


While the governor’s office declined to address that charge, a spokesman for Christie suggested the senators were playing partisan politics and didn’t have their facts right some of the vacancies took effect in July, when the governor signed a law expanding the nursing board’s membership. Weinberg and the former members suggested the governor’s action appeared to be retribution for their speaking out. Chris Christie appointed 10 new individuals and re-appointed three current members to the panel. (Critics contend nurses must wait months to be approved for exams and thousands of licensing applications are awaiting board review, an issue that exacerbates any care shortages.)īoth Murphy and Hart were replaced on the board last Friday, when Gov. In addition to struggling to convene meetings with a board that was until recently short eight of its 15 members, the speakers said a shortage of professional support staff led to serious delays in processing license applications, reviewing disciplinary cases, and monitoring dozens of nurse education programs. Robert Gordon (D-Bergen), to suggest the program needs a “total overhaul.” The hearing led the committee chairman, Sen. More than a dozen nurses, educators, advocacy organizations, and labor leaders testified yesterday before the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee at a hearing dedicated to fleshing out concerns raised by professionals about the New Jersey Board of Nursing, which licenses and regulates some 220,000 healthcare providers, including home health aides.


Ben Evans, president of the New Jersey State Nurses Association, testified at a Senate committee hearing about the New Jersey Board of Nursing yesterday.Problems with the program that oversees nursing in New Jersey go beyond vacancies on the licensing board to include a chronic lack of support staff, internal management concerns, and other issues that critics say now put nurses’ profession - and patient health - at risk.
