Wisconsin. Board of Nursing

Chapter 402, Laws of 1949, created the Board of Nursing and its administrative body, the State Department of Nurses (see WIHV85-A530). These were successors to the State Board of Health's Bureau of Nursing Education (see WIHV88-A58), and its Committee on Nursing Education (1921-1949) and Board of Examiners for Nurses (1916-1949). Chapter 75, Laws of 1967, attached the Board of Nursing to the new Department of Regulation and Licensing's (see WIHV88-A528) Division of Nurses. Chapter 34, Laws of 1979, reorganized the Department, abolishing the Division of Nurses and creating a Bureau of Nursing in the new Division of Health Professions and Nursing to which the Board was then attached. In 1987 the Board was moved to the supervision of the Bureau of Health Service Professions (see WIHV89-A280) within the Division of Health Professions and Services Licensing.

The Board appoints the Examining Council on Registered Nurses (in 1949 known as the Committee of Examiners of Nurses) and the Examining Council on Licensed Practical Nurses (known in 1949 as the Committee of Examiners of Trained Practical Nurses) and establishes minimum standards for accredited schools of nursing. The regulatory, advisory, and policy-making powers and duties of the Board have been implemented through the State Department of Nurses (1949-1967), the Division of Nurses (1967-1979), and the Bureau of Nursing (1979- ).