boneknuckleskin

I work in an ER in a city with community spread. I am very high-risk for this illness and it’s complications and care for my 80 year old grandmother who is extremely high-risk. I have been out with pneumonia all week, tested negative for COVID. I had bronchitis last month. My job wants me to get a doctors note and return right away. We run a skeleton crew. I don’t want to work until this crisis is over, I don’t want to infect my grandmother and I don’t want to get infected either. It’s not worth it for my salary. Also, we don’t even have face shields and are re-using N95’s and I’m always up front in triage the first face you see as soon as you slide the glass open it creates a vacuum from the patient to me. Anyone else in this position and if so what are your plans? Quit? I don’t know if I could get FMLA for this. I would like to keep my job if possible and return to it later. There’s no where else in our hospital I can work right now.

I met criteria and was tested. My question is the nursing staff didn’t use regular disposable gloves. They had on those snug fitting surgical gloves that go nearly half way up your forearm and just cleaned the gloves with hand sanitizer frequently / between patients but did not see anyone change gloves. This freaked me out when the nurse swabbing my nose placed the back of her gloves hand on my cheek. People were coughing and gagging when being swabbed for strep / flu / COVID-19 and they were just dousing with hand sanitizer and moving on to the next. I had a fever and was a little delirious, I probably should have asked questions right then. Anyway, is this normal at any of the other drive-thru clinics? Am I over-reacting? I’m a high-risk patient.

Maybe you could get onbord with Excelsior with some friends and launch a new CPNE site for all of us?

Has anybody heard any explanations why exactly Excelsior is losing clinical sites and the backlog is growing? Currently residing in Lubbock, TX - former CPNE clinical site. Have asked around, not gotten any answers. It was *crickets* when I asked the admission counselor to elaborate on the situation. Someone posted here that an email went out to students regarding reducing the wait to four months, but did the letter outline how they were hoping to achieve this goal and by when?

In case anybody is browsing this forum and wanted a link to some more information regarding the reasoning behind all this, here is a link: https://www.sunset.texas.gov/public/uploads/files/reports/Board%20of%20Nursing%20SER%20Final_0.pdf IX. Major Issues Issue #1: Expiration of 301.157(d)(8-11)A. Brief Description of Issue The 2009 Legislative statute, HB 3961 included amendments to the Nursing Practice Act addingsections 301.157(d)(8) – (d-11) and section 105.008 of the Health and Safety Code to addressquestions about graduates of professional nursing programs that do not include supervisedclinical learning experiences as part of the program of study. These amendments allowed forapproval for graduates of a clinical competency assessment program operated in another stateand approved by a state board of nursing in another state to be eligible to apply for initiallicensure in Texas provided: (1) that the Texas Board had previously allowed such graduates toapply for licensure during the previous 10 years, (2) the program remained in good standingwith the board of approval, (3) the program did not make any substantial changes to length orcontent of its clinical competency assessment; and (4) the program participated in a researchstudy under Section 105.008 of the Texas Health and Safety Code designed to determine if thegraduates of a clinical competency assessment program are substantially equivalent to thegraduates of supervised clinical learning experiences programs in terms of clinical judgmentsand behaviors. The research study was set to be completed by June 30, 2014. Sections301.157(d-8) – (d-11) will expire December 31, 2015. There was and continues to be only oneprogram in the United States that offers such a program- Excelsior College in New York and noresearch study was completed by the deadline.. B. Discussion A plan to conduct the research study required in by HB 3961 was implemented shortly afterenactment when a committee appointed by Texas Center for Nursing Workforce met anddeveloped a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the study. The Texas Board of Nursing provided thefunding for this phase of the research with the intention of seeking grant from the NationalCouncil of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) for $300,000. An RFP was released with only 3submissions received. None were acceptable. Several barriers to a successful award wereidentified including language in HB 3961 that precluded schools of nursing in Texas fromconducting the research and the lack of sufficient grant funding to conduct the study. Followingthe RFP process, NCSBN proposed a research design to study the competence of nursegraduates of Excelsior College at a meeting with the committee on August 25, 2011. At thatmeeting and in subsequent discussions, representatives from Excelsior College could not agreeto support the study, therefore, without the support of Excelsior College, NCSBN could notmove forward with funding a study on the competence of their nurse graduates. The Board has examined the passing rate for first time NCLEX-RN test takers who havegraduated from Excelsior and who took the exam between October 1, 2013 and September 30,2014. These dates represent the normal examination year used in Texas for evaluation of its RN nursing programs. The NCLEX pass rate for the 972 candidates is 74%. This pass rate forExcelsior graduates would fall short of the required 80% for Texas programs. If Texas wereinvolved in the regulation of Excelsior it would ensure that the program underwent extensivereview of the curricula and other applicable strategies that Texas programs implement toensure the program is producing competent graduates. Possible Solutions and Impact This is an issue that must be decided by the Texas Legislature. Continuation of the statute afterDecember 31, 2017 would allow graduates of clinical competency assessment programoperated in another state and approved by a state board of nursing in another state to applyfor Texas licensure without required clinical practice during the nursing education program. ------------------ I find it interesting that, "...representatives from Excelsior College could not agree to support the study, therefore, without the support of Excelsior College, NCSBN could not move forward with funding a study on the competence of their nurse graduates." Because, this flies in the face of what Excelsior said in 2009 when all this first began, "Excelsior College welcomes the opportunity to participate in this research project. We are confident the results will demonstrate that graduates of our "nontraditional" nursing program are as well prepared to practice as RNs as graduates of any other program. The study is to be completed by June 30, 2014, with the results reported to the Legislature and Governor." Source: https://allnurses.com/excelsior-college-online/excelsior-college-and-453713.html

