No. CS/SB 254
Filed under Healthcare.
Nursing Education Programs; Requiring applicants for nurse licensure seeking to take the licensing examination more than 6 months after graduation to first complete a remedial course approved or developed by the Board of Nursing; requiring the Department of Health to issue temporary provisional licenses to graduate professional nurses and graduate practical nurses meeting certain criteria; revising application requirements for nursing education program approval; requiring the Florida Center for Nursing to develop graduate nursing preceptorship standards by a specified date; authorizing agents or employees of the department to conduct onsite evaluations and inspections of approved and accredited nursing education programs, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDNursing graduates who are eligible to sit for the licensing exam can now get a temporary provisional license to practice as a supervised graduate nurse for up to 180 days while they wait to test.
Anyone who waits more than 6 months after graduation to take the exam for the first time must complete a board-approved remedial course first, though a free version must be offered to applicants facing hardship.
Nursing schools face harder accountability rules: a probationary program that misses its passage-rate target no longer gets a one-year extension, and state inspectors can now show up during business hours to inspect programs at any time.
Programs also lose their option to get a multi-year extension on accreditation deadlines, must administer a standardized exam to gauge NCLEX readiness, and cannot deny graduation to a student based solely on that exam.
AIThe department must issue a temporary, nonrenewable license -- good for up to 180 days -- to eligible nursing graduates so they can work as a supervised graduate nurse while awaiting their licensing exam and results.
AIAn applicant who waits more than 6 months after graduation to take the licensing exam for the first time must complete a board-approved or board-developed remedial course before being approved for the exam.
AICurrent law lets the board give a probationary program one extra year if it shows adequate progress on its remediation plan. That discretion is removed: if the passage rate still isn't met after the 2-year probation, termination is now mandatory.
AIPrograms can no longer apply for up to a 2-year extension of their accreditation deadline, even if they meet performance benchmarks like passage, retention, and job-placement rates that used to qualify them for one.
AIDepartment agents or employees may show up at any time during business hours to inspect a program for compliance and collect evidence of violations, a new enforcement power with no advance-notice requirement.
AIThe board must deny an application if another U.S. jurisdiction has terminated or revoked that program's authority to operate elsewhere, and may discipline -- up to revoking approval of -- an already-approved Florida program over lesser adverse actions taken against it in another state.
AIEvery program must give a standardized NCLEX-readiness predictor exam, but a student who has completed all required coursework cannot be denied graduation solely because of that exam result.
AIPrograms must adopt admission criteria that flag students likely to need extra academic support and must keep documentation of an individualized support plan for each one identified.