Published
It'll obviously vary by state. In some, such as Washington, it doesn't matter. You just send in your $$$ and little form and your license gets renewed, even if you haven't worked as an RN for 10+ years.
I don't know much about California, but I think CE credits are required there. The advice provided above regarding doing at least some of it online is spot on. I recommend you check out the Medscape CME site ( http://cme.medscape.com/nurses ). There are lots of interesting FREE CE options there. I've also done some free CE stuff on the CDC website based off of MMWR ( http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/cme/conted.html ). You'll need to make sure that Calif accepts the CE hours.
Good luck finding a job.
In California, you can put your license on inactive status for an indefinate period of time as long as you pay the fees associated with it. If you want to go back to work as a nurse, you take your 30 CEU hours and you will be active again, even if it hasn't been two years since you last paid your fees.
I was out for years raising kids- but by the grace of God I had continued paying those fees year after year. When my life hit the cr--pper, I took a 30 CEU course online with uh, a school that is the opposite of Eastern (no ad here!) and off I went! Good luck to you!
Sorry for the butt-in but I thought in CA nurses that haven't worked yet as nurses had to do some additional hrs. of "nursing activities" & not just the 30 CEU credits? I think it was 48hrs. worth of nursing?
Please correct me if I'm wrong; I have a CA license (issued in 2009) but haven't worked as a nurse yet & the expiration is in 2011.
RNman09
64 Posts
:eek:I was just wondering about this for awhile. What would happen if you don't get a job and your license renewal date comes up? Have any of you dealt with this? In California?