CGFNS chaos

starbin, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2005

Please say something Suzanne. I expect your response. was there any such evidence before? I am worried again. It might cause delay in issuance of my Visa Screen Certificate after I pass the IELTS.

suzanne4, RN · Sep 12, 2005

Have you tried to contact them via phone, forget about e-mail..you have more than enough training to meet the requirements.

starbin, BSN, RN · Sep 13, 2005

Thanks a lot for your reply, suzanne.

Yes, I talked to the CGFNS person, he says that my School(the one where I did Bachelors nursing) did not send the breakdown of theory hours in Maternal/Infant nursing. They had received the breakdown of Maternal/Infant nursing credentials from my basic Nursing School, which is sufficient for meeting the requirement. He added that I was eligible for the exam because I met all the exam requirements but I will not be issued the certificate unless my Nursing school sends the breakdown of theory hours. My nursing school did not send the Maternal/Infant theory hours separately, because it is part of our Community Nursing course(Because this is a post basic Bachelors degree we review the MCH course,rather than going through its basic instructions, thoroughly). But We do the clinicals in maternal/infant nursing separate from the community nursing clinical practice. And the theory instruction hours of MCH is included in the community nursing hours. I explained this to that person, but he insists that they need details from the school.

suzanne4, RN · Sep 14, 2005

Unfortunately, that info needs to come from your school and in writing. Just contact them and have them send the required info. That is something that can be easily done.

starbin, BSN, RN · Sep 14, 2005

Thanks a lot for your reply, suzanne. I am surprised how could they allow me to take the exam on the basis of the credentials which were not accepted??? Initially they wrote, received and accepted. again they wrote meets all program requirements and now they write received but not accepted. CGFNS disapproves its own act. Its funny. I passed the tests, I met the requirements but they say I am not eligible for the certificate. something is really wrong with cgfns system.

astral92 · Dec 9, 2005

Thanks a lot for your reply, suzanne. I am surprised how could they allow me to take the exam on the basis of the credentials which were not accepted??? Initially they wrote, received and accepted. again they wrote meets all program requirements and now they write received but not accepted. CGFNS disapproves its own act. Its funny. I passed the tests, I met the requirements but they say I am not eligible for the certificate. something is really wrong with cgfns system.

I used to look up to the American nursing credentialing and assessment system until 2003 when after I passed the cgfns exam I received a letter saying I was not elligible to sit the exam due to the lack of documentation not received from my country of training. I re-checked my file on their web-site and found my file was cancelled. They just cut me off so promptly, all my trials of explaining my situation and my 2nd nursing schools' attempt to re-send my transcripts all failed. After more of a year I got partially reimbursed. How about my flight ticket to UK and hotel expences for 2 days in London? I would have never gone there for the fun of it. Plus I am a Romanian nurse, earning a crap salary in contry with a higher cost of living than Germany. The birocracy within cgfns is getting worse, I can tell...

csadam · Dec 10, 2005

hello,

i'm relatively new to this message board. this is my first post.

i totally understand all your frustration.

i came to the us via marriage almost five years ago as a foreign educated nurse from hungary. let me tell you, my battles with cgfns were pure hell.

i first applied for the cgfns qualifying exam in march 2003. everything went smoothly, or so i thought... what an idiot!!!

they let me sit for the march exam, and i failed. i picked myself up though and reapplied for the november 2003 exam. this time i passed.

i was waiting and waiting for my certificate but it didn't come, so i finally decided to sign up for the online account and check what the heck was going on. what i found was that i was deficient in my education. i was devastated. how could they let me sit for the exam (twice!) if my education wasn't good enough?:angryfire

finally after a large number of calls i got a phone call from cgfns stating that i needed to retake classes in ob, peds. and pcych. but i didn't get an official letter about this until september 2004!!! i took this to a local community college right away, enrolled in the required classes and successfully completed them by june this year.

by the time this happened of course my english has expired, so they wouldn't give me the certificate. which is an outrage because in the initial phone conversations about this i was promised that they would waive my english exam, as it was not my fault that it has expired (i took it in december 2002). so, since i didn't know what else to do i signed up for toefl again. as it happens, my exam would have been the first ibt on september 24th, and their system did not work properly, so they couldn't administer the exam that day.

thompson prometric rescheduled me for the 22nd of october, but by the time the results would have gotten to cgfns my nursing exam would have expired.

i took a different approach and i turned to our congressman and wrote a letter about all my problems to the director of quality assurance at cgfns.

the results were remarkable! i was cgfns certified on the 25th of october 2005. i still had to wait about a month and a half to receive my certificate in the mail, but they have promptly sent my info to my bon. i am now preparing to take the nclex-rn. i already received my att and i'm studying like crazy. i haven't picked a date yet, but it would be nice to do it before x-mas.

i guess my point is to everybody out there going through this same nonsense:

don't give up! use all your recourses, ask for detailed report from your school again, go back to school, turn to your congressman or senator if you have to, or send a letter to quality assurance at cgfns. as i heard bbb or state attorney general (in pa) may be able to help you as well. i realize that all these things are easier said than done, and that a person who doesn't already live in the us may have limited access to these solutions. but if my post helped only one fellow nurse out there struggling with cgfns, i'll be happy. good luck to you all and god bless!

c.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 10, 2005

Unfortunate for you, but things are actually quite different now. Since you are married, and have a green card now via the way of a spouse, all that you would need to do is take the NCLEX exam. CGFNS exam is no longer required by most states. Back when you started, it was.

Not sure when you are taking the exam, or for which state, and I won't be doing another mailing until after the holidays, as I am updating it, but I put together a training module for foreign nurses that has helped them pass the NCLEX exam.

You will need to get a copy of the Saunder's Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN and send me your e-mail address to my pm box, do not post it here. And I will inlcude you on my list, when I do my next mailing.

starbin, BSN, RN · Dec 10, 2005

Sorry to her about your struggles with CGFNS.

I was also in the same boat few months ago. Now I have alredy received my CGFNS certificate and visa screen certificate. I would find out the changes or mistakes made to my account immediately because I used to check it everyday and sometimes twice a day. Just to make sure that everything is ok. And I would call them immediately if there is any confusion.

They had sent a questionnaire with my certificates asking for feed back about the CGFNS services. I have only one good thing to say about them. My visa screen certificate was issued within one week after they received my English results. They sent my CGFNS certificate a week later.

few nurses are planning to take CGFNS to the court . They deserve it.

csadam · Dec 10, 2005

Dear Starbin!

I'm glad it worked out for you after all! :)

So all they needed was the detailed report from your second nursing school? I'm not surprised that some people are planning to sue CGFNS. I would have done the same thing if my situation hasn't resolved by now.

I'm studying like crazy for the NCLEX right now, altough I haven't picked a date yet. When are you planning to take yours?

Good luck to you!

Csilla

starbin, BSN, RN · Dec 10, 2005

Dear Csilla,

In fact, they didn't even need the detail from my nursing school. I just asked the representative to get the credential evaluator on phone but the representative asked me to hold phone, she came after 10 minutes and said "we are reviewing your file it will be updated tomorrow". Next day I again checked my status and every thing was taken care of.

I passed the NCLEX-RN exam in October, and now looking for a job.

All the best for your exam. It is not very tough but not very easy too. Most of the questions are critical thinking questions. I found it more easier than CGFNS. If you want to know the type of questions I got on NCLEX( I don't remember the exact questions but I can tell you the contents ) just send your e-mail address in PM.