Transforming communities in Washington State through increased access to quality nursing care.
WCN supports a healthy Washington by engaging nurses’ expertise, influence, and perspective and by building a diverse, highly qualified nurse workforce to meet future demands.
Every nurse licensed in Washington State pays an $8 surcharge on their license to WCN.
Nursing leaders in Washington State have been working since the late 1990s to address the need for nurses’ specialized education and skills.
The Nursing Summit in 2001 resulted in a Strategic Plan for Nursing to ensure that we have enough nurses to care for our citizens–the Washington State Strategic Plan for Nursing (WSSPN), which was adopted by the Washington Nursing Leadership Council (composed of CNEWS, NWONE, NCQAC, WLN, WSNA).
In response to this plan, the Washington Center for Nursing was created in 2003 as the statewide nursing workforce organization. Since then, WCN has worked on a variety of nursing projects, including the Master Plan for Nursing Education and the organization of regional stakeholder meetings on the Nurse of the Future.
WCN is a non-profit 501(c)(3).