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:
I have no doubt that Mrs Coopers bill will fail. SB 49 will be passed and be signed by the governor! Even if hb 475 passes Sonny Purdue will veto it!
You would think that most of these Senators and Representatives would realize that the baby boomers are about to retire and the nursing shortage is going to get worse. If you don't believe me, do an internet seach for the number of RN positions available for the Atlanta area. With medicine extending life and fertility treatment increasing the number of babies born, the population is expanding (fyi-not against fertility treatment). The Senators/Representatives should realize that their health care will be compromised--not due to incompetent nursing as Ms. Cooper/Ms. Keeton suggests, but due to a lack of nurses available to provide patient care.
That's right--think of yourself sitting in a hospital bed ringing that call bell (keep ringing it) and not being able to get care because there are not enough nurses to staff the facility. If I am a nurse on that shift, I am calling the hospital administrators because I don't want to put my patients at risk or myself at risk for losing my license (that I have busted my rump getting) for not being able to provide competent care for XYZ number of patients.
I am new here, but I have been involved with this case of the GA BON vs. EC since I moved here to Georgia six months ago. I have been a Critical Care Registered Nurse for ten years now. I am a proud graduate of USNY-Regents College, with honors. In addition to working in critical care all of this time, I specialized in infectious diseases. I have been Clinical Coordinator and an educator for nursing students and new grads. I am the nurse that families request by name. I pay attention and save lives. I think outside the box.
Now, I am unemployed. My husband, also a critical care nurse, is having to work overtime to support our family and we have had to cut corners drastically because I am not allowed to work in this state, even though I am licensed to work in 23 different states in this country!
Having said all of that, the reason I am joining this forum now is I got some disturbing news this morning concerning SB 49 (which we are all counting on). Yes, it passed the senate by an overwhelming margin. However, it has been handed over to the Health and Human Services Committee, Headed up by Representative Sharon Cooper (talk about letting the fox into the hen house!), who, as we all know, is dead set against SB 49 and is the sponsor of HB 475, which would severely restrict EC grads from working in Georgia.
The disturbing news is, the HHS committee have not even scheduled SB 49 to be considered. Rep. Cooper is sitting on the bill even as I type this message to you. We called Governor Perdue's office concerning this, and they said they are aware SB 49 is stuck in committee. We asked what will happen if the bill just sits in the committee, and the answer we were given is SB 49 WILL DIE IN THE HHS COMMITTEE!!!!!
Oh, dear God, to where have we relocated? Because it is beginning to feel like Hell.....
My fellow nurses, EC grads, EC students, I implore you. We MUST start putting pressure on Governor Perdue (his telephone number is 404-656-1776), and on the members of the Health and Human Services Committee (their telephone number is 404-656-5069). I will find the website with the names of the HHS members and I will post it on this forum.
Rep. Sharon Cooper is going to continue to sit on this bill until she smothers it to death. GA BON president Dee Keeton is counting on this. Please, let us all start emailing and calling the Governor and the members of the HHS committee and make it that they do not have time to think of anything else EXCEPT SB 49!!!!
Perhaps a little negative media attention is also in order (anyone know who we can contact? I am new to the area), but we must rise up and fight against such elitist tyranny!
It may be a scary thought to some, but apparently not to Cooper and Keeton. Keeton said in the AJC that losing the EC grads would not affect the nursing shortage in Georgia. Okay, take your current nurse deficit and subtract another 3,000 (at least) from it over a few years. Maybe her strengths lie somewhere outside the world of extremely basic math.
Someone mentioned libel/slander earlier. That might be something to think about. What if Rep Cooper decided that she didn't like the way the school of nursing at say, Brenau University in Gainesville, GA educated their nurses, and during every legislative session she drafted a piece of potential legislation to exclude their graduates from Georgia RN licensure eligibility. You know, every session she came out and publicly spoke negatively against them, saying that she was only doing so to protect the public from these nurses that she somehow decided were inferior to what she believed to be the ideal. This would be based on what evidence, you ask? Well, nothing; just her opinion. No scientific evidence whatsoever. She just decided that she somehow knows what is best, science be damned (Brenau is a great school, by the way. Just used them as an example of a Georgia-based, private institution).
Could this not be viewed by some in the legal community as being a form of legislative harassment? How could it be allowed to continue? If the above-mentioned scenario occurred, I would bet that a legislator from Brenau's district would work day and night to stop it. Or maybe the school or some of its students would threaten her with legal action. If a polictical figure is attempting to have laws passed that she knows will ultimately discriminate against a certain segment of the population to exclude them from potential employment, would that not be considered something for which she could be held personally and financially responsible? After all, can you imagine the financial impact her actions have had on at least 1,100 Georgia families, and maybe another 2,000 more? Any foreclosures, divorces, emotional distress, etc. inflicted upon innocent, law-abiding, hard-working Georgia citizens by her unjust, deceitful actions? What did they do to deserve it? Well, they studied nursing at a school that holds NLN and regional accreditation and boasts a higher average NCLEX pass rate than the average of Georgia-based schools of nursing. How dare they!
Rep Cooper is sitting comfortably with her physician husband in her East Cobb home, where million dollar homes are common. I've never heard whether legislators can be held legally responsible for drafting irresponsible legislation, then getting it passed by deceiving their colleagues and telling them she's doing it to protect the public from those awful, incompetent, scary EC nurses, but there may be a group of attorneys out there who would be interested in the high number of families she's purposely, negatively affected. Something along the lines of a class-action suit maybe? Anyone know?
We all have our achilles heal. She is no different. To me, this is just another form of malpractice; only it's worse, because it's intentional.
