I aM floored. I just received notice from GA Board of Nursing that they denied the endorsement of my MN RN license because I did not meet clinical practice requirements . When I called the board, they transferred me to a their Legal Nurse Consultant who stated that effective July 1, 2008 GA would no longer endorse RN license from Excelsior College students with no previous RN experience. She suggested that I go to my licensed state and work for a while then try again, but she could not give me a time frame.
Has anyone else experienced this. I thought we should at least have gotten some sort of notice/warning before this type of rule be adopted by the board. I am going to file a motion for reconsideration using an Attorney. Before I entered Excelsiors program I called GA Board to verify acceptance. I had been accepted to a traditional LPN to RN bridge program; I could have been almost finished their too. I am so sad right now. I have been crying for two days. I think I will need to see my doctor for Zoloft.
I have been an LPN for over 13 years doing Med/Surg for at least 10. I work on a hospital unit right now. THIS IS SO UNFAIR!!!:banghead:
As far as I can tell, it really depends on the individual state. In Virginia, as it stands now, if an EC RN graduates later than 12/31/2009, he/she will never, ever, ever be able to work in Virginia, period. (Unless one were to work for the Feds -- Veterans Administration, correctional, etc.) Georgia has never allowed direct licensure -- EC grads have always had to endorse in. Georgia is currently not allowing endorsement of EC grads who applied for it after July 1, but I don't know what they would do in the case of an EC grad with many years of experience (like you, for example) if you were to try to endorse in to Georgia.
Some states -- Colorado, for example -- will allow EC grads to endorse in if they meet a minimum number of practice hours.
One more confusing thing: Maryland does not allow licensure by exam or endorsement for any EC grad that finished after 12/31/2007, and I just graduated in August. However, Maryland is a compact state, and my Virginia nursing license plainly says "multi-state privileges" on it. So if I were to continue to live in Virginia and work in Maryland (I'm not far from Maryland where I live), would I be able to do that? Not that I want to do so ... I'm just curious.
Tammy- as it stands now GA will not endorse any EC graduate regradless of experience hours....they are pretty much saying you could practice in another state for 30 years and they would still not grant licensure!
Yikes! So, with Virginia, that makes three states that won't accept EC grads-CA/GA/VA. I wonder if other BON's are headed in that direction.
You can add Maryland to that list, too. The istudysmart site actually has a pretty up-to-date list, with the exception of updates to the Georgia situation:
You can add Maryland to that list, too. The istudysmart site actually has a pretty up-to-date list, with the exception of updates to the Georgia situation:
Thanks for the link, that was great--disappointing but great.
I guess the bright side is that there are still many states in which EC *is* accepted, and as long as you can get licensed in one of those and get some time under the proverbial belt, EC grads still have lots of options -- very few states close the door completely. I'm just heartsick for my peeps in Georgia, who were cut off without much in the way of warning. Students who should have been celebrating a successful CPNE had no time for joy.
I think that's the root of it, right there. A subtle campaign, but it seems to be having an effect.
]You're spot on LunahRN! Back when VA passed legislation to no longer grant RN licensure to graduates of EC I brought up this very point, however not many people seemed to take it seriously. I called the NCSBN directly back then and the nurse I spoke to IMMEDIATELY referred me to this research paper. She completely discredited ANY prior experience of the LPN, stating it is the position of the NCSBN that clinicals need to be repeated due to the difference in scopes of practice, and that they had distributed the position paper to all the individual states BON. Those of us who are currently LPN's would beg to differ that we need to be re-taught EVERYTHING... just the bridge that covers what we aren't currently licensed to do. That is what needs to be the focus as we move forward. Legislators need to be educated on the differences between the "inexperienced PRE-LICENSURE nursing student vs. the CURRENTLY LICENSED LPN to RN student". The position paper, even in it's TITLE point to "pre-licensure nursing programs"... if we can prove the point that we are NOT PRE-LICENSED students therefore are exempt from this study, we can then disprove their argument that we aren't qualified to be granted the very RN licensure that we have worked so hard for and deserve.
Does your pro-EC argument include paramedics? A lot of people focus on the LPNs, and we medics are kinda left in the dust. More than one LPN I've encountered (not you, I'm just sayin') has implied that they didn't feel medics should be allowed into EC's program, and that states would be more accepting of the EC LPN-RN if medics weren't allowed in as well. Where do medics fit into this equation?
]You're spot on LunahRN! Back when VA passed legislation to no longer grant RN licensure to graduates of EC I brought up this very point, however not many people seemed to take it seriously. I called the NCSBN directly back then and the nurse I spoke to IMMEDIATELY referred me to this research paper. She completely discredited ANY prior experience of the LPN, stating it is the position of the NCSBN that clinicals need to be repeated due to the difference in scopes of practice, and that they had distributed the position paper to all the individual states BON. Those of us who are currently LPN's would beg to differ that we need to be re-taught EVERYTHING... just the bridge that covers what we aren't currently licensed to do. That is what needs to be the focus as we move forward. Legislators need to be educated on the differences between the "inexperienced PRE-LICENSURE nursing student vs. the CURRENTLY LICENSED LPN to RN student". The position paper, even in it's TITLE point to "pre-licensure nursing programs"... if we can prove the point that we are NOT PRE-LICENSED students therefore are exempt from this study, we can then disprove their argument that we aren't qualified to be granted the very RN licensure that we have worked so hard for and deserve.
I understand your position, however please keep in mind that NOT EVERYONE who completes the ADN/RN program (prelicensure) at Excelsior is NOT an LPN. Therefore this solution would only be applicable to LPN's and this is not fair for all. There should be a proposed solution to grandfather ALL graduates and students affected, not just LPN's.
