin State Legislators to put pressure on the DRL to do what they are supposed to be doing on their own anyway: enforcing the law.

Now is a good time to reevaluate the "Special Agreement" between the DRL and Marquette University since there has been significant turnover in both organizations since 1999 when the agreement was made.

Discussed by the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

Apparently my letter to the members of the Board got someone's attention, because it looks like I was discussed at the most recent meeting of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing on May 17th. The meeting agenda can be found here. I was surprised to find myself on the agenda since I have not been contacted by anyone from the Wisconsin Board of Nursing.

The minutes for the May 17th meeting should be available on the web some time after the next meeting on June 21st. The minutes might contain more information than the agenda, which simply indicates that I was discussed.

Step #5: Letter to State Senators and State Assembly Representatives for the City of Milwaukee

This letter was sent to all of the state senators and state assembly representatives for districts in the City of Milwaukee:

State Senate:
District 3, Tim Carpenter
District 4, Lena Taylor
District 5, Jim Sullivan
District 6, Spencer Coggs
District 7, Jeffrey Plale
District 8, Alberta Darling

State Assembly:
District 7, Peggy Krusick
District 8, Pedro Colon
District 9, Josh Zepnick
District 10, Annette Polly Williams
District 11, Jason Fields
District 12, Frederick Kessler
District 13, David Cullen
District 14, Leah Vukmir
District 15, Tony Staskunas
District 16, Leon Young
District 17, Barbara Toles
District 18, Tamara Grigsby
District 19, Jon Richards
District 20, Christine Sinicki
District 21, Mark Honadel
District 22, Sheldon Wasserman
District 23, Jim Ott
___________________________________________________
Thursday May17, 2007

[name]
Room XXX
State Capitol
PO Box XXXX
Madison, WI 5370X

Dear [name]:

As a [state senator/state assembly representative] for a district in the City of Milwaukee, I would like to bring to your attention a problem with Marquette University’s Direct Entry Nursing program. I will give an overview of the problem here, but further details and documents can be found on my web site:

http://lydiaslicense.blogspot.com

Marquette’s Direct Entry nursing program is designed for individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree in an area unrelated to nursing. Students become RN’s after the first 15 months of the program (the pre-MSN phase), and then move directly into master’s studies. At the end of the 3-year program students are awarded a master’s degree (MSN) in a nursing specialty.

As a Direct Entry nursing student at Marquette University I was told that Marquette and the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL) hold a "special agreement" that allows Direct Entry Students to gain RN licensure in Wisconsin without holding a degree. When I requested a copy of this "special agreement" from the DRL under the Wisconsin Public Records Law I was provided with documents indicating that Wisconsin would consider completion of the pre-MSN phase of Marquette’s Direct Entry program to constitute "graduation" for the purposes of RN licensure, even though Marquette is adamant that Direct Entry students do not actually graduate at that time.

This is a problem because State Law (Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04) requires individuals to graduate from a school of nursing in order to become licensed as an RN. Section 441.04 of the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act lists requirements to sit for the licensure exam in Wisconsin (emphasis mine):

Any person who has graduated from a high school or its equivalent as determined by the board, does not have an arrest or conviction record . . . holds a diploma of graduation from an accredited school of nursing, and if the school is located outside this state, submits evidence of general and professional educational qualifications comparable to those required in this state at the time of graduation may apply to the department for licensure by the board as a registered nurse, and upon payment of the fee . . . shall be entitled to examination.

One of the forms required by the DRL in order to take the licensure exam is a "Statement of Graduation" form. Marquette fills out this "Statement of Graduation" form for Direct Entry nursing students; complete with a graduation date filled in, the signature of Dr. Judith Miller, associate dean for graduate programs & research in Marquette’s College of Nursing, and the Marquette University seal. At the same time Marquette refuses to certify graduation to any other party. For your convenience I have enclosed a copy of the "Statement of Graduation" form that Marquette filed with the DRL for me, although the Marquette seal is not visible on this photocopy.