The Governor's office, just this morning, acknowledged to us on the telephone, when we brought up the fact that this, indeed, is discrimination, They answered with a simple "Yes."
Yes, I believe a class action lawsuit might be the only thing that WAKES UP our state government! Hit their pockets, just they way the GA BON and Dee Keeton and Rep. Cooper have hit ours! I also think there are individuals whom the governor needs to reconsider regarding their positions of power (which they are abusing).
Oh, and, by the way, Rep. Cooper isn't the only one living comfortably. GA BON president Dee Keeton also sits very comfortably in a very nice, expensive home which is in a secured, gated community somewhere near the Brookhaven community.
I don't begrudge people living well, until they start seeing themselves as being above reproach and start imposing their "royal" opinions upon the little people, those they view as beneath them.
Everyoone needs to email the representatives in the georgia house. I emailed every member yesterday. I have recieved a lot of responses so far. From the feedback I have been getting they were not really aware of the issue. So lets make them aware and show cooper this is not going to work.
I will also contact state represenatives and the Governor. Sharon Cooper and Dee Keeton's actions disgust me. Their opinions are not based on fact; they have absolutely not produced one shred of scientific evidence to support their grotesque fear-mongering propoganda. . This is outright slander and harrassment, and those responsible for this need to be held accountable for their actions.
Standing Committees are small groups of senators or delegates assigned to study bills involving a particular subject. This process enables a larger number of bills to receive more detailed study than can be done by the entire House or Senate.
Since a committee represents only part of the membership of either chamber, it only can make recommendations about a bill for the full membership to consider. When a committee has completed work on a bill, it files a written committee report that recommends one of the following:
- the bill "do pass" in its original form, or with amendment(s) offered by the committee, or as a committee substitute bill
- the bill be rejected
- no recommendation at all
Some bills "die in committee", meaning the committee did not have enough time to take up the issue or the committee members decided the bill should not be recommended to the full membership for action.
From the sounds of this, SB 49 will die in committee. It doesn't make any sense. Let's write an Act to become a Bill and hand it over to the same person that decided that she didn't approve of the nontraditional schools and sponsored a Bill so the Board could interpret it however they wished in the first place.
I have decided to continue with EC and pursue my dream of being a RN, and then move out of state once I graduate. I am so sorry for the state of Georgia and the residents that will be left with a huge nursing shortage.
Yes, you are absolutely right, other states will gladly accept you! If things don't change here, this state will lose two RN's with 35 years combined experience from our end, as well.
In the meantime, I will continue to fight! They have made us miserable for long enough. Isn't it time for them to be uncomfortable, too?
Everyone, BLITZ the HHS Committee, the Governor, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and your local newspapers, the Secretary of State, the House of Representatives and the GA BON!!! Email, call, do anything you can, then do it again, and again!! The general public needs to know how they will be affected by just a couple of individual's biased opinions!!! If they think the shortage is bad now....
We have been patient, we have been polite, whilst Dee Keeton and Rep. Cooper has insulted us at every turn. The gloves are off!!
We are NURSES!!! We are independent thinkers, we KNOW what is RIGHT!!! We have a strong sense of justice, and WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS FROM THEM ANYMORE!!!
Somebody on here must be related to a good lawyer! I think there is a reason for a lawsuit. If someone can get millions from hot coffee at Mickey D's, this intentional act to hinder students lives has to hold some ground.
I just finished emailing all those that had email addresses on the HHS committee.
Isn't it odd that Sharon Cooper doesn't make her email address public. For someone in such a high position, you would think she would want to keep in touch with the public that voted her in. I don't think it was much of a vote, (more like a monopoly) if only one person is running for the position.
Standing Committees are small groups of senators or delegates assigned to study bills involving a particular subject. This process enables a larger number of bills to receive more detailed study than can be done by the entire House or Senate.
Since a committee represents only part of the membership of either chamber, it only can make recommendations about a bill for the full membership to consider. When a committee has completed work on a bill, it files a written committee report that recommends one of the following:
- the bill "do pass" in its original form, or with amendment(s) offered by the committee, or as a committee substitute bill
- the bill be rejected
- no recommendation at all
Some bills "die in committee", meaning the committee did not have enough time to take up the issue or the committee members decided the bill should not be recommended to the full membership for action.
From the sounds of this, SB 49 will die in committee. It doesn't make any sense. Let's write an Act to become a Bill and hand it over to the same person that decided that she didn't approve of the nontraditional schools and sponsored a Bill so the Board could interpret it however they wished in the first place.
I have decided to continue with EC and pursue my dream of being a RN, and then move out of state once I graduate. I am so sorry for the state of Georgia and the residents that will be left with a huge nursing shortage.
Other states will gladly take us EC grads!
Does anyone know why the heck this bill was handed to Sharon Pooper's committee?
. 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.
disneyfan1234
39 Posts
You would think that most of these Senators and Representatives would realize that the baby boomers are about to retire and the nursing shortage is going to get worse. If you don't believe me, do an internet seach for the number of RN positions available for the Atlanta area. With medicine extending life and fertility treatment increasing the number of babies born, the population is expanding (fyi-not against fertility treatment). The Senators/Representatives should realize that their health care will be compromised--not due to incompetent nursing as Ms. Cooper/Ms. Keeton suggests, but due to a lack of nurses available to provide patient care.
That's right--think of yourself sitting in a hospital bed ringing that call bell (keep ringing it) and not being able to get care because there are not enough nurses to staff the facility. If I am a nurse on that shift, I am calling the hospital administrators because I don't want to put my patients at risk or myself at risk for losing my license (that I have busted my rump getting) for not being able to provide competent care for XYZ number of patients.
That is the future. Scary thought, huh?