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 skills," Davis said. She said some specialty tracks rely on interdisciplinary preceptors earlier in the program and asked whether programs could request flexibility or an individualized approval.

Carol responded that the existing interpretation requires the 750-hour threshold for those who start programs on or after March 1, 2025, and that interdisciplinary precepting generally can be used only after that threshold is met. She explained the practical effect: programs may continue to rely on a preceptor of record (an APRN or physician meeting regulatory requirements) who supervises students and, in some practices, students may gain exposure to other practitioners in the same site, but the interdisciplinary preceptor provisions do not expand until the 750-hour point for newly started programs.

Committee members pressed on implementation details and faculty-preceptor roles. Janelle, committee member, and Kim, committee member, raised concerns about a shortage of preceptors and whether accredited programs could arrange additional clinical outreach or electives to help students meet hour requirements. Chanel, committee member, asked how lenient the board is on site arrangements when a ‘‘preceptor of record’’ supervises students who also see other practitioners on the same site. Carol and staff clarified that the preceptor of record is responsible for the clinical hours and sign-off; if another practitioner in the same practice provides direct supervision on a given day, that practitioner would need to be covered by the site/preceptor arrangements.

On faculty serving as preceptors, the committee clarified that a faculty member may serve as the preceptor of record when that faculty member is functioning in a clinical provider role (faculty practice). However, when the faculty member is acting in the faculty role overseeing a course, they cannot simultaneously be the preceptor of record supervising a different preceptor’s clinical day without separate preceptor contracts and clear separation of roles. "It's okay for the faculty member to be the preceptor of record when they're in clinic," a committee member summarized after staff comments.

Postgraduate certificates and licensed APRNs

Staff reiterated that postgraduate certificate students who already hold APRN licenses are typically adding a specialty and are not seeking initial APRN licensure; the 750-hour requirement applies to initial licensure entrants who start a qualifying program on or after March 1, 2025. Carol said most programs that matriculate students already exceed 500 hours and many Kansas programs were already aligning with 750 hours before the adoption.

Continuing education provider language and nurse-midwife listing

The committee also discussed updating continuing-education provider language to avoid listing individual organizations in regulation. Committee members favored proposed language tying acceptable CE offerings to national APRN certifying bodies or those approved by such certifying bodies (for example, "offerings presented by national APRN certifying bodies or those approved by said bodies"). The committee asked staff to prepare draft regulatory language for the June meeting.

Members raised a separate, operational issue: how certified nurse-midwife (CNM) licenses appear on national verification systems. Staff noted Kansas cannot directly modify national vendor displays ("nurses" verification systems) but will continue to provide Kansas-specific verification information on the board’s site and will inquire further with the vendor and insurers.

Other items

The committee declined to add a multidisciplinary women's-health certificate (Evergreen Certification, described in an application) to the list of approved APRN national certifications because the program is not unique to APRNs and includes other disciplines; committee members said the course did not meet APRN-specific certification standards. The committee also received a brief update that a bill to create an APRN multistate licensure pathway did not receive a committee hearing this year.

Votes at a glance: minutes and program approval

- Motion to approve minutes from Dec. 10, 2024: Moved by Mikayla, seconded by Kim; motion carried (recorded as approved in the meeting).

- Motion to approve APRN program approval for University of West Florida (listed on the agenda): Moved by Kim; seconded not specified on the record; motion carried (recorded as approved in the meeting).

Next steps and outlook

Committee members asked staff to bring draft regulatory language on CE-provider wording to the June meeting and requested continued clarification on the interdisciplinary-preceptor question; the committee also intends to add related items to the June agenda. Staff indicated they would discuss the five-year regulation review with the full board before asking the committee to act. The board staff recommended programs planning to admit students just before or after the March 1, 2025, cutoff should consult with their program leadership about sequencing clinical experiences and explore options such as adding clinical outreach or electives where feasible.

Ending

The committee adjourned after confirming June follow-ups and thanking online and in-person participants.