CA Board of Nursing

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I was eligible to sit for the nclex for California.

Wow.. so I took my exam this September, went the distance all 265 questions. Unfortunately I didn't pass. Got my results and "near passing standard" all across the board so the news of failure basically tore me apart.

Now what makes it worse is after submitting the reapplication form and waiting for four weeks for a reply from the board, I get a letter today stating

:::: The Board has determined that the program you completed in the Philippines is not equivalent to the minimum requirements for licensure set forth in California Code Section 1426(d).

You may be able to view Section 1426 (d) and all other codes of the California Code of Regulations by going to our website at: www.rn.ca.gov. Once in the website there will be 'Tabs' at the top of the screen. Go to Regulations then to Nursing Practice Act and finally to California Code of Regulations.

California Code of Regulations Section 1426(d) states that theory and clinical practice shall be concurrent. The documents received state that some of the training was completed several semesters after the theory classes. ::::::

I email the evaluator in charge of my application and she explains ::::

You have options and that is to apply to the LVN Board or in another RN Board in a different state or go for your master's degree in nursing but in California you are not qualified as a RN without the Master's degree.

According to the RLE and the school's curriculum you should have completed the scrubs in NCM 101 and 102 but they were completed in NCM 104, 105 and 103. I am enclosing a copy of the letter that was sent to you yesterday.

I'm angry and sad at the same time. How is it possible that I was eligible to take the nclex the first time I applied and not eligible to retake now? I went from meeting the requirements of an RN to now meeting the requirements of an LVN. How is this possible?

They are saying I'm ineligible based on the dates of completion of my cases. The school requires 5 major, 5 minor, 5 assisted delivery, 5 actual delivery, and 5 cord dressing clinical cases which I completed or else I wouldn't have been able to graduate. All of a sudden Ca board is being technical about the completion dates of these cases. The school is well aware of the fact that completion of these cases is impossible to be concurrent with the theoretical classes. It is not always guaranteed that students will complete the needed cases in concurrent with the theoretical because there are times when there aren't any patients in the hospitals that we are rotated in. It is for this reason that the school allows completion of the needed cases through out the following semesters. We took the theoretical classes before we were allowed to go on our clinicals but the lack of patients made it difficult to complete those 5 cases during that semester. That's why some of my cases were completed one or two semesters after the theory classes.

Am I understanding this correctly? I thought all that matters was that my cases were complete regardless if it was completed in concurrent/along with theoretical or after theoretical. I learned what I was suppose to learn it just so happen that exposure to the actual thing came a semester later.

So now they are saying I can't sit for the nclex in California and I need to complete a masters degree to be qualified as an Rn in California. Is this possible? I went to school graduated with a BSN and in the end I'm told that I only qualify to be a LVN after submitting a reapplication for nclex. .

Clarification would be nice and I would appreciate any advice. This just makes me question if nursing is even the right fit for me cause it's been obstacles after obstacles.

ob and med surge will take us 8 months total to complete. they let you take one class per sem. 6 units each. so thats 2 semesters for us. and a lot of money. yeaaahboi.

do you ask how much each unit?..:(

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I am trying to help my friend in PH and came across this for courses at SFSU.

Not sure if it's correct, but may be others here can also benefit from it and cruise thru their website to pinpoint your needs.

San Francisco State University - School of Nursing Info for Prospective Students

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do you ask how much each unit?..:(

ummm less than 2k per sem. :p

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is the enrollment still ongoing? i would want to enroll but the school is very far from us.

whats your location? :)

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so will going back to school for those classes address the concurrent issue that we are having or just the deficiencies? I was able to email the analyst handling my application and i was told that I'm not qualified to be a RN in California without a masters degree. that doesnt make any sense . i was eligible before with a bachelors and then just because of dates of completion of our cases, Im told that i need a masters degree .

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If only there some miracle haha,,, it totally sucks with the whole cases issue T__T

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Guys do you think were being descriminated? If yes. Is it worth fighting for our rights or just go with the flow and move on?

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I recieved a letter requiring me to go back to school to do my ob and med surg again. And given me 3 yrs to comply.

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I recieved a letter requiring me to go back to school to do my ob and med surg again. And given me 3 yrs to comply.

Was it your first time applying?

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Guys do you think were being descriminated? If yes. Is it worth fighting for our rights or just go with the flow and move on?

You could try, I'm trying to help a PH friend in coming over as a new grad, but we feel it's a lost cause. You'll be fighting for years in court and with a possible rejection, since you're trying to short-circuit an existing requirement that's been in the rules for years.

It was only relaxed after the nursing shortage of several years ago and now even US educated grads are having a 50% chance of being hired and that's for BSN's and several hospitals are hiring locals only (locals in the sense the degree is from CA).

Even those US educated ones that graduated from Excelsior College (USA) can NO longer get their licenses renewed, even after being an RN for years!

I think that Excelsior also had the same issues with their classes and clinicals not being done at the same time. Those who graduated after 2006 from Excelsior can not even apply for their license any more! I know my sister-in-law (born and raised in sunny CA) is looking to take a HUGH drop in pay to work at a nursing home. Unless she wants to go back to school at an accredited accepted school....no more on-line courses or places that are not fully accredited.

Do the research here by putting in "Excelsior" in CA. Past Excelsior graduates even had a petition going and tried to fight it in the courts since 2006 and still the same answer.....not going to happen. That's why I said, you can try to fight it, but spending a ton of money for lawyers, dragging thru the courts, years later, you're only going to keep the lawyers employed.

Even ALL Excelsior graduates from across the USA is NOT eligible to take the RN board exam, they too must also re-take classes that are accepted by the CA BON. Those already working RN's in other states and graduated from Excelsior will not get to take the exam nor are they able to endorse their out of state licenses to CA, unless you graduated before 2006.

So that's why I say you can try to fight this, but the reality is, any new grads from PH will not be working in CA for a while. Even with family and friend's connections, since there's no way to get your CA license. Plus if you read the CA nursing forum, you'll be competing with 1,000's up to 3,000 local new grads applicants, going after 10-30 job openings. I'm sure they will be a few that's able to get in somehow.

I'm trying to console my friend in the PH, but I can hear in her voice and e-mails, she's really depressed and sadden.

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I have the same situation and I think that our school should fix our problem because its not our fault if we didnt finished the cases in one semester. We're just following what the school gave us. Sadly I'm trying to reach my school and ask for help but they didnt respond. Filipino nurses should be aware about this situation because many filipino immigrants or citizens went to Philippines to take up nursing there because its cheaper. But now, I think they have to know that its not good now to take up nursing in the Philippines specially if your school doesnt care about you once you graduated.

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CA is very difficult for PH graduates. The nursing demand must be on the way out, with so many RNs joining the workforce.

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