How does this work exactly?

[labcat01, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone,

Pardon my ignorance on this topic but i'm confused about licensing and the NCLEX. So everyone takes the same NCLEX, right? But if you pass you are only licensed in your one state? I don't get the logic in that. Is it because different states have different rules? What if you move to a new state? I've seen that your licensed can be endorsed but does that mean you don't have to take the NCLEX again? I've looked around and I can't find a good answer.

TIA!

Linda

[llg, PhD, RN]

Traditionally ... you have had to get a different license in each state because the money you pay for that license goes to that state only. The State Board for each state is responsible for regulating nursing, disciplining nurses who are unsafe, etc. and that requires money. They get the money from the fees they collect from the people who want to be licensed in that state. Hence ... when you move to a different state, you needed to get a license in that state and pay a fee to that new state.

The "rules" are mostly the same from state to state, so that has not been much of a problem -- though there have been a few exceptions in which states have different acceptable passing scores on the exam for licensure, etc. For most people, moving from state to state has just been a matter of doing the paperwork and paying the fee.

The movement to have "national licensure" has been growing in recent years, with more and more states having deals in which people licensed in one state can practice in another. So ... it is changing.

llg -- who has held licenses in 10 different states over her career.

[labcat01, BSN, RN]

Thank you! Finally...it all becomes clear.

I wonder if 10 states is a record :)

[Angels']

This is good new to many of us.

Thank you.

Angels'

[suzanne4, RN]

I kniow travel nurses that currently hold more than twenty licenses. And this is at the same time.