Continuing to allow Marquette to flagrantly disregard the law in this manner serves only to prevent qualified individuals from obtaining RN licensure in other states while the nation is in the midst of a nursing shortage crisis. When Celia M. Jackson, the Secretary of the DRL, was asked directly whether or not she supports Marquette University's absurd "interpretation" of the Nurse Practice Act, she did not respond.

I urge you to force Marquette University to bring its Direct Entry nursing program into compliance with Wisconsin State Law. If Marquette wishes to run a Direct Entry nursing program, then they must provide students with actual degrees and graduation dates before they can become RN’s - just like every other private university in Wisconsin that wishes to make its students eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin must do. This is clearly what is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

cc: Celia M. Jackson, Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing

Nursing Shortage In Mississippi

This article in the New York Times discusses the distressing increase in infant deaths in Mississippi. The article lists the nursing shortage as one of the many contributing factors to this problem.

The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee's Direct Entry Nursing Program

The University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee (UWM) started a Direct Entry Nursing program shortly after Marquette University started theirs. Until recently I had not done much research on UWM's program since the legal basis for their program is not really relevant to my campaign with Marquette. I imagined that UWM probably had some kind of written "special agreement" with the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing (DRL) similar to the one that Marquette claims to have, possibly even in the form of a letter from Mr. Wayne Austin to the Dean of UWM's College of Nursing like Marquette's.

Since UWM's Direct Entry program does not meet the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act by providing a degree to its students before they become RNs, it seems like there should be some kind of formal written documentation that acknowledges Wisconsin's acceptance of this program. When an open records review of all documents relating to Direct Entry nursing programs in Wisconsin was requested of Celia Jackson, the Secretary of the Wisconsin DRL, she responded:

Concerning your request . . . for documents authorizing a direct entry nursing program at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, my staff has been unable to find such documents. Wayne Austin's personal drive and e-mail has also been searched for information concerning direct entry programs. Only the 1999 letter from Mr. Austin to the Marquette School of Nursing was found which is already attached.

So according to the DRL, there is apparently NO formal documentation whatsoever that UWM's Direct Entry program is considered valid by the State of Wisconsin, even though the program violates state law by not conferring degrees to its students before they become RN's.

Who Accredits the Marquette College of Nursing?

Marquette's web site says that they are accredited by a number of organizations, including:

"NLNAC, Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and The Wisconsin State Board of Nursing."

But Marquette is not listed on the NLNAC website as being accredited by them.

A simple e-mail to NLNAC revealed that "Marquette University's Baccalaureate and Masters' degree programs last day of accreditation with NLNAC is December 2006." I hope Marquette plans to update their website at some point.


UPDATE: Marquette's web site was changed some time on Monday, April 30th so that it no longer mistakenly lists that the College of Nursing is accredited by NLNAC. It only took them four months.

Statement of Graduation

Click here for a larger image

In the last post the issue of what form of documentation is accepted by different states that require graduation from a school of nursing in order to become a registered nurse came up. Here is the "STATEMENT OF GRADUATION" form that was a part of my application for RN licensure in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act requires graduation from a school of nursing, and this form (the "STATEMENT OF GRADUATION" form) is considered by the State to constitute official proof of graduation. I filled out the top half according to the instructions provided by Marquette staff members and turned it in to Marquette, and Marquette then filled in the bottom half and forwarded it to the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing so that I would become eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam. (The Marquette seal does not show up on photocopies.) You may notice that it is signed by Dr. Judith Miller.

I remembered filling out this form, and brought it up in my first letter to Dr. Judith Miller. She had some interesting comments about it in her response letter:

Dr. Miller explained that on the "Statement of Graduation" form for Direct Entry students the box for "BSN" is checked and a graduation date is filled in because:

"This application document does not have a space for Direct Entry applicants . . . "

and

"We do not want our professional nurses to check LPN, or ADN on the application form."

Does this explanation make any sense to YOU? I may be a stickler here, but to me an official document required by an agency of the State of Wisconsin that says "STATEMENT OF GRADUATION" across the top, has "BSN" marked and lists a graduation date, is signed by the associate dean of the nursing program, and has the Marquette University seal at the bottom kind of looks like it is saying that I . . . y'know . . . GRADUATED.

