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:
Does this mean, students like me will never be able to attend EC. I am not an LPN, but I have done full 2 years of BSN including the clinical, I just did not graduate due to not passing the one course on the last semester. I have enoguh clinical practice through the nursing program. Georgia is a mess, I wish I could move to another state. I had spoke to someone in the admission office at EC, he told me I could still attend the EC nursing program based on 50% clinical credits and I can take NCLEX in another state , but will GBN will endorse my license if I take the NCLEX in another state? So, guys help me. Can I attend EC through another state, if I have college credits from Georgia?
Does this mean, students like me will never be able to attend EC. I am not an LPN, but I have done full 2 years of BSN including the clinical, I just did not graduate due to not passing the one course on the last semester. I have enoguh clinical practice through the nursing program. Georgia is a mess, I wish I could move to another state. I had spoke to someone in the admission office at EC, he told me I could still attend the EC nursing program based on 50% clinical credits and I can take NCLEX in another state , but will GBN will endorse my license if I take the NCLEX in another state? So, guys help me. Can I attend EC through another state, if I have college credits from Georgia?
You can attend/ get licensed in another state, but you can't get licensed in GA as a RN.
According to Senate Bill 49 you have to be a LPN, Paramedic or a Medical Corpsmen or hold a degree in a clinically oriented health care field with demonstrated experience providing direct patient care to qualify for admission. Unless you applied to Excelsior prior to July 1, 2008. If you applied prior to July 1,2008 then the 50% clinicals in a program would still be available. You would have to complete everything before July 2010 (I think it's July).
I attended a RN program, but didn't complete 50% and I had the option to return to the program, but with the way people were failing out of clinicals, I was worried that I would have to withdraw and I wouldn't get into another program so I went to a LPN school and graduated there. I applied to Excelsior in June, but I didn't make the July 1st, 2008 cut off date. So I have been waiting for the Governor to fix this mess. Thank heavens the bill passed. I want to write a letter to Balhourn and Sims (the two that voted "Nay") and explain exactly what is required from the students. If I had Sharon Cooper or Dee Keeton's version of the process of Excelsior (from what I have read from Keeton's letter posted on here and from the interview Sharon Cooper did with the news), I would have voted "No" too. Unfortunately, they are not sharing all that is required for an educated decision to be made.
As a proud graduate (AAS and BS Nursing) of the University of the State of New York Regents College Nursing Program (now known as Excelsior) I feel uniquely qualified and obligated to provide All Nurses readers with a different perspective on this contentious issue. Additionally, I will try to quell the irrational fears and patent disinformation being espoused by individuals that are now reluctant to accept graduates of this non-traditional education program, despite the fact that this program has been successfully training nurses to care for Georgia patients for over 30 years. Please understand that this bill simply restores the previously existing privileges of Excelsior graduates to practice in the State of Georgia.
The Georgia Board of Nursing would have you believe that non-traditional education programs (such as Excelsior) allow unprepared individuals to enter our profession. This opinion is NOT based on scientific data and the Board has absolutely NO evidence to prove that nurses choosing this path to licensure are any less qualified or pose any greater risk to the safety of our patients than graduates of more traditional programs of nursing. I find this position to be exceptionally troubling because our profession has always sought to base our clinical and professional decisions and practice on evidence based research. Yet the Georgia Board of Nursing has unilaterally declared that graduates from these types of programs pose a risk to our citizens. Unfortunately, this biased declaration is not founded in scientific fact. The Georgia Board of Nursing does not want the legislature dictating nursing education, yet the Board refuses to base their decisions on evidence based research regarding non-traditional education.
The Georgia Board of Nursing is charged with protecting the citizens of Georgia. Georgia has a critical nursing shortage. Nursing programs currently have ridiculously long waiting lists and limited clinical sites resulting in a woefully inadequate supply of new graduates within Georgia. But the Board of Nursing has unilaterally decided to erect barriers to qualified nurses seeking employment in our state based solely on an unscientific opinion regarding non-traditional education.
Non-traditional education works and allows access to programs for working, productive adults. Additionally, USNY/Excelsior has provided countless veterans (via the DANTES program) with the opportunity to advance their careers where they would otherwise not have been able to attend college. Why should we punish our service members if they choose a non-traditional educational path?
Non-traditional programs have come under fire for a perceived lack of clinical and didactic training. However, it is important to realize that learning needs for individuals with healthcare experience are far different than the needs of a learner that is new to the healthcare arena. My experience with this program has been very rewarding and my training more than prepared me for my career in nursing. The written exams covered the full spectrum of the nursing discipline and the Clinical Performance Nursing Exam (CPNE) is a rigorous, criterion referenced, competency based exam that must be passed before graduation. This grueling practical examination required extensive preparation. In my personal opinion, the program required dedication, initiative, self discipline and critical thinking far beyond that required of a traditional program. I personally would question the ability of most traditional students and many practicing nurses to pass the CPNE without extensive additional preparation beyond their traditional curriculum.
As a professional educator for many years, I can assure you that "contact hours" do not translate into competency. In fact, one of the best methods to determine competency is through a competency based practical examination like the CPNE. These same types of examinations are used in the military and the FAA in their educational programs.
