Mississippi Nurse Practitioner Licensure Steps - 2024

Nurse Practitioner Licensure Requirements in Mississippi

Follow below to learn how to become a nurse practitioner (NP) in Mississippi.

Initial Registered Nurse (RN) License

Already have your RN License?  Skip to the next section

This is a fundamental requirement for every applicant for an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) license, and NP license, to practice as a nurse practitioner in Mississippi. Holders of a valid RN license are expected to be fit and equipped to practice as nurses in the state where they are licensed. Holders of valid multi-state licenses are only required to apply for a license in Mississippi should they want to change their primary state of residence.

There are two major routes of application for an Initial RN license in Mississippi: Examination and Endorsement.

RN by Examination

This is the application route for recent graduates of an accredited nursing program who have never been licensed to practice nursing in Mississippi or any state/territory in the US.

• The minimum qualification for an RN license is an associate’s degree.
• The application process is completed online for a fee of $100.
• Do not upload or send any supporting documents without first completing your application and paying the prescribed fees. You can pay your fees electronically using a credit or debit card.
• All applicants are required to have completed a board-approved basic nursing program or an equivalent. To this effect, you are required to request that a copy of your transcript containing your date of graduation and the type of degree awarded to the MSBN at the following address:

Faxed transcripts or those sent by you via mail are not acceptable. All applicants via this route must take and pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) which you can register for here for a fee of $200.

RN by Endorsement

This is the route for a holder of a valid, unencumbered RN license to practice in another state who has never been licensed to practice as a nurse in Mississippi.

• Applicants should have fulfilled the requirements for RN by Examination, including passing the NCLEX-RN or an equivalent examination in the said state.
• The application process is also completed online for $100.
• All applicants are required to have a copy of the transcript of their basic nursing program sent by the relevant institution to the MSBN. The program must be equivalent to what is obtainable in Mississippi.
• Applicants from another country or state who have not taken the NCLEX-RN or its equivalent are to apply by examination while those who have previously been licensed in Mississippi but need to reactivate their license can apply for reinstatement.
• Applicants via this route are also required to verify their RN licenses.
• This is usually done with Nursys for $30. Click on the link titled “Nurse Licensure Verification for Endorsement”.

Mississippi State Code requires all applicants for a nursing license in the state to complete a fingerprint-based criminal background check. Those in Mississippi-based schools usually have their capturing dates fixed by their institutions. If you miss yours, you must schedule a new one with the board.

Those who are studying in another state or territory must schedule an appointment with the board for their fingerprint capturing. The board handles the CBC for a fee of $75. All applicants are required to provide their social security number as no license will be issued without this.

If you meet the universal requirements for a multi-state license, you will be issued one, if not you will only be licensed to practice in Mississippi. If your primary state of residence is a compact state, you will be referred back there to obtain a multi-state license if eligible.

Advanced Education Requirement

Prospective nurse practitioners are required to have completed a graduate level nurse practitioner program.

NPs are only allowed to see patients they have been trained and licensed to see, hence, we should not expect to see a pediatric NP attending to geriatric patients.

The program of choice must be accredited by an appropriate national certifying agency that is recognized by the MSBN and listed with the USDE and must award at least a master’s degree to successful participants. These nurse practitioner preparatory programs should fundamentally include coursework in advanced pharmacology, advanced physiology/pathophysiology, and advanced health assessment. NPs are to also take courses like statistics, primary care management, and clinical experience of at least 500 hours in their specialty area.

The pharmacology coursework taken in your post-basic program prepares you for the prescriptive authority that comes with our APRN license. If you need to prescribe and dispense controlled drugs, you must apply for this privilege separately after completing at least 720 hours of supervised practice in your specialty area.

National Certification

The purpose of advanced education is a national certification. This acts as a screen that allows only equipped professionals into the APRN level of nursing practice. There are specific certifying agencies recognized by the board that license nurses to practice as APRNs in a given specialty area and to serve a specific population focus.

These agencies play an important role in determining the type of NP education considered as standard by the board. Hence, you are only to opt for an NP program that the agency that applies to your chosen specialty area has accredited. The certification process is usually examination-based.

These agencies are trusted with the choice of determining who is eligible to be considered for an APRN license by the board based on the skill and knowledge applicable to current practice. These are the agencies recognized by the MSBN for the certification of NPs:

• National Certification Corporation (NCC)
• American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
• Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB)
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
• American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)

Getting Licensed to Practice as a Nurse Practitioner in Mississippi

Prospective NPs can apply for their APRN license online for a fee of $100. It is important to note that the APRN license comes with prescriptive authority. All applicants are required to hold a valid and unencumbered RN license to practice in Mississippi which may be a single state license or a multi-state license issued from any one of the compact states. Hence, they are required to verify such licenses using the Nursys platform.

Applicants are also expected to have completed a post-basic nursing program awarding at least a master’s degree. To prove that they have fulfilled this requirement, they must request that a copy of their transcript containing the degree awarded and their date of graduation be sent from the awarding institution to the board.

NPs must submit proof of national certification or request that such notification is sent by their national certifying agency to the board. Applicants must provide information such as their practice site and details of their collaborative physician during the application process.

As was stated under the initial RN license section, all applicants for a nursing license are required to complete a CBC. If you intend to prescribe and dispense controlled medication, you must apply for such privilege from the board and register with the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (FDA).