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Washington state has joined the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) effective July 24, 2023.

As a part of the legislation to join the NLC, we are changing our name: 

  • Old name: Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission (NCQAC)
  • New name: Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON)

As we transition to the new name you will see the changes on new content.  

You may see these names and acronyms referring to us:

New name:

  • Washington State Board of Nursing
  • WA Board of Nursing
  • Board of Nursing
  • Nursing Board
  • WABON

Old name:

  • Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission
  • Nursing Commission
  • NCQAC

Name Change Next Steps

We will start using our new name, Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON), starting July 24, 2023 and going forward.

You will see our new name in:

  • Emails
  • New documents
  • New forms
  • New web content
  • News stories
  • Etc.

Things Not Updating

Undertaking a name change after 29 years, is a huge transition. A lot of our established and older content won't be changing. 

Some older content that may not change:

  • News stories
  • Meeting minutes
  • Meeting agendas
  • Presentations
  • Published Advisory Opinions
  • Published Rules and Legislation
  • Published Forms
  • Information documents
  • Videos
  • Archived information
  • And more

More Information

Thank you,
The Washington State Board of Nursing
(Formerly known as the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission)
nursing.wa.gov