I believe that nurses must remain competent. However, our forms of practice are so diverse, it is important that competency be equally diverse. As a nursing educator/administrator, my concern is that any established competency include practice expectations within the educational administrative role of practice.  As a professional I am totally aware that if I  moved to another setting, I would need to sharpen my skils in that area of nursing practice.  In other words, competenies should be very broadly defined to reflect the diversity in nursing.

It is not clear to me how the Board of Nursing, whose purpose is to assure safety in nursing practice, can effectively design competency requirements to reflect the diversity in nursing practice. Does research sponsored by the NCSBN support the added cost to the Board of Nursing, and to nurses, for this additional regulation? In the states where continuing competency is required, are the citizens safer becuase of this additional regulation?  Do these state boards have fewer incidences of malpractice or untoward incidents? 

I worked in a state that required ongoing competency.  A number of nurses who attended the workshop, sat in the back row, and read the newspaper throughout the entire workshop.  When I think of ongoing competency, this is the picture I see.