Fly669

Thank you for your reply. I found the S. Dakota AND the N. Dakota courses and checked both out with the IDPR and they are both well regarded. I'm getting a child off to college and plan to do one of them first thing. I received my mail from N. Dakota, nothing yet from the S. Dakota RN Board. Question: What are the benefits of being a "Premium Member"? In advance, thanks.

Hello! I have been an actively licensed RN in Illinois for 25 years, out of clinical setting for the last 5 years. I have been searching for a hospital position in IL and am being told I need to take a "RN refresher course". I began to search via the web, however, the places nearest to me geographically are "in chaos", "not taking students right now", etc.. To the RN posting I saw when I scanned the list--seems you DO need the refresher course as even the places where I last worked as a clinical RN would not take me back---without a refresher course. I offered to take a job as a "new grad" and was still told I need to take a refresher course. So much for the "nursing shortage". Although I have not "on paper" had a paid nursing job I HAVE cared for parents, children, family members, and friends for free AND have kept many of my nursing skills up. I live in the Western Suburbs and want to stay with a place close to home. Does ANYONE out there know who's offering refresher courses, how long they take and how much they cost? Also, re: Gov. Blagojevich, Illinois Governor. One of his first actions once he became governor was to clean out one of the multi-million dollar accounts set aside from partial payment of our nursing fees. He didn't touch the M.D. or Realtor or other professional groups' funds. Now he's allocating a few hundred thousand dollars back to the RN professional groups for educational purposes. Incredible!!!!