CA BRN New Requirements For NCLEX RN international students

Caezel · May 18, 2012

Hi Caezel, i just graduated this march in the philippines, and instead of feeling relieved all of these new requirements adds so much stress. Isn't it possible to take the board in another state and then transfer my licence to another state?

Me too.. I graduated last march and im still here in PI, waiting for my diploma.. For now im trying to get some cases that fits on my maternal and ms lecture while im still here., my school allowed me to change my cases but for me to be sure the only case that ill get was the one that i handled.. Coz BON might request for rotation plan.. Thats the last option that i think will work for us..

Santo_Nino · May 19, 2012

The California Board of Registered Nursing is not obligated to accept any applicants who do not meet their *present* requirements implemented from September 2011.

If you were eligible and was allowed to take the NCLEX prior to September 2011, and passed-----congratulations! If you have not passed and are re-applying in California after September 2011, prepare to receive the possibility of being denied based on concurrency issues. Do not even bother mailing in that Non-Refundable Application Fee + Packet if you finished some clinical cases after the date of your graduation ceremony.

Complaining to the Dean of your nursing school in the Philippines, or asking the Philippine Regulation Commission, even the Philippine Nursing Association will not make the situation any better. You can run to ABS-CBN and write as many public articles against the Board if you wish. With the immigration controversies in the United States of America in the upcoming election, I doubt the California Board of Registered Nursing will even take any complainers seriously.

Now, if you also wish to file a lawsuit hoping to change this licensure requirement, please be reminded that no legal court can argue that the California Board of Registered Nursing is obliged and required to accept Filipino immigrants who wish to work as registered nurses in California. So much so that even American Citizens who were B.S. Nursing-educated in the Philippines are denied as well. Try another State to pursue your nursing licensure, accept defeat and settle for LVN, or choose another profession which will earn you a decent livelihood and survival.

I have yet to meet a Philippine graduate who is willing to take up two more years of study in San Francisco, Cerritos or elsewhere in pursuit of the NCLEX exam.... and they must re-apply and gamble once more when they finish those deficiencies. Who knows if two years has passed, *more* requirements are implemented by the California Board of Registered Nursing. If you are one of these daredevils with a heroic confidence to fight on... you are fooling yourself into a state of delusion.

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING NCLEX QUESTIONS:

1. Do you have enough patience to go through TWO or more years of nursing school and have to relocate to an area in California just to satisfy these deficiencies?

2. Do you have enough money left to pay for new nursing tuition fees? the cost to pay books and commute everyday?

3. After hoping to finish these deficiencies, do you have more money to pay to re-apply, re-send documents and re-pay the licensure application packet fees to take the NCLEX?

4. If you are already working, married, pregnant, with young children, sick, or with many mouths to feed in the Philippines, are you willing to sacrifice your current dayjob and possibly re-locate in order to take on this task for licensure in California? Knowing its an extra gamble on top of the 4 years of Nursing school you had to endure back in your homeland? Ask yourself. Really ask yourself.

These are all important questions that only you can answer in the deepest of your heart and conscience.

Santo_Nino · May 19, 2012

Me too.. I graduated last march and im still here in PI, waiting for my diploma.. For now im trying to get some cases that fits on my maternal and ms lecture while im still here., my school allowed me to change my cases but for me to be sure the only case that ill get was the one that i handled.. Coz BON might request for rotation plan.. Thats the last option that i think will work for us..

Denied.

The California Board of Registered Nursing current policy dictates that all your clinical cases should be finished before the date of your graduation ceremony.

Note: And even if you had completed your cases before this graduation date, they should match perfectly and concurrently with the correct semesters which only the CA-BRN know the specific organized structure.

Mobiusrain · May 19, 2012

Wow those are harsh statements, but sadly all true.

Going through these countless posts about frustrations with CA BRN denying applications is so depressing, especially when the problem is a TECHNICALITY. My heart goes out to all those Filipino aspiring nursing graduates trying to get their chance to sit the NCLEX-RN exam. They don't deserve to suffer the consequences brought about by these circumstances. This generally shouldn't be that big of a deal since there are 49 other states (49 Boards of Registered Nursing) where they can apply to. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury of relocating at will, be it because of family, finances, or other reasons.

