So I am a new grad, a registered nurse from Connecticut. After graduating nursing school in May 2014, I knew I would move to Texas, so I applied for the Texas Board of Nursing for my NCLEX. Unfortunately, I did not pass the NCLEX. However, the new grad residency I accepted in Texas didn't see that as an initial problem as they give 30 days after the program's start date to obtain our RN license. So I moved to Texas to begin the residency with the plan of taking my NCLEX 2 weeks after I was settled.
The problem occurred when the hospital tried to look up my GN license number on the Texas BON and couldn't find it. I called the BON, and they said once you take the NCLEX, your GN license number is deleted forever, whether you pass or not, and there's nothing you can do about it but retake it and get your RN license. -_- So the hospital couldn't hire me because they had no license. I missed the regular orientation and start date and was pretty much put out of a job for a month, which as a new grad fresh out of college and moving to a new state, isn't the most stable of situations financially. Luckily the hospital (St. David's) was supportive and just told me to pass the NCLEX, and they will get me started working. I passed and will start work this coming week.
I don't know if this is just a Texas BON situation where they delete GN licenses after any NCLEX attempt, but I think it is critical to ask your respective BONs if you are in a similar situation. And also, keep in mind that you have to wait 45 days to retake the NCLEX in case you have to have a license by a specific date and need to retake.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
jkmitchell92 said:
Hmm, that's interesting. So what qualifies one to be a GN? Is it not, in some states, graduating from an accredited nursing school? If that's the case, does the NCLEX invalidate your passing of nursing school and being a GN?
What qualifies one to be a GN is the completion of a nursing program with the assumption that one will prove competent to practice at a minimum standard via NCLEX. NCLEX does not invalidate passing nursing school; it validates whether or not one is competent to practice as a nurse. Once one has passed NCLEX, one is deemed competent and issued a license. If one fails NCLEX, one has demonstrated a lack of the minimum competency for licensure. If one cannot prove minimum competency, one has no right to provide care in the nurse role, which is what the temporary GN permit allows, assuming that one has completed a nursing program and will pass NCLEX. GN is not a permanent designation and only existed because of how state licensure exams were structured in the past. It was never meant to allow one to fill the nurse role unlimitedly until they passed NCLEX. Considering there have been posts from people who have failed NCLEX a double-digit number of times, would you want them caring for you when they can't prove they meet minimum competency?
Whether or not one's school informs them of such is irrelevant as each student needs to be responsible for knowing the practice act of the state in which he or she will be working- and with such small states as in the northeast combined with the mobility of society, no school can be expected to teach every student what every state's rules are about whether GN status exists or when it ends. Adults are responsible for researching and being aware of not only what the employment environment for their chosen field looks like but also the rules and regulations of that field.
I've also seen the misunderstanding of the GN permit first-hand. The new grad was incensed that the BON "took my GN license just because I failed the NCLEX." She did not understand that she was issued a temporary permit (not a license) with the EXPECTATION that she would pass the licensing exam shortly. Her permit was pulled once she took the exam; the fact that she didn't pass it was not the BON's fault.
There is no responsibility for the BON issuing a temporary permit to remind or "make sure" the permit-holder understands the permit's limits. Presumably, they understood all that when they applied for it!
Many facilities (or at least the ones who still hire GNs with permits) will tell the candidates up-front that if they do not pass the NCLEX on the first attempt, they will be used as a patient care tech until they DO pass it as they don't want to have wasted all that orientation time for a new nurse.
rnprettyblonde
4 Posts
Congrats!