Graduate Nurses...?

KSBN was the first place I checked...if they have any such changes in the works they've either hidden them, or I'm blind.

Thanks anyway. :)

So far it hasn't been approved through the Kansas BON. There is talk about it, though. I sat in on a nursing faculty meeting at Butler Community College a year ago (before I graduated from nursing school) discussing this very issue. I am opposed to it.

If you would like to get the latest information/status on this, go to the KSNA website. You should find a list of members with contact names under the title "Leadership." One contact is this member: http://www.nursingworld.org/snas/ks/terri.htm

Good luck!

kansas state nurses association or ksna

http://www.nursingworld.org/snas/ks/

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also, here is the kbon if you need it.

kansas state board of nursing

landon state office building

900 s.w. jackson, suite 1051

topeka, ks 66612 phone: (785) 296-4929

fax: (785) 296-3929web site: http://www.ksbn.org/

here is a questions, comments, feedback form for that bon to submit if you wish as a start.

http://www.ksbn.org/feedback.htm

I am currently working as a GN.

Washington State does not allow for Graduate nurses to work either prior to taking the NCLEX and actually having the license. If you think about it the policy makes sense as you need a license in order to practice nursing. But some places will allow you to work under your LPN license (if you have one) with LPN pay until you get the RN license. But personally I tried to take the NCLEX-RN ASAP as it is such a relief to have that license in hand and getting the stress of waiting for your results while you feel like you failed over with. I felt I was ready and took the exam within about 3 weeks of graduation. I am really glad I did it that way and would encourage it.

As far as I know, you can work as a GN but a LPN or RN would have to sign off for you. In other words, they are taking responsibility for your work.

I've heard this, too.

The kansas board of nursing website hasn't updated in years--the latest regulation updates are from June of 05.

There is no such law and none being passed. However I would support it if there were because I think nursing students would be so much better off. I think its ridiculous to have to worry about getting a job in March that won't even start until June and graduation, exams and the NCLEX all on top of that. Then the stress until you finally take it because if you fail it after you're hired they make you an aid or fire you. The whole thing is just a huge scam to pay nurses even less than they already do which is some of the lowest pay in this country as it is.

Now that grads can take the NCLEX-RN right away, whenever they want, and results and licensure are almost instantaneous, more and more states are doing away with GN status altogether, as the original rationale for its existence no longer applies. Also, even in the states that aren't doing away with it, more and more hospitals/employers are choosing not to hire people as GNs.

I agree with this. In the days of 2 day long written Boards, I graduated in early 12/1993 and did not receive a hard copy of my license until 5/1994. There was also no website that my employer could check.

As an aside, GN status is a privilege and not a right. And many people abused this right. In the state of Florida at that time, you could be stuck on hold to the Board for 30 - 75 minutes straight to speak to someone (I have a few long distance bills to prove it). There were several instances in my facility alone, where GNs showed the "green slip" that said you were scheduled to sit for Boards, and allowed one to work as a GN. Then they didn't sit for Boards or they did and were notified that they failed. They continued to work as GNs, and it was nearly impossible for employers to check up on them due to inaccessibility of the Board. The legal issues involved when they got found out were daunting and led to many places refusing to offer jobs to GNs.

My stepdaughter graduated RN last Spring and didn't pass her boards the first time out of the gate. However, the hospital in Wichita did allow her to continue to work as a GN (at half RN pay) until she passed it a few months later.