The technicality here is a very frustrating one. Just like what was stated in other posts, the Philippine nursing curriculum does have their theory and clinicals concurrently during the same semester. Students get supervised clinical training in the hospital setting with actual bedside care, while also having classroom lectures on the same nursing rotation they're on at the same time. The problem arises with the "25 cases" requirement for Philippine nursing licensure. Since CA BRN considers these "cases" as part of the "clinical instruction" component of the nursing curriculum, completing a case outside of the semester it was supposed to be done automatically deems it "not concurrent" with theory. Application denied.

"Say what?! How the heck could I have finished all my cases on time?! This is unheard of!" Much of the frustration stems from this very situation. Speaking from my experience as a nursing graduate from the Philippines myself, BSN program enrollment in the Philippines peaked in the mid-2000's in the midst of the so-called "nursing shortage". Even colleges that were known for their computer degree programs opened their own nursing programs to cash in on the hype. Because of this, college-affiliated hospitals were squirming with nursing students. Too many nursing students + not enough patients = not enough cases. You're lucky enough if you don't go home from a day in the OR or L&D empty-handed. Students completing their set of cases before the end of the semester was very uncommon and they frequently had to attend "completion duties" just to obtain all those missing cases. They have to do this on their days off school, or if time does not permit, much later (explaining the lack of concurrency, sometimes even having cases completed well after graduation).

So what happens to all future Philippine nursing graduates? Are they all automatically barred from CA nursing licensure before they even graduate? Unless things are changed, seems like the answer is yes. All involved agencies (PRC, BON, PNA, CHED?) have got to do something. I see three ways to solve this issue:

1. Have both boards of nursing discuss the issue

Since the grounds for application denials here really appears to be a "technicality", I don't see why this can't be clarified or discussed somehow. Perhaps the Philippine BON can have correspondence with CA BRN to show how the Philippine nursing curriculum does indeed have their clinicals and theory concurrently and that the "cases" are a requirement for Philippine licensure, not graduation (since CA BRN doesn't require these cases anyway)

and if that doesn't work...

2. Enforce completion of cases as requirement to advance to next semester

With so many nursing students and little patients, I only see this happening if colleges decide to limit their number of enrollees per year. Ummm, yeah right...

3. Abolish the case requirement altogether

This has been a requirement for Philippine nurse licensure since who knows when. I don't know if the Philippine BON would be willing to change this just because of one US state's standards.

In the end, this is CA BRN's decision. They have all the right to uphold whatever standards they adhere to. We have to comply with their regulations; they don't have to change their regulations to be more convenient for us. It's just sad when a life-changing issue for many Philippine nursing graduates is the result of...I'll repeat it again...a technicality.

I've also read other people's comments frequently bringing up the court ruling involving Excelsior College and comparing it to this issue. Please stop doing so. While both involve determination of nursing curriculum not meeting CA regulations, this particular college got a lot of negative attention because it offered an RN curriculum that had NO actual clinical supervised training and instead issued some clinical test every week. That's hardly the case here.

Whew! So many thoughts I still want to dump, but I guess I'll cut it here, haha!

Caezel · May 19, 2012

Denied. The California Board of Registered Nursing current policy dictates that all your clinical cases should be finished before the date of your graduation ceremony. I have my cases concurrently with my OB and MS lectures but i didnt use it as my own case before i graduated coz its too far for me to have them signed by the chief nurses.. I think its just how you talk to your school on how will they help you regarding this matter. I just graduated this march so i think i still have 50% advantage to change my cases.. Hoping this will work..

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · May 19, 2012

"In the end, this is CA BRN's decision. They have all the right to uphold whatever standards they adhere to. We have to comply with their regulations; they don't have to change their regulations to be more convenient for us. It's just sad when a life-changing issue for many Philippine nursing graduates is the result of...I'll repeat it again...a technicality."

The reality is the majority of the international students ( and the majority are from the Philippines ) fail the NCLEX at a rate of 70%. If they went to school in the USA, their school would be asked to fit their program STAT or be closed. Research has shown concurrent clinical improves the passing rate for the candidate. Considering from what I have read, nursing instructors often have little nursing experience, students often have to "share" patients, and the differences in health care system, the Board of Nursing needed to do something to protect patients from unsafe nurses.

