Change to License Requirements???

[suzieQRNstudent]

My school sent out a memo today saying that the Florida Board of Nursing has changed its rules - in order to sit for your license you must be criminal free for 15 years on a level 1 background check. This is a change from the case by case basis.

Just wondered if anyone else has heard this news. It effects a few girls in my class and they were told to drop out of the program. Needless to say there were some on year 2 that were in the same boat. Sure I know that it was always risky - because the board could turn you down - but this is incredible.

Love to hear what others have heard.

Suz

[megjrn]

Actually, the Florida lawmakers ARE using evidenced based statistics upon which they passed this law. It's called the recidivism rate. Florida very well knows that most offenders re-offend within ten years post-conviction. The jails and prisons here in Florida are full of multiple-offenders. They figure if you can go 15 years without re-offending, you've probably learned your lesson and are not a true criminal. Drug-related convictions have an especially high recidivism rate because of relapse potential. What I find interesting is that the colleges aren't stopping nursing school applicants with criminal histories and explaining to them up front that upon graduating they must be 15 years post-conviction in order to sit for the boards. When I went to college 300 years ago, the college application AND the School of Nursing acceptance application asked if you had a criminal conviction. Maybe they don't ask that now?

[elkpark]

What I find interesting is that the colleges aren't stopping nursing school applicants with criminal histories and explaining to them up front that upon graduating they must be 15 years post-conviction in order to sit for the boards. When I went to college 300 years ago, the college application AND the School of Nursing acceptance application asked if you had a criminal conviction. Maybe they don't ask that now?

Things have changed a lot since you and I were in school ... :) A lot of schools feel that whether or not a graduate is eligible for licensure is between the individual and the BON, and is not the school's concern. The school fulfills its side of the contract with the student by providing the nursing education, and that is the beginning and end of the school's responsibility. There are also Federal and state education laws that make it v. difficult to put barriers in the way of students attending schools, esp. public schools (CCs and state unis); much more so than in licensure or employment law, the burden is on the school to pretty much ensure that anyone who wants to attend school is able to attend school. At the last BSN program in which I taught (a respectable state uni program, not some cheesy proprietary semi-scam), the school did criminal background checks because the clinical sites required it and demanded that information (and reserved the option of refusing any individual student for clinicals based on this info), but I asked further about this (for this v. reason) and was told that, if a student's background check showed something that any of us would know would be an impediment to licensure, the school did not sit down and discuss this with the student -- essentially, the school would happily take the student's tuition money for the 4-5 years and graduate this person from the nursing program knowing that the person would probably not be eligible for licensure.

I can see both sides of this issue. On the one hand, caveat emptor -- all nursing students are, by definition, adults, looking to enter a profession that requires taking responsibility for your own actions and continually seeking out and absorbing new information, and one can argue that it should be the responsibility of the student to clarify the requirements and impediments to licensure, and not the school's job to act in loco parentis. On the other hand, given that all nursing students are new to nursing, and the faculty and administration of the school know how licensure works and the students generally don't, I think it's pretty snarky to just not bother to mention this to students and keep taking their money.

[megjrn]

Elkpark--Yes, I agree it is pretty snarky. It's a shame these students have to spend all that money and go through all the stress of a nursing program only to find out at some point that they may not be elligible to sit for the boards. Yes, it would be wise to check the elligibilty requirements for licensure prior to enrolling in a program, but as you implied, who would think of that? I don't think I ever thought about it until my senior year when the Dean of Nursing had us fill out our paperwork to sit for the boards after graduation--you know, back in the Stone Age when everyone in the state had to go to the same place and sit for the exams for two whole days!! And use a #2 pencil to mark your answers...

[megjrn]

Oops...ELIGIBLE, not elligible.

[FLmomof5]

Actually, the Florida lawmakers ARE using evidenced based statistics upon which they passed this law. It's called the recidivism rate. Florida very well knows that most offenders re-offend within ten years post-conviction. The jails and prisons here in Florida are full of multiple-offenders. They figure if you can go 15 years without re-offending, you've probably learned your lesson and are not a true criminal. Drug-related convictions have an especially high recidivism rate because of relapse potential. What I find interesting is that the colleges aren't stopping nursing school applicants with criminal histories and explaining to them up front that upon graduating they must be 15 years post-conviction in order to sit for the boards. When I went to college 300 years ago, the college application AND the School of Nursing acceptance application asked if you had a criminal conviction. Maybe they don't ask that now?

I will make a slightly OT point....

If a person commits a crime and does their time...they have to move to a residence....that will do a background check and not let them live there....and get a job....that does a background check and won't hire them. Soooo, they have an EXTREMELY hard time finding a job and a place to live. Through this process, doesn't society then doom them to be recidivists?

[angel garcia]

at the meeting with the board on febrary 3 the BON consumer attorney of over 16 years with the board specifically stated sealed records not expunged ones because there is no disposition on an expunged record

[angel garcia]

I agree if u do the crime do the time but if u are not convicted of the crime u should not be put through the same ringer as the convict.I also forgot to add that at the board meeting february 3 they allow out of state criminal offenders to license because according to the consumer attorney for the BON out of state offenses do not fall under the jurisdiction of this law passed july 2009.Also remember all nursing schools make the student order a nationwide backround check and if u have a conviction they do not allow u to take the course ,unless u meet the state guidelines but if u have a withheld adjudication which simply means no conviction u will receive a clear of convictions backround check and would have been allowed to start the course if u had started before the law was passed in 2009.

[SARENITY]

The State of Florida has heard peoples concerns and has changed the law May 3, 2011 to read:

Has been convicted of, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, regardless of adjudication, a felony under chapter 409, chapter 817, or chapter 893, or a similar felony offense committed in another state or jurisdiction U.S.C. ss. 21 801-970, or 42 U.S.C. ss. 1395-1396, unless the sentence and any subsequent period of probation for such conviction or plea pleas ended:

1. For felonies of the first or second degree, more than 15 years before the date of application.

2. For felonies of the third degree, more than 10 years before the date of application, except for felonies of the third degree under s. 893.13(6)(a).

3. For felonies of the third degree under s. 893.13(6)(a), more than 5 years before the date of application.

I hope this helps those who did not commit great offenses to have the opportunity to continue proving to the community they have learned their lesson and are willing to demonstrate they are positive and caring members of the community by nursing.

[angel garcia]

thxs 4 the news it is a little to late for i am taking my nclex after being acceptedfor examination through a compact state and leaving florida

[SARENITY]

I need to remove post ....I just found out Florida did not pass the bill =(

[angel garcia]

[Conqueror+, BSN, RN]

While I think the law is more than fair i do NOT support lowering the boom on students who are/are almost finished with a program. I think passing the law with a deadline/cutoff date a year or so out would be more reasonable. I also believe that schools should be required to include notification to potential students during the application to nursing school. I was thinking back to my days in school and licensure was something you thought about AFTER you survived everything else. Whats the difference between allowing a felon access to a pt as a student ?