There are those who have completed 50% of a traditional RN program with supervised clinicals concurrent with theory. So should we argue that yes we should be licensed on the basis of these facts? There are BON's that applaud the 50% Excelsior student whenever supervised clinicals become a quesiton or experience is an issue. I know for a fact that a few states with the LPN experience requirement will accept a student who completed 50% in a traditional RN program for licensure by endorsement. Now sofaras the states that are refusing to license Excelsior graduates this may prove to be an asset. As of now, this doesn't matter with GA.
Specializes in CHPLN- Cert. hospice/palliative care LPN.
Does your pro-EC argument include paramedics? A lot of people focus on the LPNs, and we medics are kinda left in the dust. More than one LPN I've encountered (not you, I'm just sayin') has implied that they didn't feel medics should be allowed into EC's program, and that states would be more accepting of the EC LPN-RN if medics weren't allowed in as well. Where do medics fit into this equation?
]Both your and the post that followed you make excellent points. I didn't mean to imply that only LPN's have a right to an EC curriculum, and I'm sorry if it came across that way.In reality, I can only speak to this issue based on being an LPN, since that's all I know first hand, however I would very much appreciate help from other students who are paramedics and from students who have completed at least 50% of a traditional RN curriculum. I believe we are ALL QUALIFIED and there is an argument to be made for ALL OF US, but it is going to take a group of folks from each discipline to make a collective argument. That being said, I would LOVE to here from other students that are NOT LPN'S. We all have to work together on this.
Does your pro-EC argument include paramedics? A lot of people focus on the LPNs, and we medics are kinda left in the dust. More than one LPN I've encountered (not you, I'm just sayin') has implied that they didn't feel medics should be allowed into EC's program, and that states would be more accepting of the EC LPN-RN if medics weren't allowed in as well. Where do medics fit into this equation?
That's such a great point. Nursing is different than that of the paramedic field, but I get a sense that experience gained in the BLS/ALS realm is discounted. When I took the CPNE back in 94, there were three of us that were paramedics and the rest of the 16 were LVN's. Of the 19, all 3 of us ambulance drivers:chuckle passed with 3 LVN's and the rest (10 LVN's) failed.
Ultimately, the name of the game is competence in the context of terminal end behavior of that of a safe-beginning nurse--you either have it or not. Competency can and is reduced to measurable knowledge and behavior in the form of cognitive and psychomot exams. In place of focusing the importance on this concept, it seems to me that the powers within the BON structure are more concerend with the process of how one develops those competencies instead of whether or not one possesses those compenties, and those competnecies are somehow based on the requisite LPN/LVN background insomuch as it spefically discards other fields of training (i.e. an EMT at the highest level of prehospital certification).
Very curious as to the logic and reasoning used by the authorities who are licensed in an evidence-based discipline where product in the form of evidence, not process, is supposed to guide, inform and direct practice.
san antonio - september 20, 2008 - in a special presentation as part of its annual four-day education summit, the national league for nursing this morning announced the six schools of nursing to receive the organization's prestigious center of excellence™ (coe) designation for 2008-2011.
four schools named for the first time are: duquesne university school of nursing in pittsburgh, pa: east carolina university in greenville, nc; regis college in weston, ma; and trinitas school of nursing in elizabeth, nj. excelsior college in albany, ny and university of north carolina at greensboro have achieved their second designation having been named centers of excellence 2005-2008.
"the nln is proud to recognize those schools whose faculty is doing the outstanding work that sets them apart from others," said dr. beverly malone, phd, rn, faan, ceo of the nln. "by publicly acknowledging these best academic practices, we hope to set the bar higher in nursing programs across the board so that those entering the profession will have the best tools available to meet the challenges of a diverse, ever-changing health care environment."
i find this all extremely ironic, the ncsbn doesn't feel excelsior's program makes the grade, yet excelsior is one of only a handful of schools that received this honor. it seems we have an extreme difference of opinion between 2 very influential organizations within nursing. ec is accredited by the same orgs that accredit/approve every other nursing school that turns out grads able to sit for state boards.
i really think this is much more rhetoric than fact and if ec was such a "second rate" college turning out substandard/unsafe nurses why would they even be considered for this award not once but twice??
. When I called the board, they transferred me to a their Legal Nurse Consultant who stated that effective July 1, 2008 GA would no longer endorse RN license from Excelsior College students with no previous RN experience. She suggested that I go to my licensed state and work for a while then try again, but she could not give me a time frame.
Lunah, MSN, RN
14 Articles; 13,773 Posts
As far as I can tell, it really depends on the individual state. In Virginia, as it stands now, if an EC RN graduates later than 12/31/2009, he/she will never, ever, ever be able to work in Virginia, period. (Unless one were to work for the Feds -- Veterans Administration, correctional, etc.) Georgia has never allowed direct licensure -- EC grads have always had to endorse in. Georgia is currently not allowing endorsement of EC grads who applied for it after July 1, but I don't know what they would do in the case of an EC grad with many years of experience (like you, for example) if you were to try to endorse in to Georgia.
Some states -- Colorado, for example -- will allow EC grads to endorse in if they meet a minimum number of practice hours.
One more confusing thing: Maryland does not allow licensure by exam or endorsement for any EC grad that finished after 12/31/2007, and I just graduated in August. However, Maryland is a compact state, and my Virginia nursing license plainly says "multi-state privileges" on it. So if I were to continue to live in Virginia and work in Maryland (I'm not far from Maryland where I live), would I be able to do that? Not that I want to do so ... I'm just curious.