Excelsior College nonLPN grads wrking in FL

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I am a nursing student enrolled in Excelsior colleges AS nursing program and am currently 5 tests from finishing their program. I recently received a letter from the school stating that the FL BON has changed their practice of granting endorsement or licensure to non LPN grads, stating grads must work for 2 years in another state or a federal facility. I have contacted the new Dirctor of the FL BON and he states that this is not a new change, that this has been the practice of the Board since 1996. When I called the BON before enrolling in the Excelsior program in 2004, I was told there were no stipulations, and have been told by several other students that they were told the same information. We are currently trying to get this changed or at least a grandfather clause for those of us who are so close to completion. We are also trying to locate any Excelsior RN grads (nonLPN) who are currently licensed in the state of Florida to discuss how their endorsement /licensure was handled. Please contact me if you would like to get involved in this fight, or if you are or you know a RN working in Florida that graduated from Excelsior. Thanks...

Hi all...Just got back from my meeting with Dr Coble, the previous director of FL BON. He was a very nice man, and is going to be attending the next board meeting in Jacksonville. He did verify that he endorsed "thousands" of EC grads while he was the director (4 years). He said that he and the other board members at that time felt that EC was a good program and they had no problems with endorsing licenses from other states (in other words, if it was good enough for one state, it was good enough for them). He, by the way, is an EC (Regents) graduate himself. He did, however, say that because it is a board they have the right to interpret the laws how they see fit and if Rick Garcia and the board are now not wanting to endorse, then they are well within their rights to do so. That being said, EC seems to have kinda dropped the ball somewhat in working with the board to provide them with what they wanted to show that they have a good program. Dr. Coble feels that EC needs to work closer with the board and that they (EC) have in the past failed to follow through on some paperwork, etc.

In my opinion, here are some suggestions of actions we as students need to take:

1. Call EC and make them aware that the burden of proof to the board falls on them, and they need to follow through with whatever the board requires of them. Period. They need to be held accountable to be sure that our licenses can be endorsed in Florida.

2. We also need to be sure that EC has made the request to be put on the agenda for the board meeting in October. Per Rick Garcia on 8/13/07, the school had not requested this. They have until 8/28 to get this request in. ONE WEEK!!!

3. If you have had a negative experience with Rick Garcia, his immediate supervisor is Lucy Gee at the Dept. of Health. I am trying to get a phone numer and email address for her. As of now I have a mailing address and would encourage everyone to write to her and let her know your experience in dealing with Mr. Garcia. Mailing address is:4052 Bald Cypress Way Tallahassee, FL 32399. The main number is 850-245-4125 (8am-5pm M-F).

4. When we know for sure that EC is on the agenda, I encourage as many of you as possible to attend this board meeting. It is open to the public, and I think it would be in all of our interest to have a presence there to see first hand how EC presents itself to the board.

I feel that we have a great ally in Dr. Coble, and considering that he has a working relationship with Rick Garcia, think this board meeting could result in a favorable outcome for us.

Feel free to PM me here if you have any more questions that I may be able to answer for you.

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Specializes in Peds stepdown ICU.

I wish you luck at your meeting! If the rules have changed based on another board members view, a grandfathering period should be allowed--at the very minimum. Keep us posted! I have the hope that you will be licensed in Florida!!!!

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Good work surgtech. Thank you for the update, and the time you spent getting the information.

Ronnie

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I just spoke with Laurie at EC BON Dept. and EC is on the Fl BON agenda for Oct. 11, the catch is they have limited time to make their case and they are only being allowed to present before a partial of the BON instead of entire BON members. I am going to ask for the time off work so I can go, I hope I get it.

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LPN graduates could apply for a license to Fl BON and non-LPN graduates had to apply for a license in another state then have that license endorsed to Fl, that is what was on Fl BON website and the info they gave by phone from Jan 2004 thru June 2004 when I went to the website & called several times prior to enrolling.

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Hi Larry,

I have asked many people how can military corpsman sit for the LPN exam, I haven't got anywhere. Please example this to me and how to sit for exam

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the hoops are worth it...hahahha...

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No, you can apply for school at Excelsior with experience in the military as a corpsman and also experience as an EMT as well.

And apply if you are a nursing student 50% or more through your own RN program.

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