Monitoring program while in NP school

Hi there,

I had a friend who completed her BSN while on probation in CA. She had to get permission from the "NEC," (Nurse Education Consultant), which is also the person who approves employment. It took awhile, but they approved it. ?

The answer is  YES, you can. The school will be easy to get approved because they want your money. I did this while in an NP Program. The obstacle....your preceptor. Start on this immediately. See if you require any kind of student malpractice insurance and if required, start calling now. Getting a preceptor to precept you (clinical hours) will be the tricky part but easy to overcome if you start on it now. You are basically working under their Advanced Practice License and many preceptors will not take that risk. If you are already lined up with someone you know that will preceptor you, then you are good to go. If not, think about low income community health clinics (if you are doing family practice) because they are usually short staffed, have high patient loads, receive less pay, and have a very difficult population to work with, so many NP students will shy away from these areas and many NPs who work in these clinics are grateful for the help and more understanding to substance abuse because they see it in a huge portion of their patients. Also, think very very rural. Be willing to drive 50 minutes innthe middle of nowhere in which other NP students are not and there is more likely an opening for a clinical rotation.

Be sure the BON obviously knows that you are in school because when you graduate, that same state board is granting you your APRN-NP license so obviously, you don't want to not tell them about school then all of a sudden in 2 years, you Spring an APRN application on them. Even if you graduate AFTER your consent order is complete, you still did a portion of the school while under consent agreement, so simply make sure the BON is aware you are in school to save you major problems 2 years down the road.

JB C said:

The answer is  YES, you can. The school will be easy to get approved because they want your money. I did this while in an NP Program. The obstacle....your preceptor. Start on this immediately. See if you require any kind of student malpractice insurance and if required, start calling now. Getting a preceptor to precept you (clinical hours) will be the tricky part but easy to overcome if you start on it now. You are basically working under their Advanced Practice License and many preceptors will not take that risk. If you are already lined up with someone you know that will preceptor you, then you are good to go. If not, think about low income community health clinics (if you are doing family practice) because they are usually short staffed, have high patient loads, receive less pay, and have a very difficult population to work with, so many NP students will shy away from these areas and many NPs who work in these clinics are grateful for the help and more understanding to substance abuse because they see it in a huge portion of their patients. Also, think very very rural. Be willing to drive 50 minutes innthe middle of nowhere in which other NP students are not and there is more likely an opening for a clinical rotation.

Be sure the BON obviously knows that you are in school because when you graduate, that same state board is granting you your APRN-NP license so obviously, you don't want to not tell them about school then all of a sudden in 2 years, you Spring an APRN application on them. Even if you graduate AFTER your consent order is complete, you still did a portion of the school while under consent agreement, so simply make sure the BON is aware you are in school to save you major problems 2 years down the road.

Tysm for your thorough response. May I ask what school you graduated from? I know most schools want "unencumbered" licenses, so even if my restrictions naturally conjunct with clinical limitations (I.e. no overtime, no clinical hours over 40 a week) it is still considered a restricted license. How did your school respond to your stipulation? My school has student malpractice as a part of the tuition. 

I went to a school in Idaho and let's be clear what unencumbered and restricted mean. There are two different definitions thrown around by Boards and schools and they are generally Different. My school said the same, "no unencumbered" but their definition of that term is different than the Boards.

1. The BON definition or meaning of Encumbered means if you are on consent order. That simple. Even if your consent order has no restrictions and even if you have a consent order that said you don't even need to drug test and you just have to go to counseling once a month for 3 years, then your license is legally Encumbered by the BON definition.

2. The Schools of Nursings Definition of Encumbered generally means "restricted." Meaning, are you restricted from doing NP clinical in any form? Can you still do the nighshift ER rotation for 2 months or does the consent order say no night shifts. Does the consent order restrict you from going to 3 or 4 different clinical sites while in NP school? Doess it restrict you from handling narcotics? That's is generally what schools are getting at in their definition of Encumbered. So, be sure to communicate very well with the school and Constantly use the words, "No Restrictions." Make it clear you can work anytime and can rotate to different sites and that you are simply under consent order and drug test only and that nothing in your consent order restricts you from doing or performing NP clinicals. When you clarify this, roughly 1 out of 2 schools will get the message and allow it/allow you in. 1 in 2 will still hold to the strict definition by the Board.