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:
Amen, and amen, my friend!!!! Seeing your post and the other posts makes me so proud, just to know I am in such good, intelligent company!!! And, yes, you know there are elitists within the Georgia government-they have shown themselves and they think they are above reproach. The dark ages of small-mindedness, discrimination, and injustice are over!!! It is a new era, a new time, where technology in nursing education must be embraced, and it should matter not our gender, our race, our ethnicity. Within us all beats the heart of a nurse, and for our dedication and devotion, we are treated as second class citizens?!! I say NO!!!!
I attended both traditional and nontraditional programs and excelled in both. My nontraditional program through Regents taught me to think beyond the textbook, to truly pay attention to my patient, to think outside the box, and to not take my calling for granted.
I say again, RISE UP!!!! OUR NUMBERS ARE GROWING, BUT WE NEED EVERYONE TO RISE UP AND TAKE ACTION!!!!! TELL YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR NEIGHBORS, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL AFFECTED BY THIS CRITICAL SHORTAGE!!!
None of you became nurses to be faint of heart! We are STRONG!!! Do not be faint of heart now!!! SPEAK UP, AND KEEP TALKING AND TALKING UNTIL THEY HEAR US!!!!! We are nurses, WE WILL BE HEARD!!!!!
Most of the members of the House do not even know about SB 49 (which is sponsored by Senator Lee Hawkins, who is a star, in my opinion:bowingpur:bowingpur:bowingpur!) or how Representative Sharon Cooper is sitting on SB 49, trying to kill it in committee, so she can push through her own bill, HB 475, which will efficiently take away our rights to work in Georgia.
Thanks for the email addresses. I sent off my letter today. I am just so upset by all of this. I have a nursing position waiting on me till June because my hospital has a nurse residency program and that is when it starts again. I really hope all of this is done by June. Has anyone applied yet to the board with an application?? I have but haven't fill out the petition form and was wondering who has. Thanks again, Nicole
Hi, Nicole. I gave them my application in September, then the waiver at the end of December. I hate to tell you this, but I am still waiting, and they are NOT planning on approving ANYONE. They are counting on SB 49 to die in Rep. Cooper's HHS committee (that still galls me!! How can they give that bill, which she is against, to her, of all people!?!? This is really fishy...). Once it dies, then they will concentrate on pushing her HB 475 through, which will be the final nail in Excelsior grads' coffins.
Having said that, please do not lose heart!! We are going to do EVERYTHING WE CAN TO MAKE SURE SB 49 IS VOTED ON AND GETS APPROVAL IN THE HOUSE!!!! We will NOT be treated like second class citizens!!! I have worked so hard as a critical care nurse for so long, I am proud of the things I have accomplished, and I do love my patients and my coworkers. A few narcissistic individuals with discrimination issues are NOT going to stop any of us!!!!
I think it is time to notify the media about who is handling this bill. I think 11 Alive would LOVE to ask some politicians, "why would you give a bill to someone who is opposed to it, knowing full well they will let it die in committee?" That SMACKS of conflict of interest!!!! There is no honor, absolutely no honor in that!!!!! It is CROOKED POLITICS, plain and simple.
I have spent this whole day, emailing and emailing, researching and researching, and calling all of my friends and family. They are outraged and are going to join our emailing and calling blitz!!!! And, they are spreading the word (you know us nurses, our idea of keeping a secret is telling one person at a time! lol) amongst other nurses and their families.
HERE ARE SOME PHONE NUMBERS YOU MIGHT WANT TO JOT DOWN FOR MONDAY MORNING, AFTERNOON, TUESDAY.....
Everyone, please, let's make sure that the governor's phone (404-656-1776), the House Health and Human Services phone (404-656-5069), the point of contact for the Secretary of State, who is over the board of nursing (404-656-2881), Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson-he would be a good one to ask why the bill was given to her when it was an obvious conflict of interest-(404-656-5020), let's make sure these people who were appointed or voted into these positions to serve the citizens of Georgia, let's make sure they hear from ALL OF US ON MONDAY!
If the answer they give you is not satisfactory or if you feel you are being fed a line, either go over their head (ask for their supervisor) or just keep calling until they give you a reasonable answer. We all deserve that much from people who are being paid with tax dollars that come out of our pockets!!!!! If they are rude, take their name and REPORT THEM! We are not calling to be rude, we just want answers and justice! That's all!
I'm not an EC graduate but I have worked with enough Regents and EC grads to know they are top notch, better than most of the grads coming out of university! This is wrong on so many different levels.
I've already started emailing and I will be on the phone Monday morning. Nurses have to look out for each other, because no one else will. Just like at work, we are all in this together.
Has anyone thought about calling or contacting the ACLU? This is discrimination and that is what they deal with.
Well, by definition, it's not discrimination in the legal sense because EC graduates don't fit the definition of protected class. One thing that I have thought about is that Excelsior is known for providing educational opportunities to members of the African-American community, as well as other minority groups. They are members of a protected class.
Now, if I was a member of a protected class, and I felt that I was a victim of discrimination due to the actions of the Georgia political system, then I would have no problem whatsoever in taking appropriate legal action.
even if cooper's bill goes through instead of #49, aren't people who meet the current deadline criteria still eligible for licensure? i've done my part as far as writing letters and i am absolutely in favor of sb49, but i need some light at the end of this tunnel so i don't have this on my mind when i retake my cpne in a little while.
part of cooper's bill---- "The board shall be authorized to approve individual waiver requests for students who, prior to July 1, 2008, entered a nontraditional nursing education program which does not meet the requirements of this paragraph and completes such program no later than July 1, 2010."
