crux

But how do you become a GN? Can you become a GN by simply passing your exit exam for the BSN? Or do you have to do something else to get the GN? If so, my wife didn't do that either. She just passed the exit exam and thought that was it. I'll confirm with her later tonight but I think thats all that happened.

Interesting. This could be what happened. Because she technically "transferred" from the FL to CA Hospital. I can assure you the recruiter from the CA Hospital was incompentent because originally she had said everything is fine you can start work as soon as you move to CA, but then when she did move to CA, the recruiter was like, oops I forgot to tell you that you have to take a CA course to transfer your FL RN to CA RN. So she had to take a 6 week course in something to be compliant to CA rules. There were other things that this CA Hospital recruiter messed up on, so I'm very confident to assume that if in FL you can work as a GN before taking/passing the NCLEX, then thats what happened and my wife never took the test and the recruiter assumed she was an RN already and brought her to CA. As an FYI, my wife only worked 2 weeks in the CA hospital as a RN before getting "fired". She was working as a CNA the whole time in CA until she got to enroll in the CA 6 week class, but she had to wait 6 months for it to be available. So she worked as a CNA to pass the time. Then completed the 6 week course, then started immediately in CA as the RN. Two weeks later messed up and then got called into the office where I assume someone with competence reviewed her file and realized she never was an RN and "fired" her immediately to protect themselves of liability. In fact, that CA Hospital never paid my wife's two week salary. They gave some BS reason and I'll deal with DOL with them later. But now a lot of this is starting to make sense on what really happened.

No because we weren't married at the time when she got her BSN so she could have only used her maiden name. Perhaps another name was used, but based on what the Laura mentioned above, I'm starting to think she just passed her exit exam from the BSN and passed that and assumed that was her RN test, and she never actually took the NCLEX exam, as sad as that sounds.

Wow that could be. As I'm not familiar with the nursing process, can you explain this to me? When you say exit exam are you talking about the exit exam from her BSN program? So she "passed" the exit exam and then never took the NCLEX-RN? Oh man, that sounds plausible.

I find it impossible to believe as well but what do you want me to do? FACT: She worked under the title of an RN in FL FACT: She worked under the title of an RN in CA FACT: Her name doesn't show up online in the FL BON website FACT: Her name doesn't show up online in the CA BON website If what you say about passing is passing, then my first theory about not filing the paperwork timely is not applicable, and the only real answer is that she never passed the test the first time? Either way, two hospitals on different sides of the country hired her and employed her as an RN. I'm thinking my only solution is the have her apply for the test as if she never took it before and hope someone at one of the BON knows what they're doing and can figure it out.

