Nurse Practitioner Licensing Guide for the state of Indiana
Licensing and certifications are important gatekeeping ingredients used in professional spaces such as the healthcare industry. Nurses are required to obtain licenses to practice in a given state within the confines of state laws. In most states, they are required to apply for licenses that enable them to handle more advanced roles.
Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are registered nurses who are licensed to carry out tasks that are considered advanced for regular registered nurses (RNs). They become eligible for such licenses by taking post-graduate preparatory programs and getting national certification. Advanced skills and years of experience are indispensable elements of an NP’s arsenal if they would provide quality services.
Indiana is a peculiar state concerning NP licensing as with other Advanced Practice Nurses (APN). The chief licensing agency is the Indiana State Board of Nursing which is a subsidiary of the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA). They issue licenses to applicants who meet certain requirements all year long.
All nurses and APNs are required to hold RN licenses to practice in the state and they obtain these from the board. However, an APN license is not necessary to practice in such a capacity in Indiana in most cases. There are three major recognized APN roles which include;
- Certified Nurse Practitioners (CNPs)
- Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs)
- Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs)
Everyone who is looking to practice as an APN in Indiana must hold either a single state RN license to practice in the state or a valid multistate RN license from any of the other enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact party (eNLC) states. Indiana joined the compact on July 1st, 2020.
This compact allows holders of compact licenses to practice physically and virtually in their home state and in any other party state without applying for an RN license in such a state. This facilitates the transfer of nursing labor from state to state and ensures that a nurse can keep practicing as long as they are in a member state.