Nurses Criminal
Published Feb 21, 2017
I live in California and have two assualt misdemeanor charges. One assault with a deadly weapon and the other assault likely to cause great bodily danger. I am an LVN and have been able to keep my license even though I have these convictions. I thought if I wait 7 to 10 years that I would go back to school for RN. I have completed anger management, work reference letters, character reference letters, schools transcripts, pain fines, and etc. What is the likelyhood of a nuring program accepting me with these convictions? I want to know what is the possibility of BRN letting me obtain licensure?
Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN
4 Articles; 7,907 Posts
Moving to Licensure with a Criminal History forum for more targeted responses. Please be advised that this is a moderated forum, so there may be a delay in posts appearing.
Your more immediate problem is...will a nursing program accept you? The thing is that nursing schools have their own criteria for admission, including what criminal offenses they'll be willing to accept in their applicants. Some schools may say Yes, others No. That is the school's decision.
To make things even sticker, clinical sites have their own criteria about criminal records that i independent from the nursing school. So the nursing program may say, "Sure, welcome aboard" but a clinical site may not clear you to do clinicals there. Unfair? Yes. Possible? Very.
The only way you'll know if a school will accept you is if you try.
However, getting into and completing a RN program doesn't mean that the BRN has to accept your criminal record without question and issue you a license. The BRN reviews applicants with a criminal history on a case-by-case basis. Applicants X and Y may have similar records but X may get licensed while Y gets told, "Sorry but No." Unfortunately, the BRN will not commit to a definite Yes or No answer until after you apply, so there's a gamble there: you may end up committing time and money to nursing school just to be denied licensure. The fact that the BVNPT let you keep your license is promising though, but I wouldn't bank on it guaranteeing RN licensure.
Many nurses with criminal histories are able to get licensed and have successful nursing careers. However, there is no one magic formula for getting that license...if there was one, I'd share it with you.
Best of luck.