As far as CNA, yes she can work as a CNA. I was just saying that right now shes working as a caregiver. She can't get a job as a CNA just based on job availability and schedule. If she wanted a crazy hour shift or far away hospital, yes, should could do CNA now if we wanted. As far as passing the test in 2005, I quickly touched on it just to provide a quick background. We really don't know what happened in 2005 when she "passed". All I know is, she told me she took the test and then got a letter in the mail that told her she passed. We weren't living together back then and I never saw that letter. She was living in FL at the time and she got a job at a FL hospital as a RN in 2005 but it was because she knew the people there (she had family working as RNs there) and when she told them she passed the test, they took her on as an RN right away (without bothering to verify she really passed the test). So she worked as a RN for six months. Then moved to CA. She had to take an additional test to convert her FL RN to a CA RN. She took it and then started working as an RN in CA. This hospital too never verified she was an RN, just accepted her word. So then as an RN in CA, she gives the wrong meds to someone (nothing serious happened) and she got called in for a review and at that time the CA hospital basically fired her. So I spent months trying to figure out what the hell just happened. I had my wife contact the FL BON and ask what her status was and they didn't even have her in the system. She explained she got a letter that said she passed in 2005 but they didn't have anything on file. I went online to the FL and CA BON website and looked her up and she was not to be found in CA or FL. You would think her FL status should say inactive and CA should say terminated or something, but her name didn't even come up. So after months of trying to research and figure out what happened, I came to these conclusions: 1. She took the test in 2005 and received a letter saying she passed. She took no action on that because she assumed the board would send her follow up documentation to fill out. But apparently she should have taken action on that letter (e.g., set up an account, take the test scores from the testing center and submit to the BON, etc) and since she didn't, her RN test scores essentially expired and its likes she never took the test at all 2. She took the test in 2005 and failed but she misread the letter (or read another letter that she thought was her testing results). Either way, we don't have this letter she got in 2005. I'm just looking at it like we'll just assume she didn't pass the test. I mean, as you are saying the BON is all knowing and they will find the truth- well I hope they do because I have no idea what is going and we already contacted them and they said they don't have any record of her on file. So here we are in CA and I do have confirmation that she has her BSN and the necessary education program that allows her to be an RN in CA. So all she needs is the RN. So I figure lets just take a quick refresher course and take the RN test for CA soon and see what happens. If we apply and they say, No our records show you were fired in May 2008 from CA Hospital and you have to wait 18 months from that point to reapply, then great, then finally I'll have some official confirmation. But I highly doubt it since all these places don't seem to have any idea whats going on, probably because of poor record keeping and loose controls. I mean, think about it. My wife worked as an RN in FL and CA without anyone verifying she was actually an RN. And the BON for CA and FL have no record of her and no one can seem to confirm she took the test at all. One more thing to add, we are not originally from America. We are from a 3rd world country in which you just do things to get done, you dont need to go thru all these processes and filling out forms and doing all these formal requirements. I'm a bit more "American-ized" so I understand things a bit more than my wife about how things work here and I totally believe that my wife passed but she just assumed the BON would process her papers and so she didn't do anything about her passing score and just let it expire and/or it never became an official score because she took no action on it. So that's why I'm all hands in on this because she doesn't understand how things work here and I need to micro manage this process for her to get her to be an RN.

Yeah originally we thought she was fired but somehow she was never an RN in the first place...way too long and complicated to explain, but nonetheless, the plan is to start fresh and brand new. She has her BSN and between her not showing up in CA or FL BON even though she took the RN test and supposedly passed in 2005, we are just going to assume that was all a dream (nightmare) and that all she has going for her is that she has her BSN and will now start the process to be an RN. She doesn't want to be an RN because its too stressful, which is why its been so many years of not actually following thru with this. But she's working as a caregiver (lower than a CNA!) and we paid $XXX money to get her that BSN education and we need the RN salary to get by in todays climate, so she has to suck it up and take one for the team and work as an RN for at least a year. So thats why I'm on here trying to figure out what to do.

Thanks for that link, that information was helpful. OK, well I guess our first step is to start the registration process on the CA board website and see what happens.

My wife is busy with work and its easier for me to post on here. How do I find out if she is still eligible to sit for NCLEX? And what happens if she's not eligible? What does that mean? Does that mean she can never become an RN? Or does that mean she needs to re-take something else?

My wife completed her BSN in 2005 and the plan was to get her RN immediately. Things happened and it didn't work out that way. So here we are, about to start a new year and the new plan is to take a quick refresher course online, and then take the CA RN test asap so she can get her license. Some questions I have: 1. What are good online refresher classes? We're looking for the kind that you can study at your own pace, not have a structured time/schedule. I found one call reviewfornurses.com that has a simple refresher program and sample questions to prep for the test. Is something like that worth it? 2. How often is the NCLEX test given out? Just wanted to know what the earliest we can expect to have her take the RN test for CA if we started this process right now. Thanks.