Step #4: Letter to the Members of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

I sent this letter out this morning to each member of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing. They should get it around Tuesday of next week.
___________________________________________________
Thursday April 19, 2007

[name]
Member, Wisconsin Board of Nursing
State of Wisconsin
Department of Regulation and Licensing
PO Box 8935
Madison, WI 53708-8935

Dear [name]:

As a member of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, I would like to bring to your attention a problem with Marquette University’s Direct Entry Nursing program. I will give an overview of the problem here, but further details and documents can be found on my web site:

http://lydiaslicense.blogspot.com/

I was a member of the 6th cohort of Marquette’s Direct Entry program in 2004-2005, but I left the program before the completion of an MSN degree. After I completed the pre-MSN portion of the Direct Entry program I passed NCLEX-RN and obtained licensure in Wisconsin. When I was unable to become licensed in Mississippi, where I am now living, I began to research licensure laws and procedures in the two states in order to find out how I could get a license in Mississippi. During this process I discovered the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04, which lists requirements to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam in Wisconsin (emphasis mine):

Any person who has graduated from a high school or its equivalent as determined by the board, does not have an arrest or conviction record . . . holds a diploma of graduation from an accredited school of nursing, and if the school is located outside this state, submits evidence of general and professional educational qualifications comparable to those required in this state at the time of graduation may apply to the department for licensure by the board as a registered nurse, and upon payment of the fee . . . shall be entitled to examination.

As a Direct Entry Student at Marquette I was told that Marquette and the DRL hold a "special agreement" that allows Direct Entry Students to gain RN licensure in Wisconsin without holding a degree. When I requested a copy of this "special agreement" from the DRL under the Wisconsin Public Records Law I was provided with documents indicating that Wisconsin would consider completion of the pre-MSN phase of Marquette’s Direct Entry program to constitute "graduation" for the purposes of RN licensure, even though Marquette is adamant that Direct Entry students do not actually graduate at that time.

I urge you to reevaluate the Board’s "special agreement" with Marquette. I simply can not understand why a Wisconsin state agency would agree to a blatant misinterpretation of State Law that seems to serve only to facilitate the financial gain of a private institution. If Marquette wishes to run a Direct Entry nursing program, then they must be required to provide students with actual degrees and graduation dates before they can sit for NCLEX – just like every other private university in Wisconsin. This is clearly what is required by the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

cc: Jeff Scanlan, Director, Bureau of Health Services Professions
Colleen Baird, Legal Counsel for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing

Letter From the Director of the ADN Program

I asked the Director of Nursing Education at Pearl River Community College's ADN program to put the content of our conversation last week into writing for me, and I got her letter today. Here is an excerpt:
________________________________________________
Dear Ms. Bertrand:

After careful review of your transcript and syllabi from Wisconsin, we find that you have essentially completed everything in our curriculum. Our college catalog states that in order to receive a degree from the institution you must complete at least 25% of your final course work in residence. You would have to repeat numerous courses that you have completed already and have done extremely well in . . .

I wish I could do more . . . Good luck to you in your endeavors.

Sincerely,

Peggy Dease, M.S., R.N.
Director of Nursing Education, Pearl River Community College

Turned Away From an ADN Program

I don't usually read the daily newspaper, but I just happened to glance at the front page today and this article in the Clarion-Ledger, a Jackson Mississippi paper, grabbed my attention. I thought it was pretty interesting since just Tuesday I met with the director of a nearby ADN (Associate's Degree in Nursing) program - who actually turned me away from their program because I have already taken too many classes, including many classes more advanced that what they even offer at a community college.

