Nurse Practitioner Licensing Guide for the state of South Dakota
Most professions in the healthcare sector require a license for practice in the US. Having a license is important because the healthcare sector is quite sensitive in terms of public health and wellbeing. The license is a validation of competency that allow nurses to practice after they have been found deserving through education, training, and other requirements involved for licensure.
Nurses, in particular, are licensed by the South Dakota Board of Nursing (SDBON). The board sets minimal qualifications and competencies for issuing licenses to qualified Registered Nurses (RN), Licensed Practice Nurses (LPN) and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN). They provide assurance to the public that anyone with a nursing license has met the standards set for legal practice.
Before you can be an APRN, you must have undergone further training and advanced education. The South Dakota Board of Nursing, SDBON recognizes the following major APRN roles:
- Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
- Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM)
- Certified Nurse Practitioner (CNP)
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA)
All applicants for APRN must have an initial RN license. However, South Dakota is one of the states under the Nurse License Compact (NLC). A licensed nurse from a member state of the NLC is authorized to practice in other compact states without the requirement of an additional license. That is to say that, at the RN level, a nurse who resides in a Compact state and is licensed, of course, is authorized to practice in South Dakota (because it is also a Compact state). But the licensed nurse in another compact state is required by the NLC to hold an active license in the home state to enjoy the “multi-state privilege”. To know more about other Compact states, go here. If your license was from a non-compact state, you’ll have to apply for RN licensure in South Dakota.