The Alabama Board of Nursing (ABN) aligned its license renewal surveys with the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) National RN Minimum Dataset (MDS) for the first time in 2015 with LPNs. This year, RNs in Alabama will encounter new voluntary questions on their license renewal survey and the Alabama Health Action Coalition (AL-HAC) is working to increase awareness of its purpose and value.

AL-HAC created a one page Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet for RNs and has jointly published the document with the ABN.  In addition to publication through AL-HAC and the ABN, this FAQ sheet has been advertised by the Alabama State Nurses Association. It has appeared on the association’s Facebook page and will appear (for no cost to the coalition) in the  fall issue of the Alabama Nurse, the official publication for the Alabama State Nurses Association. This quarterly publication is direct mailed to the home of every RN, Specialty and Advanced Practice Registered Nurse actively licensed by the State Board.  The direct mailing circulation is over 84,000 professional nurses.

AL-HAC will continue to talk to nurses about the importance their surveys play in accurate nursing workforce planning and has high hopes for a good response rate on the voluntary questions.