Evening star., 1942-11-11
Reinstatement Fees
For Nurses Dropped
For War Period
Examining Board to
Relox Rules Now
Boring DeIinquents

The IS reinstatement fee required
OF nurses on the delinquent list by
the Nurses Examining Board, con-
sidered by many to be one reason
why more inactive nurses do not
return to the active list in view OF
the present nursing shortage, has
been waived for the period of the
war.
This was announced at q joint
meeting here yesterday of the
Graduate Nurses Association and
the League of Nursing Education by
Miss M. Cordelia Cowan, executive
director of the Examining Board.
The action represented the first
taken by the board since the recent
threat from Capitol Hill that, unless
nursing regulations were relaxed
during the present critical shortage
Of nursing personnel, move would
be made to change the law under
which the board was created.
Must Renew Licenses.
Yesterdays announcement does
not mean that the board has CON-
pletely lowered It's bars as they per-
tain to nurses on the delinquent
list. Miss Cowan pointed out that
any nurse who has failed to renew
her annual license or who had
placed her name on the inactive
list and failed to obtain her an
nual license before she again re-
sumed practice may be reinstated
by making a written request to that
effect and by paying her annual
registration fee for any period of
delinquency during which she has
practiced in the District.
"She does not pay for any part
OF the period of delinquency dur
Ing which she has not practiced in
the District" Miss Cowan explained.
"She, therefore, pays only the fees
ali other nurses pay who are in
good standing and prompt in tax
ing care Of their license to prac-
tice."
In her report, in which she several
times explained that certain of the
boards rules were Ito safeguard the
public" Miss Cowan said that care
full consideration was being given
by members of the nursing profess
sion and allied groups to the rec
ommendation for reducing the
course of nurse training from 36 to
80 months during the emergency, a
proposal made by the National
League of Nursing Education.
She added that, contrary to some
general impressions, existing re-
quirements for schools of nursing
are sufficiently flexible that such
an accelerated program could be
put into operation at once.
Credits for College Studies.
Furthermore" she said, there
are at present in the schools of
nursing in the District some STU
dents who have time allowances for
as much as six months granted for
their college preparation. Credit is
given for science courses taken in
college or universities which are
equivalent to those needed in the
basic program of studies in nursing.
The greater the number of such
courses for which credit can be
given, the greater the amount of
time which can be allowed
Miss Cowan also reported that
the board is considering sugges-
tions to permit volunteer registered
nurses and emergency temporary
registered nurses to come into the
field for active duty on a licensed
basis during the emergency through.
among other requirements, payment
OF a fee of SO and Sc, respectively.
There seem to be two major diff
dculties," she said in discussing the
nursing regulations, "One is the
confusion concerning registration in
the District and the other the in
crease in the number of unqualified
individuals who claim to be grad
uate nurses.
Since Washington Is the seat of
the Federal Government, many
nurses coming into the District are
confused and seem to be under the
false impression that registration
in their particular State should en-
title them to practice nursing in the
District.
Erroneous Information.
"Quite few nurses apparently
obtain erroneous information from
various sources other than that from
which 1t should be obtained. Such
ideas and the general stress of the
present are contributing to q con-
siderable portion of existing misun-
derstanding"
The nursing meeting opened with
III