Let's not be coy: Patients were complaining, people were talking, pills were missing, and you shaved your head and turned your resignation because you could feel the heat. But now you're busted. And not necessarily for the sort of narc diversion that you can just TPAP away--so I think the BON is the least of your worries right now--but I hope whosever hands this ends up in, that you get well again.

As long as I verify that I can get a license in some state and then gain reciprocity through Texas after working as an RN elsewhere I'm going to go ahead and move forward with the Excelsior program. I just had a dropped call after waiting on hold with the BON in Austin for 45 minutes to ask if this very question. I'll call back tomorrow. But maybe some of you nurses know? Thanks for the link Pixie.

Anyone else enrolled or thinking about enrolling and planning to obtain licensure in Texas? I applied today and received a call from the admissions office who advised me to contact the BON and to strongly consider other nursing programs in the state of Texas as the advisory committee may pull a "California" in 2017 and not allow any Excelsior graduate to obtain an RN license in the state. I got a little spooked. But I don't know what "compact" states are and how nursing licensure works, what's to stop me from moving out-of-state and getting licensed and then moving back in-state 6 months later if they absolutely shut down Excelsior in Texas? Im young and single and that wouldnt be too far-fetched for me to do. What happened to all those California students when their BON shut them down? Also, maybe the Texas BON will just require additional stipulations as they've clearly done for 11 other states in the past. I could arrange a preceptorship easily with a master's or doctorates prepared nurse through my employer. I would do a local program but they only have "fast track" for LVNs in Lubbbock, nothing for paramedics (which I am). A full-time two-year program is not feasible. I have all prerequisites competed though I may have to repeat A&P and micro as it's been about 7 years since I've had those. I planned to take Excelsiors ECE to re-complete that requirement but now I'm not sure if Excesior is a smart choice so I want to hear from others.

I'm confused about what this one-credit hour information literacy course is all about? I'm a senior majoring in Geophysics from a major university, so I really can't see what I have to gain from this course unless some kind person can please enlighten me?

Great information, thank you. So, I have a question. Some states don't accept Excelsior, got it. So let's say I get a nursing license in a state which does accept Excelsior grads and then I get a job as an RN. After working ## years in that state in which I got my license, I suddenly decide to move to a state that does not accept Excelsior grads for initial(?) RN licensure. At that point, does my ## years of work as a RN negate the issue that states BON has with Excelsior graduates? It seems silly that having not done a few clinicals concurrent with my nursing classes, or doing an online lab for my microbiology class in lieu of a classroom would trump actual real-life work experience as a registered nurse several years after the fact, doesn't it? I'm still trying to understand how this licensure stuff works.

Concerning the gentleman above describing the potential year-and-a-half wait time for the CPNE... what the heck is up what that!? The administration should be doing WHATEVER it takes to contract new clinical sites and alleviate the the waitlist. What a disservice to their students. So, $2,000+ (plus airfare, lodging) and a 15 months wait just to make a single attempt? That is absolutely unacceptable and probably means Excelsior won't be getting a dime out of me, I'll take me TEAS score to a program elsewhere. Really disappointed. EDIT: Just saw Pixie.RN's reply. Man, but calling for those last minute cancellations -- those airlines are really going to eat some people's lunch with those last-minute bookings. But, I do have a bazillion miles on my credit card so I'll at least give Excelsior a call to see what they're doing to rectify the issue before I jump ship.

Just took the TEAS this morning. Easy test. Scored in the 97th percentile with only about 8 hours of a study/prep time. However, I do have 4 years of of full-time coursework from The University of Texas at Austin under my belt and I did draw a little on that. Do recommend getting an exam content guide so you know what you will be tested on, as it's fairly broad. Easiest section was mathematics. Science is mostly biology-based with some light chemistry - primarily atomic bonding and basic chemical reactions. A couple of of the English / Reading questions we're really bizarre. Exam length was 150 questions and took about 2 hours to complete. If you can't pass this test, you probably really don't need to be in nursing school - just my two cents.