fingerprinting for nursing school

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Hi all,

I'm a senior BSN nursing student and I was wondering if you all are required to get fingerprinted for nursing school. The nursing department contacted all the nursing students of my school and stated that due to new regulations all nursing students need to get fingerprinted for a cost of $65.

Also I go to college in New Mexico and Texas is only half of an hour away and sometimes I have clinicals in Texas. This summer the nursing department stated that we can no longer have clinicals in Texas (due to Texas regulations) and must have all clinical sites within 75 miles of campus. Thanks.

Paige

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Specializes in Emergency.

Criminal background check - yes.

Fingerprints - no.

Are these state or school regulations?

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

Not fingerprints. We had Criminal Background check and child abuse clearance....

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Paige. . .most states now have nursing laws requiring the state boards to run criminal background checks on all licensed nurses. This is often done with fingerprinting to also verify someone's identity. Many employers also have these rules for their employees as well. Sometimes it is their insurance carriers that require this. When a facility is allowing students to do their clinical practicums within their facility walls, they usually advise the nursing school that a fingerprint/criminal background check is required of all who have hands-on contact with any of their clientele. So, this may be something that your nursing school must submit to in order to be able to use the clinical facilities of certain area hospitals. You also need to be aware that these days most acute hospitals and nursing homes perform drug testing and criminal background checks on job applicants. If this is something written into the New Mexico law, then it is something that you will have to submit to. These laws have been passed to protect consumers from people who previously lost their licenses in other states only to get licensed in another state and continue their dastardly ways of abusing patients or facility property. There have also been cases of people who have stolen another person's identity and tried to pass themselves off as licensed nurses.

While I understand that having to submit to this as well as bear the cost might seem unfair, I have to tell you that some other licensed professions have to endure even higher costs to go through this testing. Chalk it up to the price of being a professional. You haven't seen what the cost to take the NCLEX exam is, I take it? Then, there will be the cost to renew your RN license every two years. That may require you to lay out money for continuing education classes.

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LPN course in community college in MI:

Criminal Background check...Yes

Fingerprinting...Yes

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

I am happy to comply with any requirements regarding fingerprinting or background checks.

For one thing, I have nothing to hide. More importantly, this will protect you and your professional reputation should anything happen down the line. For example, just yesterday I was reading a news story where a woman (off the street) had been hired by a hospital and actually spent several days in the pediatric ICU at that hospital before they realized that she was not a nurse. She had found some paperwork for an RN and had used her information on the application for the job. It took them days to get it straight, meanwhile this nut was working with critically ill babies!

With ID fraud and the likes I would embrace a national system where all healthcare professionals could be verified through a central database quickly and efficiently by the employer. It may seem to be overly rigorous when you first think about it, but if it were my license on the line, I would rather that than somebody out their trying to practice under my license and actually hurting or killing someone. OK, it would probably get sorted out eventually, but it's not something I would want to go through.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I had to get 2 sets of fingerprints, one set for the state and one federal.

Both at my expense. I was also drug tested randomly at least 3 times in NS, all at my expense.

That's just the way it goes....

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LPN course in Central Florida:

Criminal Background check...Yes

Fingerprinting...Yes

Transferring CNA to Florida:

Criminal Background check...Yes

Fingerprinting...Yes

Wisconsin EMT course in 2004:

Criminal Background check...Yes

Fingerprinting...No

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I am also in a BSN program in NM (not the same school as you, though ... I'm not that close to Texas) and we were required to be fingerprinted at the start of this year due to state regulations and privacy laws. It was a pain, but not that big a deal. I'm sorry to hear you've lost clinical sites though. Are they scrambling to find places for everyone?

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Specializes in Neuro.

We didn't have to get fingerprinted this semester, but they did say at orientation Thursday that it will be becoming a requirement very soon. So we may have to go through that by next semester.

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Specializes in LDRP.

Yes, our state BON requires it of all RN students (right before graduation) here as well. It was painless. :)

(We get background checked at the beginning and end of the program--at the end by the FBI!)

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Specializes in LDRP.
I had to get 2 sets of fingerprints, one set for the state and one federal.

Both at my expense. I was also drug tested randomly at least 3 times in NS, all at my expense.

That's just the way it goes....

I WISH they would drug test the students in our class...;) 'nuff said!

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