Before I realized that there was a legal problem with Marquette's Direct Entry program I decided to apply to an ADN program. Marquette had indicated that the only way for me to get a degree would be to go through another school as a transfer student. I thought that a community college might be the fastest & least expensive way for me to get a degree, which I need to get a valid Mississippi nursing license. I knew that it would basically mean repeating material I've already done, but my focus was on speed and cost. I figured I should just go ahead and apply and see how many of my credits they would transfer, and then I could decide if it would be worth my time and money to get the ADN or not. So I applied to the nearest community college with an ADN program (which is 45 miles from where I live). The problem is that in order for them to grant a degree from their institution, you have to take at least 25% of the required nursing courses at their school - and I already took ALL of their required courses, plus many more advanced nursing courses, at Marquette. I thought maybe they would let me re-take 25% of the classes at their school, but the director of the program decided that the situation was too irregular and told me that they would not accept me as a student.

Second Letter To Father Wild

Tuesday April 3, 2007

Robert A. Wild, S.J.
Office of the President
Marquette University
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201

Dear Father Wild:

Thank you for your letter dated March 28, 2007. I had a lot to say in my last letter, and so perhaps my main point was not clear.

I am not asking Marquette University to influence any state authorities, or to fulfill the licensure requirements of any state other than Wisconsin. The only thing I am asking of Marquette is to bring the Direct Entry nursing program into compliance with Wisconsin State Law.

The Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act 441.04 lists requirements to sit for the licensure exam (emphasis mine):

Any person who has graduated from a high school or its equivalent as determined by the board, does not have an arrest or conviction record . . . holds a diploma of graduation from an accredited school of nursing, and if the school is located outside this state, submits evidence of general and professional educational qualifications comparable to those required in this state at the time of graduation may apply to the department for licensure by the board as a registered nurse, and upon payment of the fee . . . shall be entitled to examination.

The Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 also discusses requirements to sit for the RN licensure exam, and includes this requirement (emphasis mine):

Has graduated from a board-approved school of professional nursing.

Both the Wisconsin Nurse Practice Act and the Wisconsin Administrative Code both clearly require graduation. Although up to this time the State of Wisconsin has interpreted its licensing requirements to allow students who have completed the pre-MSN phase of Marquette’s Direct Entry Program to sit for the licensing exam, this interpretation is on shaky ground. I suspect that this absurd “interpretation” of the law may not hold up to legal scrutiny - and I am perfectly willing to find out if it will stand up to legal scrutiny if this problem is not resolved in another way.

My signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding” is meaningless because this document required me to agree to allow Marquette to do something that is not legal. I signed the Memorandum because I was required to do so in order to become a student in the Direct Entry program, and at the time that I signed it I was not aware that the contents of the Memorandum directly contradict the Nurse Practice Act and the Wisconsin Administrative Code. I assure you that I never would have decided to become a student in Marquette’s Direct Entry program if I had known that the program did not meet the legal requirements for RN licensure in the state of Wisconsin.

I asked to be granted a BSN for several reasons. [name], Graduate Program Assistant for the College of Nursing, told me in an e-mail on February 23, 2007 that the State of Wisconsin considers Direct Entry students to have earned a “BSN equivalent.” (Enclosed) Also, on the “Statement of Graduation” form that we fill out for the Department of Regulation & Licensing Direct Entry students are told to mark the box for “BSN.” (Enclosed) Dr. Judith Miller told me in her letter dated February 26, 2007 that this is because Marquette does not “want [its] professional nurses to check LPN, or ADN on the application form.” And as a University, I was under the impression that Marquette does not issue Associate’s degrees. The fact remains that the Law requires students to graduate from a nursing program of some kind in order to become licensed.

Although I already explained why the “Memorandum of Understanding” that I signed is invalid, I think you should know that this document was altered after I signed it. The “Memorandum of Understanding” that I signed states: “you will be eligible to take the professional licensing exam for nursing in the State of Wisconsin.” It does not address RN licensure in any other state one way or the other. After I signed the Memorandum someone added in handwriting the word “only” after the word “Wisconsin,” which completely changes the meaning of the sentence. You state in your letter dated March 28th that by signing the “Memorandum of Understanding” that I “agreed that . . . [I] would be eligible to take the licensing exam in the State of Wisconsin, but not in any other state.” This is not accurate. The “Memorandum of Understanding” that I signed did not say this, nor have I ever been told this verbally. Dr. Judith Miller told me verbally when I left the program that I “may not be able to become licensed in another state,” and that Marquette “could not guarantee licensure in another state.” I never signed a form, or was ever told verbally by Dr. Judith Miller or anyone else, that I definitely would not be able to become licensed in any other state. In any case, my acknowledgment of these verbal statements by Dr. Miller at the time that I left the program is irrelevant for the same reason that the “Memorandum of Understanding” is - these statements reflect a Marquette policy that directly contradicts Wisconsin State law.

