State license lapsed after 18 years; how to get relicensed

My Mom's RN license lapsed after 18 years of not practicing (she had to quit her job when I was born, b/c I was extremely ill). She wants to retake the boards to get relicensed so she can work again to help support the family when I move out.

What prep courses do you recommend?

Btw, I'm training to be a cardiac sonographer at Orange Coast College. I hope to work at either Long Beach Community or Memorial Hospital, b/c I admire the NICU nursing staff there who took care of me when I was critically ill...it was born 16 weeks early, Apgars were all zero all three times, and I had a massive PDA causing PAH and right-to-left shunt. The NICU nurses had so much fun with me...they'd dress me up, take me across the NICU to a brthday party, etc.

They made me want to get into the medical field. I plan on someday going to St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada to earn my MD after completing my BS in Echocardiography online at Oregon Institute of Technology. I want to become an interventional cardiologist.

Btw, why do I keep hearing stories of RNs who abuse med students and residents (abusing your future boss is not a good way to build a working enviroment, esp. a hospital); almost al of the RNs I've been around have been so nice.

And why are NPs under the board of nursing, and not the board of medicine...if they're diagnosing and treating, they need to be under the board of medicine. Nurses should stick to nursing, which is what they do best, not try to practice medicine. We have PAs for physician extension. Sadly, I've heard stories from my friends who saw an NP who was incompetent, and who prescribed antibiotics for colds or something like that. The student health clinics at the college gave him a hard time when asked to see the physician.

Thanks,
Doug