Charting Idaho Nursing History

Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of working with Randall Hudspeth on the APRN committee of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Our role on this committee is to create and implement a new regulatory model for APNs, and more specifically for NPs, across the country. Randy brings a long history of commitment to advanced practice and a wealth of regulatory expertise to the committee. As we begin implementation of this new regulation for NPs, each of us should look at our own state’s history and see how far we have come through the efforts of nurse practitioners.

To this end, Randy Hudspeth, a native Idahoan, and coauthor Verlene Kaiser, also a nurse practitioner, have written a rich book titled Charting Idaho Nursing History. Randy told me that they chose “charting” for the title because that is how nurses document what they do: by charting.

Contents

The Idaho Association of Graduate Nurses formed in 1909, and the Idaho Board of Nursing formed in 1911. To commemorate these centennial events, this 500-page book tells how professional nursing in Idaho developed. By reading minutes, looking through old newspapers, visiting historical societies, and listening to the stories of retired nurses, Randy and his coauthor were able to put together a book that chronicles how it all happened for nurses in Idaho.

Part 1 of Charting Idaho Nursing History details how nurses overcame barriers to open hospitals and nursing schools, start public health departments, meet the challenges of natural disasters and wars, and work together to expand and successfully promote nursing practice and advanced nursing practice.

In Part 2, individual nurses’ stories add richness and give a face to nursing’s story of caring. The book describes the experiences of NPs in Idaho, which was the first state to recognize nurse practitioners in statute. Idaho granted prescriptive authority to NPs in 1972. Charting Idaho Nursing History chronicles the evolution of nurse practitioners in the state, from the legal recognition in 1972, through the years of joint regulation by the boards of nursing and medicine when NPs were growing and gaining respect, and through the changes to the Idaho Nurse Practice Act in 2003 that removed any requirements for physician supervision.

Authors

Randy Hudspeth is a master’s prepared, dually certified nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist with 33 years of experience. He has subspecialty board certification in pain management. Randy has a long history of leadership positions in Idaho nursing. He currently is serving a 2-year term on the board of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and he writes a regular column on regulation for Nursing Administration Quarterly.

Verlene Kaiser has lived in Idaho since 1970. She is past president of the Idaho Nurses Association and has researched and collected Idaho nursing history for almost 30 years.

Relevance

The authors of this book learned that in 1909, only a few committed nurses were there to establish a professional organization in Idaho. A century later, only a committed few are sustaining it. At the end of the day, these nurses are the wives and mothers, and sometimes husbands and fathers, who leave legacies that sustain nursing for decades.

As the first state to legally recognize NPs, Idaho serves as a template for how other states have evolved over time. The rich history of Idaho nurse practitioners can serve as a prototype as we begin to implement the new Consensus Model for Regulation of Advanced Practice Nurses in the United States. I encourage NPs to consider Charting Idaho Nursing History important reading for 2010.

To order: By Randall Hudspeth, MS, APRN-CNS/CNP and Verlene D. Kaiser, BSN, APRN-FNP. VKRHPubs, LLC. 2009
$35, including taxes and shipping. To order, go to http://idahonursinghistory.com