Well it definitely looks like they are authorized to approve candidates for licensure on an individual basis. Will they? I hope so.
I think they like adding extra clauses to legislation that say things like " as the Board deems appropriate", or "as seen fit by the board", or "on approval by the Board". There's power for them in the fog of vagueness and ambiguity. They can use that to change the rules to suit their daily needs.
Apparently, according to many people with whom I have spoken, I should have been eligible for licensure by endorsement (with ten years of experience in 4 different states) in September, but, because of the wording being so ambiguous with all of the "as seen fit by the board", the board chose to interpret it against Excelsior College grads, even those of us with years of full-time experience in critical care.
Also, even though I was four weeks shy of graduating from a traditional, accredited program at the top of my class (I was named a scholar at my school a week before tragedy struck) when I was stuck with a major family tragedy, and had completed all of my clinicals, the board would not take that into consideration, at all. All they would look at was I graduated from Regents. They would not take anything into consideration.
So, if SB 49 does not pass, I am not hopeful about getting my license. HB 475, I have been told, requires Excelsior grads to perform 700 hours of clinical or something ridiculous like that. That is one of their goals for us. HB 475 was created to restrict Excelsior grads from getting their licenses in Georgia.
If you read the letter in the AJC from Dee Keeton, then you know what a low opinion she has of all of us. She is clueless to what we all go through in this program. To hear her tell it, you pay your money and get your degree, without taking any core nursing courses, without having enough hands-on care. That is simply not true.
She has called us "unsafe" and claims to give us licensure would put the general public in danger. Rep. Cooper agrees with her, and that flawed chain of thought is what HB 475 arose from.
There are plenty of states that will have us. Even the federal government embraces us and gives us jobs within their VA hospitals and other federal facilities. If the federal government approves of us, then why can't Georgia?
The board of nursing have had my application since September and my waiver since the end of December (although they did not acknowledge it until Jan. 21st, which is the day they decided to log in a bunch of waivers, not just mine). I am still waiting, and there is absolutely no reason why I am still waiting EXCEPT the board is stalling. The governor's office told me they authorized, even encouraged the board to meet as often as needed to eliminate the wait period. They have chosen not to have any extra meetings to move those of us who have been waiting for so long through.
The governor's office also told me they have sent additional personnel to the board to help them eliminate the wait period. Still, the board will not meet until their regularly scheduled time. They are thumbing their noses at the governor and at us.
Once again, we have been patient and polite, while they have been rude and have been devastating our lives with their flawed opinions. Enough is enough.
A couple of ideas that we should all be thinking about....
1. Emailing, calling, handwriting all Representatives (Senate & House), the Governor, Lt. Governor, and media that you can think of (t.v. and radio).
2. Asking the Speaker of the House specifically why the Senate Bill 49 was given to the HHS committee instead of the HE committee (as it was in the Senate). Something smells here.
3. Start finding an appropriate running mate to go against Sharon Cooper in Cobb County. This position is an elected position and has a salary in the $160,000 range! (preferably a MSN Excelsior grad ) To my understanding her name was the the only one on the ballot last election.
4. We need to look into how Sharon Cooper's campaign is funded. All donations have to be accounted, and my guess is that some of those donations are coming from GA nursing schools that are unhappy that there waiting lists are dwindling, due to the "nontraditional schools" option that people are taking.
5. If you feel that there is a case of discrimination, contact an attorney. If the HHS committee has time to write House Bill 475, but doesn't have time to discuss Senate Bill 49, (which was adressed prior to HB 475) I think there is a huge problem there.
6. Plan on moving to a state that will accept EC and take along with you all of the money that you spend in GA. Some of the surrounding states are: Florida (no state tax- must be LPN), Tenn, SC, NC, Alabama, the list goes on...
I will keep you up dated with any information that I find.... Keep up the fight!
. 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.
) To my understanding her name was the the only one on the ballot last election.
gobsmackednurse
86 Posts
Amen, and amen, my friend!!!! Seeing your post and the other posts makes me so proud, just to know I am in such good, intelligent company!!! And, yes, you know there are elitists within the Georgia government-they have shown themselves and they think they are above reproach. The dark ages of small-mindedness, discrimination, and injustice are over!!! It is a new era, a new time, where technology in nursing education must be embraced, and it should matter not our gender, our race, our ethnicity. Within us all beats the heart of a nurse, and for our dedication and devotion, we are treated as second class citizens?!! I say NO!!!!
I attended both traditional and nontraditional programs and excelled in both. My nontraditional program through Regents taught me to think beyond the textbook, to truly pay attention to my patient, to think outside the box, and to not take my calling for granted.
I say again, RISE UP!!!! OUR NUMBERS ARE GROWING, BUT WE NEED EVERYONE TO RISE UP AND TAKE ACTION!!!!! TELL YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR NEIGHBORS, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL AFFECTED BY THIS CRITICAL SHORTAGE!!!
None of you became nurses to be faint of heart! We are STRONG!!! Do not be faint of heart now!!! SPEAK UP, AND KEEP TALKING AND TALKING UNTIL THEY HEAR US!!!!! We are nurses, WE WILL BE HEARD!!!!!
Join us....you will be in excellent company!!!!!