Kansas nursing committee clarifies 750-hour APRN clinical rule; seeks flexibility for interdisciplinary preceptors

At a Kansas State Board of Nursing committee meeting, members clarified how newly adopted regulations will affect advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) licensure and pressed staff for flexibility on use of interdisciplinary preceptors.

The board staff explained the cutoff date and hour requirements and said the board has authority over licensure requirements for applicants seeking to practice in Kansas.

Carol, staff member for the Kansas State Board of Nursing, said the board adopted KAR 60-17-101 through 60-17-109 in January and the rules carry an implementation date of Feb. 7. "The interpretation right now is for anybody who has started an APRN program before March 1 of 2025, they will be required to have 500 clinical hours when they seek licensure," Carol said. "For anybody who starts the program 03/01/2025 or after, they will have to have 750 clinical hours for licensure." She added that the board cannot change curriculum requirements for out-of-state programs, only the licensure standards applied when those graduates seek Kansas licensure.

Why it matters: the change affects students, programs and clinicians seeking Kansas licensure and prompted questions about how programs should sequence clinical experiences and whether interdisciplinary preceptors (for example, licensed therapists used in psychiatric-mental-health training) can be counted before the 750-hour threshold.

Discussion and requests for clarification

Tracy Davis, commenter representing an APRN education program, asked whether programs that use interdisciplinary preceptors for psychotherapy training could get approval for flexibility in sequencing those experiences. "We like to use interdisciplinary preceptors to help our students learn psychotherapy…