Wisconsin State law requires registered nurses to graduate from a school of nursing. Any interpretation of the law that honors a program that does not graduate its students is ludicrous. The best solution to this problem, for all parties involved, is for Marquette University to bring the Direct Entry nursing program into compliance with Wisconsin State law by issuing a nursing degree and graduation date to students who complete the pre-MSN portion of the program.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand

Um . . . Where Did This Come From???

Ya see that "only" penciled in after "Wisconsin"? That wasn't there when I signed the form. This is the copy of the "Memorandum of Understanding" that was included with Father Wild's letter dated March 28, 2007.

This is the unaltered copy of the "Memorandum of Understanding" that was included with the letter I received from Dr. Miller on February 26, 2007.

Response From Father Wild: Including a Doctored Document

March 28, 2007

Dear Lydia,

Thank you for your letter regarding your experience at Marquette. After receiving your letter and a letter from your father, I discussed your case with a number of colleagues. First, let me say that I do appreciate your situation. I certainly understand that your life plans changed and that you moved from Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast region as a result of your marriage and your husband's work as an Episcopal priest. I'm sure that you are making a positive difference in the lives of your parishioners and in your community. So I do appreciate your current circumstances.

Those things said, Marquette has a specific requirements outlined in the Graduate Bulletin that we must adhere to in terms of granting degrees. You yourself agreed to the terms outlined by the College of Nursing and in the Graduate Bulletin when you were a student. Specifically, you signed a Memorandum of Understanding dated April 1, 2004 (copy enclosed) where you acknowledged and agreed to the following:

"Please understand that the purpose of this program is to prepare you with a Master of Science degree in Nursing. You will not receive another bachelor's degree. At the completion of the pre-MSN phase, you will be eligible to take the professional licensing exam for nursing in the State of Wisconsin."

You agreed to these terms. If they were not acceptable to you, then you should not have signed the Memorandum of Understanding. Specifically, you agreed that you would not earn a bachelor's degree and that after the pre-MSN phase, you would be eligible to take the licensing exam in the State of Wisconsin, but not in any other state. Now you are asking Marquette to award you a bachelor's degree, and that is something that we did not promise and cannot do because you did not earn such a degree here at Marquette. In order to earn a bachelor's degree, Marquette requires completion of 53 credits of university core courses in addition to the nursing courses, plus a student must earn a total of 128 credits in order to receive a bachelor's degree. Since you did not meet these requirements, you cannot receive a BSN degree. Rather, you were required to take 50 credits of undergraduate nursing courses to be eligible to take the NCLEX examination in Wisconsin. The State of Wisconsin has interpreted its licensing requirements to allow students who have completed the pre-MSN phase of Marquette's Direct Entry Program to sit for the licensing exam. We do not control how other states interpret their own licensing requirements.

Professional licensing remains the jurisdiction of each individual state. Indeed, your letter states that you took the NCLEX examination at the conclusion of the pre-MSN phase of the program, as outlined in the materials you received from us, and you passed that exam which allowed you to be licensed in Wisconsin.

While I appreciate that you and your husband left Wisconsin, I must point out that in doing so, you were informed on multiple occasions what this would mean for your future career in nursing, namely that it would likely be necessary for you to take addition courses at another institution in order to become licensed outside of Wisconsin.

We have no direct influence over any state authorities. That said, I know that Dr. Judith Fitzgerald Miller, Associate Dean of the College of Nursing has been working with you with respect to the Mississippi licensing requirements (see enclosed letter from Dr. Miller to you dated February 26, 2007). My assessment of this is that Dr. Miller is going above and beyond in order to help you, which is what I would expect of faculty members at Marquette. While Dr. Miller is doing all that she can to help you, it is important to remember that what we can do with respect to Mississippi is limited.

