Friend of Nurse

[Friend of Nurse]

My girlfriend is trying to return to the profession and reinstate her LPN license in Florida. She submitted her application in December and, after much back and forth, was told to retake the NCLEX-PN. She has contacted Pearson Vue to enroll for the test, but is being told the BON must send something to them in order to allow her enrollment. The BON says she must be enrolled to take the test before they will send the ATT. She is caught in the middle after multiple discussions. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what the hangup is? If there is a conflict between the BON and an outside agency required by BON to be part of the licensing process, an applicant is certainly not empowered to mediate this. Any advise would be appreciated.

[PharmGuy]

Perhaps the BON needs proof she attended/passed LPN school whenever that was. My dean had to send proof to the BON, which then sent the OK to Pearson Vue, who then sent me the ATT.

[Friend of Nurse]

Thanks Pharmaguy. After 8 months of proceeding on this path at the suggestion of BON staff, a higher level manager was finally reached who advised that NCLEX can only be taken once. Now must go through reinstatement study program. Like an abbreviated version of nursing school with repeat of clinicals. If anyone knows a good online program for this, please let us know. They are not common in nursing schools we've found.

Thanks again.

[PharmGuy]

Oh for heavens sakes! How long has she been not practicing? Did she have trouble with the NCLEX the first time or breeze through? Good luck to you both!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

That sounds like a weird situation all around. It is correct that a person only passes the NCLEX once, when a person passes you don't ever retake the test. A person can however take the test multiple times until they pass.

So, is your girlfriend's situation that she has taken the test and didn't pass so needs a refresher course in order to retest? That I have heard of. I have never heard of needing a refresher course to obtain a license in any particular state when the nurse already has a license somewhere.

Of course every state has their own set of rules but unless she has not been actively licensed for a long time it sounds strange to me that any state requires additional schooling once a nurse already has a license in another state. The only way I see that as a reasonable policy is if she never worked as a nurse long enough to gain enough practice hours to compensate for not having enough clinical hours in school to meet Florida's minimum standard for taking the NCLEX for licensing in that state in the first place.

[Friend of Nurse]

Actually she passed it in about 2006 and practiced until about 2015. She stepped away for a while and her license lapsed. Now she would like to reenter and has been jumped through a lot of hoops to reinstate it. I think it is the required methodology to take the shorter studies and clinicals. Now just have to find one.

Thanks.