CA BoN asks for individual courses, but do they exist?

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Hello everybody,

I'm a foreign educated nurse applying for licensure in CA. After I submitted all the paperwork to the CA BoN they sent me a letter that states the following:

"An evaluation of your application for licensure as a Registered Nurse in California indicates that your nursing education does not meet the minimum requirements in Obstetrics, Pediatrics and Psychiatric nursing.

In order to meet this requirement, it will be necessary for you to make up these courses, both theory and clinical practice, in an accredited school of professional nursing in California. [...]"

ok.... so after calling several colleges from the list the CA BoN provided I must say I'm rather surprised by the fact that there are absolutely no colleges offering individual courses. I don't understand, why would the CA BoN tell me I have to take courses that are impossible to take??? ... unless of course I join a 2 year program (added to my 3 year degree, and I'm not even going to mention the costs).

Does anybody know of ANY colleges in South California that offer individual courses?

I'm stuck and don't know what to do or where to go from here :uhoh3: I can't be the only one going through this... can I????

I have never heard of a school that offered individual courses. If that were the case, many, many people would be able to complete their degree requirements and get their license. The BRN does not care that this is impossible for you, only that they are using this as a means of saying you are not qualified.

i couldn't agree u more caliotter3..

hi there JuliettetheScot,.i was a wondering if where did u find the info that the course work would be 5-6 week?if that'll be the case that would be very great,..i was thinking that it would takes a year or more...hope u got it right though,..thank u..juz keep u posted..Godbless...

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
Anybody who has been in my situation understands how frustrating it is to throw away years of study and start from scratch. It is what it is, right?Thank you all for your replies and I apologize if I let my frustration get the best of me.

My question. The CA requirement has been on the books for many years now. They did not enforce it immediately, which allowed foreign schools that routinely export nurses to the USA to have plenty of time to accommodate this rule.

Why have these schools not done so?

In other words, the problem is not with the CA BON, but with your schools. Many nurses from the Philippines are known to immigrate to the US and abroad. This is used as a selling point to get students. If they are selling a product "education" that does not satisfy those requirements, then your issue is with your school, and to a certain extent, your government for permitting this. Not with the US, that has a large number of it's localcitizens to educate and employ.

Out of curiosity, how many USA nurses are permitted and qualify to work in your nation, without any extra training?

The problem is, before, they let the foreign graduates to take the test even if they didnt finish their cases in 1 semester. My evaluator told me that they are asking me to get an extra units in med surg and ob just because they have a new rule right now that u have to finish the cases within one semester and if you dont, it will not be concurrent. Sadly all the schools in the Philippines (I think) werent able to finished the cases within one semester thats why many of us are having the same problem. And this new regulation was I think started last october 2011. So if anyone here can post an info if they know a school giving individual subject courses would be very helpful. tnx

As I recall there are three options available for IERN:

1. To finish the unit deficits

In California, I have not heard of any university (public / private) that allows students to just finish selected subjects.

Most of the subjects are taken via prerequisites. If you somehow match the requirements for their pre-reqs and have your units for the pre-reqs credited to the university then you have a chance. The problem is that you are now on the bottom of the enrollment list. Meaning, you may never get priority enrollment unless you take more classes in that school. This is the same problem of most students waiting to be in nursing school. There aren't enough classes for the amount of students.

2. Take a master's program and finish it then go take the NCLEX-RN

You must now get your transcript evaluated and see if it's an equivalent of the Bachelor's here. If you do have the same bachelor's in nursing, chances are you can get into a master's program via a private school. But if your degree does not translate to a bachelor's here, meaning you have an associate's degree... then you can go and apply to continue on with your BSN in any accredited school.

3. LVN route

While this is the most hassle free, keep in mind that LVNs and RNs have very different job description. The amount of clinical hours for LVNs are way more than the RNs as well. Also, if you do get licensed... there isn't any job.

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

The rule is not new, it has been around for awhile, it just was not enforced strictly until recently.And the issue remains. The Philippine schools are well aware of the requirements but have not changed their program to conform to the requirements. Thus the OP should be complaining to them regarding this issue.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that they do not limit enrollment to the number of students that they can adequately find clinical experiences concurrently for. This is their failing, and the students that attend with the expectation of going to the US, should confront them regarding this.

Because of the risks and expenses involved with taking on temporary students for limited clinical courses, few to no US schools are likely to do it. The OP would have more chance getting the Philippine schools to correct the deficit.

Still no success getting on the Obstetrics course to make up my deficiency but I have my name on 2 college lists out of the 36 I have contacted. You are also right about the prerequisite courses for some colleges the whole lot including the obstetrics add up to about 6 months or so of courses and it is up to the individual college what they want. The college I was told that does the 5 weeks intense obstetrics was the Ceritto College but that is not so any more and they also have the pre req and a waiting list. Im talented enough (like most nurses are) to go into another profession, sadly loosing out on my nursing which I have a passion for and love very much. Im not quite giving up. If anyone finds a college in Nth or Sth California doing the darn course I will keep checking on site and if I hear of anything I will update also. Good luck

Any luck with schools?

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