The best advice that I can give is for you to continue working directly with Dr. Miller on possible solutions to this issue. I recognize that you and your family are not pleased with the current status, but the issue is beyond Marquette's control for the reasons explained above. You chose to move out of Wisconsin and unfortunately that decision complicated your nursing situation a great deal.

For the rest, please be assured of my prayers for you and your husband that our good and gracious God will bless your continued work in Mississippi.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Wild, S.J.
___________________________________________________
This letter included a copy of the "Memorandum of Understanding" in which someone had hand-written in the word "only" in this passage:

At the completion of the pre-MSN phase, you will be eligible to take the professional licensing exam for nursing in the state of Wisconsin only.

The word "only" was not on the original document at the time that I signed it. The insertion of the word "only" completely changes the meaning of the sentence. The document that I signed stated that I could become licensed in Wisconsin, but said nothing about licensure in other states.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Direct Entry Nursing program?

A: It is an accelerated three-year program for individuals who have a bachelor's degree in a field unrelated to nursing to get an RN and a master's degree in a nursing specialty (for example to become a nurse-midwife, pediatric nurse practitioner, etc.) At the end of the first 15 months students become registered nurses, then spend the next two years working on their MSN (Master's of Science in Nursing). Students must be able to become licensed as registered nurses before beginning the master's degree part of the program so that they can participate in the clinical courses that are required. The intent of the program is for people to stay through the completion of the master's degree.

Q: You knew when you began the program that it did not offer a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN), so why are you upset about this now?

A: I agreed to attend the Direct Entry program even though I knew that I would not get a BSN because I was not aware that Wisconsin State Law requires graduation from a school of nursing in order to become an RN. We were told that Marquette had a "special agreement" with Wisconsin in order to allow us to become RNs without BSNs. Marquette is a reputable institution, and they had already been running the Direct Entry program for several years, so I assumed that this "special agreement" must be legitimate.

After I moved to Mississippi and I was unable to obtain a license here I began to research the nursing laws and licensure procedures in Wisconsin and Mississippi to find out how it happened that I was able to get licensed there, but not here. This research revealed that the "special agreement" between Marquette and the State directly conflicts with the Nurse Practice Act (441.04) in Wisconsin, which clearly requires graduation in order to become licensed as an RN.

The bottom line: it does not matter what I agreed to when I began the Direct Entry program at Marquette if what they are doing is not legal. Marquette can't force its students to sign a form allowing them to break the law. I have not been able to find any official evidence that the "special agreement" that Marquette has with Wisconsin is legal.

Step #3: Letter to Each Member of Marquette's Board of Trustees

I have not gotten a response from Father Wild or from the second letter I sent to Judith Miller that requested a copy of the 'special agreement.' It has been over two weeks, so I'm moving on to the next step. These letters should arrive at Marquette around next Wednesday - since there are 35 letters I can't afford to send them priority. It's hard to say when the individual board members will actually get their letters - it looks like many of them don't live in Milwaukee. Over three weeks ago I requested a copy of the "Statement of Graduation" that is part of my file at the Department of Regulation & Licensing because I had wanted to include a copy of it with this letter, but I have not received it yet.
___________________________________________________
Friday, March 23, 2007

[NAME]
Member, Marquette University Board of Trustees
Marquette University
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201

Dear [NAME]:

I would like to bring to your attention some irregularities relating to Marquette University’s Direct Entry nursing program. I will give an overview of the problem here, but additional details and documents can be found on my website: lydiaslicense.blogspot.com.