Since these students choose to leave the USA to get there education instead of being educated in the USA, unfortunately they have to suffer the consequences, one being they could meet the requirements requested and take the NCLEX.

Mobiusrain · May 20, 2012

"In the end this is CA BRN's decision. They have all the right to uphold whatever standards they adhere to. We have to comply with their regulations; they don't have to change their regulations to be more convenient for us. It's just sad when a life-changing issue for many Philippine nursing graduates is the result of...I'll repeat it again...a [b']technicality[/b]."
The reality is the majority of the international students ( and the majority are from the Philippines ) fail the NCLEX at a rate of 70%. If they went to school in the USA, their school would be asked to fit their program STAT or be closed. Research has shown concurrent clinical improves the passing rate for the candidate. Considering from what I have read, nursing instructors often have little nursing experience, students often have to "share" patients, and the differences in health care system, the Board of Nursing needed to do something to protect patients from unsafe nurses.
Since these students choose to leave the USA to get there education instead of being educated in the USA, unfortunately they have to suffer the consequences, one being they could meet the requirements requested and take the NCLEX.

While you make some very valid points, the denial letters applicants have been receiving all point to the concurrency issue, about the cases being completed out-of-sync with theory. My impression now is that CA BRN is using this concurrency issue as an opportunity to turn down the graduates on the get-go. That just sounds...wrong...

Also, it sounds unfair to judge nursing education in the Philippines as a whole. While there are many sub-par nursing colleges there, there are excellent ones also. I'm sure CA BRN has statistics of the NCLEX-RN pass rate for each international nursing college. Shouldn't they adjudicate every application on its own merit, not be partial because it's another foreign trained/Philippine graduate?

BTW, I recognize you from one of my previous posts from years ago. Funny you mention about students leaving the USA for education, because that's what we were discussing back then also lol.

Santo_Nino · May 20, 2012

I have my cases concurrently with my OB and MS lectures but i did not use it as my own case before i graduated coz its too far for me to have them signed by the chief nurses.. I think its just how you talk to your school on how will they help you regarding this matter. I just graduated this march so i think.... I still have 50% advantage to change my cases.... Hoping this will work...

1. How do you know for sure that your cases are concurrent? Nobody knows the structure of "concurrency" required by the CA-BRN. "cases = matching the correct semesters" This is a secret, available only at their discretion.

2. If by any means you are hinting that you can falsify or submit fraudulent documents with doctored or altered information, thereby giving the impression to pass for licensure exam-approval, I sincerely suggest you re-think it through.

One of the main reasons why the California Board of Registered Nursing came up with this new requirement was the fact that certain Filipino candidates were caught red-handed, submitting falsified Nursing documents from Recto Avenue in hopes of complying with the NCLEX licensure process. Some even submitted Nursing transcripts claiming to have studied internationally, while physically living in the United States of America.

Altering cases, their clinical dates, locations, procedures etc. qualifies under the penalty of fraud. I would not test the investigative capabilities of the CA-BRN, as they have been very diligent in monitoring fraudulent information... and their licensing analyst "cross-check" through out all the datas for consistency and accuracy. This is why they require all the other "extra" documents like rotation, calendar etc.

What will a candidate say when the Board finds out the cases he/she claim to own have been already claimed by another student in file system? or that the cases conflicts with the date already purported by another NCLEX candidate. Tricky step, and a very risky gamble in my opinion.

But in the end, only you know what is the best decision to make for yourself. Calculate your steps well, and calculate them wisely so you can persuade the licensing unit----or not be caught.

krinnie · May 20, 2012

guys please help me. i have no idea about what's happening with the BON in cali, ********** what are they're requirements? thank u so much. i dont wana lose hope.

Silverdragon102, BSN · May 20, 2012

Reminder to post only in English as per the Terms of Service of the site

toGODbetheGLORY · May 21, 2012

I just got denied and now im stuck. I dont know what to do anybody here have a very useful advise? :'(

Mobiusrain · May 21, 2012

Like others have said, there are many other states you can apply to, although you will have to go through more hoops such as CGFNS, TOEFL, etc. Or you can apply as LVN if moving out of state is not an option for you. Frustrating, but better than nothing. Sorry to hear about your denial.