why do nurses need to be licensed?

cardiacfreak, ADN · Feb 23, 2015

I can push Adenocard and stop the heart for around 9 seconds, would you prefer me to be licensed or not? Hairdressers have to be licensed so what if you receive a bad haircut? My point is, the licensing is to protect the public. We are governed by a board that can take our license if we are not practicing safely. Do you hold a drivers license, and what happens if you don't drive safely?

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Feb 23, 2015

So, OP....do you get it now? :)

Infofreak411 · Feb 23, 2015

Well...yes. I mean "tossed aside like dirty laundry" is a little bit melodramatic, but yes, in spite of years of school and student loans, if a person is not able to pass after a certain number of tries, I think they should not be allowed to keep taking the exam. Not every person who finishes law school passes the bar. Not everyone who finishes med school is able to go on to be a practicing physician. It's a hard world. Not every person is suited to be a lawyer, physician, or a nurse.
Not be be rude but its comments like this that make me think people on here have a superiority complex and like to think of themselves as a step above each other because they have XYZ or can do XYZ better than someone else. What happened to putting yourselves in other people shoes and showing compassion like you do for your patients. If it was you in the struggling person shoes you wouldn't want someone to have such an abrasive attitude " oh step aside you can't take it again."
Like I said the person should have to take remedial classes... But if it took 10 times, who cares, as long as they eventually GOT it. It took look longer but iy finally clicked and they showed at that point they did have the skills.
My aunt failed multiple times but finally passed and she's one of the beat nurses I know!

stickit34 · Feb 23, 2015

Not be be rude but its comments like this that make me think people on here have a superiority complex and like to think of themselves as a step above each other because they have XYZ or can do XYZ better than someone else. What happened to putting yourselves in other people shoes and showing compassion like you do for your patients. If it was you in the struggling person shoes you wouldn't want someone to have such an abrasive attitude " oh step aside you can't take it again."
Like I said the person should have to take remedial classes... But if it took 10 times, who cares, as long as they eventually GOT it. It took look longer but iy finally clicked and they showed at that point they did have the skills.
My aunt failed multiple times but finally passed and she's one of the beat nurses I know!
It's not about compassion, it's about the safety of the public. The NCLEX is a test that helps determine minimum competency to practice safely. These are people's lives, including neonates, children and people who cannot protect themselves. If the person continuously is unable to prove that minimal competency, I would hope the person would realize that they are struggling in an area and take remedial courses to rectify it, or realize it may not be in both their best interest or the public's best interest to continue in this profession. Unfortunately, life is unfair and harsh. Take it from my brother who has failed the FE for engineering and chose a different career.
I'm sure your aunt is a wonderful nurse.

Anonymous1257 · Feb 23, 2015

It's a means of standardizing the field. In a nutshell, the government wants safe docs and nurses, so it creates boards to manage them, boards require licensure by examination as a means of ensuring that, no matter where you were educated, you know what they consider to be the minimum amount of knowledge to practice safely.

amoLucia · Feb 24, 2015

Is it popcorn time???

I think the state of Delaware has a Board that governs tattoo artists. I would believe it means that the providers use sterile needles and follow 'other' important standards. If they can be regulated, should not nursing and medicine?

Yeah, I think it's popcorn time. Big bowls.

Nibbles1 · Feb 24, 2015

Because anyone can go watch a YouTube video on a nursing skill and think they know what to do. A movie comes to mind, The Heat, with Sandra Bullock when she tries to do a tracheotomy, after watching a medical show.

Eru IlÃºvatar · Feb 24, 2015

I know this is probably a random question but it popped into my head and got me thinking, why do nurses ( and other professionals for that matter, ie. Doctors, teachers lawyers) Have to take a test to get licensed to practice AFTER they went all through school. If they went through school and already were able to pass their respective program with good remarks and graduate, wouldn't that already mean they are already qualified to practice?
Kind of like accounting, if an accountant passes an accounting program they don't need a license to do accounting, only if they choose to.

In order to practice for the "public" an accountant need to pass the CPA, so they still needs a license. An accountant without a CPA can only work on internal or private corporate accounting.

OCNRN63, RN · Feb 24, 2015

Not be be rude but its comments like this that make me think people on here have a superiority complex and like to think of themselves as a step above each other because they have XYZ or can do XYZ better than someone else. What happened to putting yourselves in other people shoes and showing compassion like you do for your patients. If it was you in the struggling person shoes you wouldn't want someone to have such an abrasive attitude " oh step aside you can't take it again."
Like I said the person should have to take remedial classes... But if it took 10 times, who cares, as long as they eventually GOT it. It took look longer but iy finally clicked and they showed at that point they did have the skills.
My aunt failed multiple times but finally passed and she's one of the beat nurses I know!
After 10 times, it's more than likely that they just stumbled onto enough questions they could answer correctly.
NCLEX doesn't show that someone has the skills to be a nurse. It tests the minimum knowledge to be competent as an entry-level nurse.

cnacram · Feb 24, 2015

I believe there are so many factors that concerns about the licensing. I would agree that schools or maybe the nursing trainings are not created equal. So that's one factor why licensing is needed. It could be that, a certain student may have graduated from his/her nursing training but the question is, is he/her qualified enough to enter the real world of nursing after he/she graduated. Another thing also is, if there would be no licensing procedure in nursing or in whatever career, people would probably not be serious in taking the trainings.

elkpark · Feb 24, 2015

After 10 times, it's more than likely that they just stumbled onto enough questions they could answer correctly.
NCLEX doesn't show that someone has the skills to be a nurse. It tests the minimum knowledge to be competent as an entry-level nurse.
Yes, my objection to the "new" NCLEX adaptive format is that it's almost like playing the lottery. If someone takes it enough times, s/he is likely to eventually get lucky and get asked enough questions early on that s/he happens to know the answers to in order to pass.
I felt a lot better about the NCLEX when everyone took the same test and it systematically measured your nursing knowledge across all domains of nursing practice.

trinitymaster · Feb 24, 2015

What I can't understand is why we even had to go to school.

It's not like we do anything important :sarcastic: