Published Dec 20, 2008
Curious1alwys, BSN, RN
1,310 Posts
I am wanting to re-enter (well, enter) the field of nursing after only working for a few months after graduation. I am going to take a refresher course and was wondering if you could answer some q's:
If you are in a refresher course, where is it? What is it called? Some are national and I am interested in finding out about a few specific ones. Tell me about it!
And, if you finished your refresher course, were you able to get a job? Was it easy or very hard? I am worried I'll exert all this effort and then no one will want to hire me anyway. I graduated almost 2 yrs ago and stayed at home during my pregnancy and now that my LO is young still.
Any advice would be helpful!
Pax_Ramona
32 Posts
Hi,
I just completed a nursing refresher course this summer/fall and am about to start my new job (hospital) next week. I took a state board approved nursing refresher course. I went through a local community college so it was affordable (less than $800 incl textbooks). The didactic portion was all online and included 2 telephone conferences with other learners. I went to 2 optional skills days at the nursing school which were extremely helpful. Then I completed 84 hours of clinical work (with a checklist of procedures). After all the paper work was submitted to the board, I paid my fee and showed proof of 20 hours of CE--I had my license reinstated. Of course, I had been out of nursing for 10 years and was on an inactive status. Your license may still be active.
I ended up getting a job at the hospital where I did my clinical. It was the only place I applied. The longest part of the application process was checking my past jobs since many were over 20 years ago (some hospitals don't even exist anymore).
Good luck to you. Your confidence will come back as you review. Do you still have your nursing textbooks? Another good source would be an NCLEX review book. Hope this helps.
Pax:up:
Thank you for taking the time to reply! It helps!