KEEPING YOUR LICENSE ACTIVE???

[NurseLinda]

I'd like some input from Registered Nurses who are no longer working in the field. I've owned my own business from home (off the NET) so I can be with my kids for some time now, but I ALWAYS keep my CPR certification and Nursing License active. I had a RN friend ask me why saying that she let hers go long ago... Any Nurses out there no longer working in Nursing with an opinion on this?? When I thought about it, I think I keep the license active NOT because I ever plan to go back into the employee role, but you know, working for FOUR LONG years to obtain it, I see no reason to let it go. I DO keep up the required contact hours every two years.

If you left Nursing,do you keep your license active??

THANKS!!!!!

Linda/CMAS, BS, RN

[email protected]

[mustangsheba]

Linda: I can't imagine ever letting my RN lapse. I'm starting my own business, but intend to do agency nursing to keep my license and skills current. Nursing is too much who I am. No matter what else I do, I will always want the option of returning to my first love. It's much easier to keep it than to get it back.

[MollyJ]

I agree with sheba. It is easier to keep than to get back. If you live in a CE state, attending CE may not make you ready to return to practice at any minute, but it keeps you credentialed and I think it reflects your regard for your licensure and profession.

I am working in a job that does not technically require a nurse for the job and my son (age 8) often tells me I am no longer a nurse, but in fact a nurse is what I am and I bring the nursing perspective to how I do the job.

Good luck. It is work to keep credentialed.