Let me begin by briefly telling you my story. I graduated from Chatham College in 1999 with a B.A. in Mathematics and English Literature, Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. I was a member of the 6th cohort of the Direct Entry nursing program at Marquette University (2004-2005). When I began the program I fully intended to complete the full three years. About half way through the first 15 months, the RN portion of the program, I became engaged. At that time my fiancé was in his last year at an Episcopal seminary, and he was obligated to return to serve in his home state of Louisiana in June of 2005. He was assigned to a large parish in New Orleans and I stayed in Milwaukee until August to complete my RN, with plans to move to New Orleans with him directly after our wedding. On August 13, 2005 I completed the RN portion of the Direct Entry program at Marquette, on August 20th I got married, and on August 29th my husband and I lost nearly everything in Hurricane Katrina - including my husband’s parish. In November I took state boards and received my nursing license in Wisconsin. My husband took the first job he was offered, which did not happen until March of 2006. This job happened to be in Mississippi.

When I applied for a nursing license in Mississippi my application was denied for one reason: because my Marquette transcript does not contain a graduation date. I am now in repayment of over $35,000 in student loans that I took out in order to attend Marquette although I am now unable to work as a nurse. My husband is an Episcopal priest in rural Mississippi and is currently supporting our family of three on only a few thousand dollars a year more than the amount of my outstanding student loans. The area we live in is also experiencing a severe nursing shortage crisis.

Mississippi state law regulating nurses states that one must graduate from an accredited nursing program in order to hold a license. The same is true in Wisconsin (Nurse Practice Act: 441.04). How can the Direct Entry program qualify its students to become registered nurses, yet not award us degrees? When I applied to take the state board examination (NCLEX-RN) I filled out a "Statement of Graduation" form for the Wisconsin State Board of Regulation & Licensing. On this form my classmates and I were instructed by Marquette staff members to check the box for "BSN" and to list August 13, 2005 as a graduation date - yet there is no graduation date listed on my official Marquette transcript.

Dr. Judith Miller, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs & Research, College of Nursing, has informed me that Marquette University negotiated with the State of Wisconsin to allow Direct Entry students to sit for the state board exam without holding a degree. I fail to see how an agreement of this kind can possibly be valid. The Nurse Practice Act clearly states that in order to sit for the licensure exam individuals must hold "a diploma of graduation."

I requested a copy of the formal written agreement between the State of Wisconsin and Marquette University relating to the licensure of Direct Entry students from Dr. Judith Miller on May 5, 2007, but I did not receive a response. When I requested the same information from the Department of Regulation & Licensing under the Wisconsin Public Records Law I was provided with two letters. (A pdf file containing these documents is available on my web site for your convenience.) The first letter is from Madeline Wake, then Dean of the College of Nursing, to Wayne Austin, then Legal Counsel for the Board of Nursing, and is dated December 15, 1998. The second letter is from Mr. Austin to Dr. Wake and is dated February 1, 1999. In this exchange of letters Mr. Austin and Dr. Wake agree to interpret the intent of the Wisconsin Administrative Code N 2.03 to include progression from the pre-MSN phase of the Direct Entry program into the MSN phase to qualify as "graduation": yet Marquette does not actually graduate these students. This interpretation is absurd. The Wisconsin Administrative Code (N 2.03) and Wisconsin State Law (Nurse Practice Act 441.04) are both quite clear that graduation from an approved school of nursing is required for RN licensure in Wisconsin. It is obvious to any person who does not have an ulterior motive that the only appropriate interpretation of the word "graduation" in this context is "graduation." If Marquette University wishes to run a Direct Entry nursing program, then it is obligated to provide degrees and graduation dates for the students who complete the first 15 months of the program.

As a member of the Marquette University Board of Trustees I am requesting your assistance in procuring BSN degrees and graduation dates for Direct Entry nursing students who successfully complete, or have completed, the first 15 months of the program. Direct Entry students complete all of the nursing theory and practical courses required of Marquette’s regular BSN students. I contacted Dr. Judith Miller regarding this discrepancy on February 22, 2007, but she did not resolve the problem satisfactorily. Father Wild has not yet responded to the letter I sent to him on March 5, 2007. As you know, Marquette University is a highly regarded institution in the community. Intentionally engineering a questionable loophole in order to obtain RN licensure for its Direct Entry students without providing a degree or a graduation date for them is not in line with the Catholic values of the University.

Sincerely,

Lydia Bertrand