I was eligible to sit for the nclex for California.
Wow.. so I took my exam this September, went the distance all 265 questions. Unfortunately I didn't pass. Got my results and "near passing standard" all across the board so the news of failure basically tore me apart.
Now what makes it worse is after submitting the reapplication form and waiting for four weeks for a reply from the board, I get a letter today stating
:::: The Board has determined that the program you completed in the Philippines is not equivalent to the minimum requirements for licensure set forth in California Code Section 1426(d).
You may be able to view Section 1426 (d) and all other codes of the California Code of Regulations by going to our website at: www.rn.ca.gov. Once in the website there will be 'Tabs' at the top of the screen. Go to Regulations then to Nursing Practice Act and finally to California Code of Regulations.
California Code of Regulations Section 1426(d) states that theory and clinical practice shall be concurrent. The documents received state that some of the training was completed several semesters after the theory classes. ::::::
I email the evaluator in charge of my application and she explains ::::
You have options and that is to apply to the LVN Board or in another RN Board in a different state or go for your master's degree in nursing but in California you are not qualified as a RN without the Master's degree.
According to the RLE and the school's curriculum you should have completed the scrubs in NCM 101 and 102 but they were completed in NCM 104, 105 and 103. I am enclosing a copy of the letter that was sent to you yesterday.
I'm angry and sad at the same time. How is it possible that I was eligible to take the nclex the first time I applied and not eligible to retake now? I went from meeting the requirements of an RN to now meeting the requirements of an LVN. How is this possible?
They are saying I'm ineligible based on the dates of completion of my cases. The school requires 5 major, 5 minor, 5 assisted delivery, 5 actual delivery, and 5 cord dressing clinical cases which I completed or else I wouldn't have been able to graduate. All of a sudden Ca board is being technical about the completion dates of these cases. The school is well aware of the fact that completion of these cases is impossible to be concurrent with the theoretical classes. It is not always guaranteed that students will complete the needed cases in concurrent with the theoretical because there are times when there aren't any patients in the hospitals that we are rotated in. It is for this reason that the school allows completion of the needed cases through out the following semesters. We took the theoretical classes before we were allowed to go on our clinicals but the lack of patients made it difficult to complete those 5 cases during that semester. That's why some of my cases were completed one or two semesters after the theory classes.
Am I understanding this correctly? I thought all that matters was that my cases were complete regardless if it was completed in concurrent/along with theoretical or after theoretical. I learned what I was suppose to learn it just so happen that exposure to the actual thing came a semester later.
So now they are saying I can't sit for the nclex in California and I need to complete a masters degree to be qualified as an Rn in California. Is this possible? I went to school graduated with a BSN and in the end I'm told that I only qualify to be a LVN after submitting a reapplication for nclex. .
Clarification would be nice and I would appreciate any advice. This just makes me question if nursing is even the right fit for me cause it's been obstacles after obstacles.