Many out there may be critical of an individual's choice to pursue a nursing education in a non-traditional program and would consider the resultant educational preparation to be substandard. Despite my non-traditional education, I continued my professional nursing education at the Medical University of South Carolina, graduating as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) with a Master of Health Sciences. I have been a practicing CRNA for over 15 years and I am president of Sentry Anesthesia Management providing anesthesia services to hospitals and Ambulatory Surgery centers throughout the state. As a professional educator, I am a faculty member of the Medical College of Georgia Graduate School of Nursing and have been twice recognized as the Clinical Instructor of the Year for the MCG Nurse Anesthesia Program. And in an effort to add some credence to the academic quality of non-traditional students please note that I also have a BS in Professional Aeronautics, served on active duty as a military pilot in multiple combat theaters, completed a Master of Business Administration (in a non-traditional format) and have authored numerous scholarly articles on education, adult learning, clinical anesthesia, aviation and business. Thus, I certainly take exception to any claim that the USNY/Excelsior program graduates candidates that are less than fully qualified.
Finally, based on the information provided above, I would encourage you to contact your State legislators and ask them to support Senate Bill 49 to RESTORE the previously existing privileges of Excelsior graduates to practice in the State of Georgia.
Brace yourselves..... it has made it's way into the house for it's first read!! I wish I could see the look an Rep. Sharon Coopers face when this bill gets passed.
Brace yourselves..... it has made it's way into the house for it's first read!! I wish I could see the look an Rep. Sharon Coopers face when this bill gets passed.
Me too. You can bet that she's doing everything within her power to see that it doesn't, or at least in its current EC friendly form. I sent a letter to my Representative this afternoon. I hope that many, many more people do the same.
Can somone help me who should I send the letter to. Am I suppose to write a letter to the district legislator, or the senator of the state. Please give me the link so that I can write a letter too.
Can somone help me who should I send the letter to. Am I suppose to write a letter to the district legislator, or the senator of the state. Please give me the link so that I can write a letter too.
This is SB 49:PRO also in the atlanta journal on 2/17/09, I think the AJC is just posting pro's and con's of the bill
SHOULD GEORGIA CHANGE EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR NURSES?
SB 49: PRO: Equalize our standards
By LEE HAWKINS
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
There is a desperate need for more qualified registered nurses in Georgia. Statistics indicate that Georgia has one of the lowest per capita nurse rates, placing it among the bottom one-fourth nationwide. The “Final Report of the Senate Study Committee on the Shortage of Doctors and Nurses in Georgia” concluded in 2007 that “nursing education systems in Georgia are struggling to keep up with the pace of demand.”
Senate Bill 49 does not lower standards for out-of-state nursing schools, as its opponents argue, nor does it provide a means for less qualified individuals to become licensed as RNs. It provides a consistent and equitable means for determining when an out-of-state school has a program “similar to, and no less stringent” than those in Georgia. There are obvious differences of opinion on the appropriate path to entry-level RN practice. There is no difference of opinion, however, when it comes to Georgia’s shortage of RNs. This is why the need for SB 49 is so clear.
Last year, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1041, which called for nursing programs outside Georgia to “meet criteria similar to, and no less stringent than, those established by” the Georgia Board of Nursing.
The intent was to ensure background checks for all candidates for RN licensure, but the nursing board’s interpretation is now keeping quality RNs out of Georgia.
Last November, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office spoke to this interpretation of HB 1041, stating that “bona fide nontraditional education institutions can have a place in Georgia.”
SB 49 requires that nontraditional nursing programs have specialty accreditation and be part of an institution that itself holds appropriate accreditation. For example, the nontraditional nursing program at the Excelsior College School of Nursing is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, just as 16 of Georgia’s 18 associate degree programs are. Beyond being accredited, Excelsior has been designated as one of only 13 Centers of Excellence in Nursing Education by the National League for Nursing.
The associate degree program at Excelsior only admits those with significant health care experience — an average of 10 years’ worth — such as LPNs, paramedics and certain classifications of military corpsmen. Once admitted, all of Excelsior’s nursing students must pass a rigorous array of nationally recognized nursing examinations and an intensive 2 1/2-day examination of nursing clinical skills in order to graduate.
Although different in methodology, Excelsior’s focus is on the same outcome as all other nursing programs: the preparation of registered nurses to provide safe and competent patient care.
In the last 30-plus years, more than 1,000 Excelsior graduates have been licensed as RNs in the state and have been providing safe and effective nursing care in Georgia, without any evidence of problems with their performance.
SB 49 will not eliminate Georgia’s nursing shortage. It will, however, reopen career opportunities for adults with significant health care experience who have completed a rigorous program of study in an accredited, nationally distinguished program. It will do so without any cost to Georgia taxpayers, and it will enable Georgia to take a national leadership position in positively approaching the nursing shortage.
• Lee Hawkins, the sponsor of SB 49, is a Republican state senator from Gainesville.
. 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.
smiley2030
54 Posts
Hi, Everyone
Does this mean, students like me will never be able to attend EC. I am not an LPN, but I have done full 2 years of BSN including the clinical, I just did not graduate due to not passing the one course on the last semester. I have enoguh clinical practice through the nursing program. Georgia is a mess, I wish I could move to another state. I had spoke to someone in the admission office at EC, he told me I could still attend the EC nursing program based on 50% clinical credits and I can take NCLEX in another state , but will GBN will endorse my license if I take the NCLEX in another state? So, guys help me. Can I attend EC through another state, if I have college credits from Georgia?