Nurses required to enroll in Nursys

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is a national, not-for-profit, organization comprised of boards of nursing from 50 states and the District of Columbia; Washington state’s Board of Nursing (the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission – NCQAC) is an active member of the NCSBN.

The NCSBN and NCQAC exist to protect the public’s health and welfare by assuring that safe and competent nursing care is provided by licensed nurses. As the comprehensive source of nursing licensure statistics for the U.S. and in order to track nursing as a workforce, NCSBN is partnering with their member state Boards of Nursing, including Washington state, to collect demographic data that pertains to licensed Registered Nurses. Beginning January 1, 2018, NCQAC is requiring all nurses enroll with Nursys at the time of application for a new nursing license or licensure renewal. 

Nursys fulfills the following purposes: 

• Allows you or an employer to verify the status (active/inactive) of your nursing license(s), the status of your practice privileges and the status of any disciplinary action by a participating board of nursing. 
• Provides an e-notification when you are due to renew any nursing licenses you hold and provides a central place to review your license(s). 
• Collects demographic data via Nursys for the purposes of national and state workforce tracking.

The NCSBN is a strong resource for nurses. For more information about Nursys and other topics you may visit: https://www.ncsbn.org/nursys.htm

The demographic/national workforce tracking data that you will be asked at the time of enrollment is:

Gender, race/ethnicity, primary zip code, membership status of a collective bargaining unit, language(s) spoken fluently, nursing degree at time of initial licensure, nursing school attended and year of graduation, all nursing related degrees and credentials, which country originally licensed in, year of initial nursing license, active status as an Advanced Practice Nurse, which states licensed as an APN, employment status as a nurse and typical hours worked.

Note: The Department of Health working with Washington State Office of Cyber Security and the NCSBN are serious about protecting your security and privacy. These entities have sophisticated defense systems in place to detect, block, and respond to cyber-attacks.