How many hours worked to keep license active?

U.S.A. Washington

Published

Specializes in Labor and Delivery/ Postpartum/ School.

Hi All

I just moved to WA from DE and am now a SAHM. I am thinking of just letting my license expire and then in a few years, when I am ready to work, go through the route of re-activating my license to a WA license.

Just wondering how many hours you have to work in a year in WA to keep your license active? I see you have to renew your license yearly here too. So I am just trying to figure out what is better for me- letting my license expire (DE license expires in November) or working the bare minimum + required CEUs to keep a WA license active for whenever I do decide to go back to work on a more regular basis.

Thanks for your advice!

Melissa

PS- I did school nursing in DE so I could always pick up substitute school nursing jobs here and there to keep my RN active but I'd rather not! :nurse:

Specializes in SRNA.

Another option may be to just keep your DE license active. You don't have to live there to maintain an active license. Do they require a minimum # of hours to work? You can then just endorse to WA when you want to start working.

Information about WA can be found here: http://www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/Professions/Nursing/continuecomp.htm

WA state just adopted, as of January 1, 2011, requirements to work 531 hours and complete 45 hours continuing nursing education over a 36 month period. I doubt they can really start auditing folks for this until 2014 since they're requiring us to start documenting as of this year.

Welcome to WA!

Specializes in Labor and Delivery/ Postpartum/ School.

Yes same thing in DE, have to work so many hours to keep an RN license active. So then I would have to a WA license to work in WA. That's not very many hours over a 3 year period but it's more than I want to work :)

I know we just adopted the CE part, but I didn't know about the work hours.

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

Hmm, not sure about those work hours. What if you take a hiatus. I went back about 2 yrs ago and thankfully didnt have to work at all. I just kept my license active and had to return to work in less than 5 or I would have to take refresher courses. It would stink to have to work at all if you didn't want to or couldn't.

Specializes in School Nurse.

Those work hours can also be volunteer hours. You need a statement from whomever you are volunteering for, but they count.

Specializes in School Nurse.

Here's some more information on the continuing competencies:

http://www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/professions/nursing/continuecomp.htm

And this video goes over much of the same information:

http://seattlechildrens.org/healthcare-professionals/education/online-grand-rounds/nursing-practice-continuing-competency-self-reflection/

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