Licensure by endorsement from MO to CA

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Specializes in Orthopedic O.R., Plastics O.R.,ACCS O.R..

Hi, I have been a nurse for 4 years in MO. I am originally from CA, but went to an accelerated BSN program in St. Louis and worked in MO until now. I have applied for my temporary and permanent CA RN by endorsement. It has been two months and I know the CA nursing board is taking a ridiculously long amount of time to process applications, however I recently received a letter from the board stating that my nursing school transcript does not include a written and oral communications class. I know that this is a pre-req for nursing schools in CA, but are they seriously requiring every RN from every other state with years of experience to take a junior college communications class to receive a CA RN? I have a BA in Sociology or University of California-Santa Cruz and of course a BSN. Has anyone else had any experience with this, and further if I am going to have to take a communications class, do they even provide a list of accepted communications classes to fulfill this requirement. Thanks.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

You'll have to see which class (actually, I believe these are two separate classes) fulfills the requirement at each school, as the actual course number varies, but yes, the CA BRN is very strict about their requirements.

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I had the same thing happened to me where my transcript was missing an Oral Communication class. What I did was write them a letter with course descriptions of classes I took in college that could possibly supplement for an Oral Communication class..basically any class you did a lot of talking in. A few weeks after I mailed that letter, I got my license in the mail. Hope that helps.

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Specializes in Orthopedic O.R., Plastics O.R.,ACCS O.R..

nova8888 that is definitely worth a try. Could I ask, was it somewhat recently that you applied for your license in CA? Also, did you just write descriptions of your college classes or did it have to be taken from an official syllabus with letters or descriptions from your actual professors? Some people have told me they have had to get official written statements from the college professors who taught the courses etc, which would be much more difficult since my BA is from 08. Thanks for your post!

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I got my CA license about 2 weeks ago. I am not sure about your college, but my school has the course catalog online. What I did was take a snapshot of the course description by print screening the page and cropping the pic down to just the course description. I wasn't sure what they were looking for so I had several classes in my letter that could possibly meet the oral communication requirement...not sure which one the BON took. I did not have to get an official written statement from my college; although I did mentioned that I would if they need it. A friend of mine ran into the same thing 4 years ago and she did the same and got her license. I almost signed up for class until I talked to her. Hope it works for you.

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Specializes in Orthopedic O.R., Plastics O.R.,ACCS O.R..

I went to University of California-Santa Cruz for my BA in sociology. I will have to check if they have any of that info online. I assume you also had to send the BON a copy of your transcript from that school too? Or not? I am in the process of signing up for a class but obviously it would be much more ideal if I didn't have to. Thank you so much for posting, there is nobody willing to answer these questions at the CA board as I'm sure you're aware of. This is so helpful.

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I know you never think this will become an issue but I was told by a fellow nurse to apply for CA temp license first which is good for 6 months and once you get the temp to start working on perm-she said a friend who went to several schools before graduating from her nursing program-the BON delayed her application because they thought she was missing a requirement.

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Just curious-was there a question about a course from the BON and thats why you sent them a copy of the course description? The reason that I am asking is that the school has to send an official transcript to BON. So I didnt think you can send in these things on your own.

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My school sent an official transcript to the BON. After reviewing my transcript, I got a letter saying that my transcript does not have an Oral Communication course. What I did was write a letter to the BON asking if I could use any of my other courses to supplement the oral communication requirement. I attached course descriptions from my college's course catalog in the letter addressed to the BON. Along with the course descriptions, I also wrote a few sentences about why those courses met the oral communication requirement. About 2 weeks later, I got my license in the mail.

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Thanks for clarifying that. How long did it take you to get your license? Did you do livescan or manual fingerprints?

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I did the livescan since I was out in Cali visiting my husband. I submitted my application in November, they cashed my check in February, sent me a letter that I didn't meet requirement in March, and finally mailed me my license in April. The whole process took about 5 months!!!

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Wow. Its a good thing you didnt have a job lined up and was depending on your license.

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