sofifi97

Thanks so much lee1 & beachy nurse for posting here. Before retiring earlier this year I found myself in the same situation as lee1, and am not convinced that hospitals are viewing this Board Of Nursing (BON) rule as intended. I called NJ BON, spoke to a supervisor who told me you are held to the standard of the higher license- which Beachy confirmed. But he also said that it is not illegal in the state of NJ to work in a position of the lower license. So if you are hired as an LPN, but have an RN license- NJ requires you to work to the higher RN license standards- which makes sense since it's two licenses within the same field of work...nursing. This is the example used in the NJ Nursing regulations. In fact, the only two nursing licenses in the state of NJ are LPN and RN (unlike some other states, in NJ an APN is a certification added to RN- not an additional licensure). I truly believe that this rule is only applicable within nursing and has nothing to do with techs, other allied health professionals or outside of the health profession.The reason I think I'm right is because I can't see that rule applying to a person that holds a manicurist license and an RN, which are two entirely different licenses. How would the higher license across professions be determined? My former employer has a spa, which employs manicurists... If one happened to also have an RN license, how would the hospital fairly determine which is the higher licensure? Going back to the tech dilemma in lee1's post- my question is that since being a tech isn't a license (mine was a national certification) and also outside of the scope of nursing, what is the potential conflict?In other words, if you have only one license (RN) and work in a different health field (technical) how does that BON rule apply? My technical position was very specialized and well paid...who's to say that it was higher or lower than being an RN? It just seems to me that they are different professions within the health field and that there should be no reason an RN can't work as a tech or vice versa. These are my opinions based on what NJ BON states in their regulations and what I was told by the supervisor there. Obviously private companies have the right to enforce their own internal policies- but from a legal standpoint i don't see an issue.