hello, this thread is about my wife, who was an rn. i started a thread here when she was "fired" but i didnt have enough info on it and so the thread got locked https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/how-validate-fired-rn-status-326679.html now, i think i figured out what was going on and so i need some new help. originally wife got fired as an rn after 10 days on the job and the hospital gave this whole speil about how they reviewed her record and they called the state board and the state board reviewed her file and stripped her of her license and said she can't re-apply for 18 months. so i came on here trying to figure out what happened. since then, spent a lot of time researching and think i know what happened. as a refresher- wife "passed" fl rn board test in 2005. wife moved from fl to ca and needed to take some new classes to convert her fl rn to a ca rn, which she took. started working as an rn, got fired ten days on the job due to mixing up meds. what we've found out since then is that apparently wife was never an rn in the first place which is why the hospital "fired" her- in reality they were saving their behinds from hiring an employee and letting her work as an unlicensed rn. i went to the websites for the florida rn and ca rn and neither have her listed as an rn (searches result in "no records found"; i searched for other people i know are rns in those states and i found them listed). i would have expected the ca rn to say "fired for x reason" or something. but nothing was found at all. wife said she took the rn test in 2005 and got a letter in the mail shortly thereafter saying she passed. she didn't do anything after that. she lost the letter. so not sure how the state board normally notifies you but i guess sending a letter to you is normal? but not sure if after you get that letter you are supposed to do anything (like confirm your information with the state board, etc). its possible she really did pass and really got a passing letter but took no action and her passing "expired" or something. or she never passed the fl test but misread another letter. either way, i just want to have her take an rn test in ca now and pass it, hopefully. if she fails, then sign her up for a online refresher course or something and take the rn test again later. i'm sure she would fail the test now since she took the test back in 2005 and that was in fl. she had been working as a cna in fl before she took the test and when she passed, she told her supervisor and her supervisor just accepted that and started her as an rn from that point. she worked as an rn at the florida hospital for about a year. then when she moved to ca she took the ca classes and worked as a cna until she started as a rn. after completion of those ca classes, she was allowed to start work as an rn. then got "fired" after 10 days on the job and has been working as a caregiver/cna for the past year. money has been tight recently and best scenario is for her to get her ca rn and work as an rn and not a caregiver. so with all that said, what to do? 1. just go to www.rn.ca.gov and fill out an application that way? 2. how often are the tests? 3. is it conceivable for her to fill out an application and be taking the rn test within a month? thanks

Hello, Long story short, my wife started as an RN in July and after a week on the job, she got fired. Essentially it came down to two things: 1) the day she got fired she had about 10 patients and two of them had the same last name and she mixed up their medications. Luckily the result was only an allergic reaction by the patients, and the patients liked my wife and decided not to press charges, and 2) after the incident, the staff reviewed her charting and found she wasn't doing a good job charting. I don't know the exact details of what that means, but apparently she wasn't documenting things correctly since she started as RN (which was only one week). So they told us the Hospital won't press charges, but they did have to fire her and they reported the incident to the State Board of CA and within 2 hours the Hospital got the response saying that they have stripped her of her RN license. One thing I can tell you, the staffing supervisor that was in charge is kind of shady so myself, I personally believe they just fired her and didn't do anything to her RN license but my wife says she was there when they called the State Board. But I don't think the State Board can make that kind of a decision within 2 hours, right? Because once she got called into the office and they reviewed her files, within 2 hours she was fired and lost her license. They told her she is not eligible to get her RN license back for 18 months. Another twist is that my wife actually got her RN license from Florida, and then moved out to CA a year later. She had to take some extra classes to transfer FL RN license to CA RN license. We never got an official termination letter from the hospital. Actually, she never got her final (actually first) paycheck either as the staffing supervisor said they aren't going to pay her because she could have gotten the hospital sued and the hospital still has the right to sue her so basically the staffing supervisor is saying we should be lucky the Hospital is not suing us, so forget about the paycheck. That's another story for another day as I'll deal with the labor laws and things like that to get paid because I know she has the right to get paid for hours worked. But right now I'm trying to see what her RN status in CA is because I think she could work as a RN now (right now she's working as a CNA/caregiver). Or at the very least work in FL as an RN. My wife tells me they told her that she isn't an RN in FL anymore since she transferred it to CA and now that she lost her RN in CA, she can't be an RN anywhere for 18 months. I don't know who or what to believe but I am coming on here and hoping to find out: Who/where to contact to see what her RN license status is in CA? Who/where to contact to see what her RN license status is in FL? Is it really possible for the State Board to review a file in 2 hours and make the determination to strip someone of their RN license? If she really has lost her RN license, what options are there for her to get her RN license back faster? Thanks in advance.