Can I get into in nursing school

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I have a healthcare waiver from the Illinois dept. of healthcare registry. I was wondering will I be disqualified from entering nursing school based on my past history. I have a BA in psychology and I want to become a psychiatric nurse. I work in a local VA hospital so finding a job will not be an issue it's getting accepted into nursing school. My question is do Illinois nursing schools accept healthcare waivers and allow students to enroll with previous offenses?. My offenses are from 2006.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

What is a health care waiver?

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Please elaborate on what a health care waiver involves and then we possibly will be able to advise you.

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Specializes in hospice.

The answer is, "Maybe." It all depends on what you did and where you live. In my State there is a list of offenses that will absolutely bar you from practicing as a nurse. There really is no point in training someone to be a nurse if they won't be allowed to practice.

That is just my state. The only way for you to find out your status for sure is to contact the Board of Nursing in the state in which you hope to practice.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Only the school that you are interested in can tell if you if they will accept you based on your criminal history. Call/write them and ask.

Also, you may also want to check with the IL: just because the school accepts you as a student doesn't guarantee that the IL BON will accept you as a nurse. However, BONs tend not to make decisions on whether they'll license applicants with a criminal history until those applications actually apply for that license. Still couldn't hurt to drop the BON a note and ask.

Best of luck.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Another piece of the puzzle is: Even if you graduate from school and get a license, there is no guarantee that an employer will hire you. For example, I work for a pediatric facility and we are very particular about who we hire. Be sure to do some research on the hiring practice of the types of places where you will want to work.

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