NP Licensing in California

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Feb 27, 2010

I endorsed my out of state licenses to CA last year. I started the process in January and received the licenses in March. I found that it’s hard to get in touch with the BON by phone and if you do get hold of someone, there is very little information they could give you. In their defense, most of the information and forms you need are on the BON’s website already.

For a nurse practitioner, you obviously need to endorse the RN and NP license using separate forms and separate fees. What’s different with CA is that the NP also needs to apply for a Nurse Practitioner Furnishing (NPF) license on top of the NP license. As a new grad, you probably will need to wait until you’ve been in practice for a while before you can apply for NPF license because you have to show proof of having had 520 hours of physician-supervised experience in furnishing drugs and devices. If the physician you’ll be working with is fine with not having you “furnish” drugs for a few months, then you should be OK.

For the NP endorsement, what would determine processing times would depend on how soon the national certification board could forward your verification of certification and how soon your NP program could submit your Official Transcript of Records to the BON.

razorman · Feb 27, 2010

I was afraid it was going to be that kind of time period. I've tried calling the board a few times but get busy signals. I've tried email them as well but can't get a response. Their website is pretty decent but there's no information about turn-around times.

I have a feeling my employer will just put me on as an RN and basically have me do what I'm doing now, a full assessment with recommendations, and he signs everything.

liucyx · Mar 8, 2010

Need help!! I've searched online and called some schools but no appropriate answer for my question.

I graduated over 5 years ago and just recently started working as NP and need to get this furnishing license, do I need to retake another course of advance pharmacology classes in order to apply NPF? If so, where can I take this classes? Thanks!!

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Mar 8, 2010

you shouldn’t have to retake a course in advanced pharm if your np program meets ca’s minimum pharm course requirements. i graduated in december 2002, and granted that i’ve been practicing as an np outside of ca since may 2003, i was able to get a npf just by having my np program director fill out the “pharmacology course” part of the application. i had 3 credits of advanced pharm in my acnp program and that was the minimum per ca’s requirement. however, if you were requesting to be allowed to furnish narcotics as well, you will need a dea certificate and also show proof of completion of a board-approved course in furnishing schedule ii-v controlled substances.

liucyx · Mar 8, 2010

Thank you so very much for your prompt response. I do have 6 credits for advance pharmacology course and do not need previlige for narcotics. I will have my program director to fill out the application asap. Thank you again for your help.

lilboboxox · Jun 12, 2010

Hello,

If you're an out-of-state NP graduate, you'd need to get nationally certified by ANCC or AANP as a NP first before you can apply for your CA NP license. CA requires out-of-state NP grads be nationally certified, while in-state graduates don't need to be.

Getting your CA RN license will make things easier later on. Assuming you're in a NP program you should be able to apply for your CA RN license just fine. Once you're certified by ANCC or AANP, send your certificate to BON and they will process your NP application.

I had to do this 2 years ago, so feel free to message me if you have any questions. Don't worry about the furnishing number until you've gotten your CA NP license... One step at a time...

kpxqtx619 · Sep 18, 2017

Juan, I applied for RN license by endorsement through paper application and sent in all the material for the RN license in a packet overnight in July 2017. I also sent (in a separate packet) the NP license application plus furnishing application on the same day. My RN license just posted today. How long after my RN license posts, do we hear about NP license usually?

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 18, 2017

I actually don't know and it seems variable actually but the BRN now has postings for wait times and based on the current posting, it looks like APRN certification applications take up to 2 weeks longer than RN endorsement.

Processing Times

Goldenfox · Sep 30, 2017

The California BON is like a mysterious black hole. You send things in and just wait, and wait, and wait. Don't bother calling, or writing, or emailing. No one will respond. Give it about 3 months or so no matter what they have on their website as processing times.