Published
Another cautionary tale about checking very carefully before one chooses a school of nursing. "Non-traditional" means that it may well lack accreditation sufficient to be acceptable to all BoNs in the US. It seems like a sure thing at the time but never say, "Oh, I'll never move to _____ so it doesn't matter," because guess what? You can never tell when a situation like this arises.
From my understanding, some of the non-traditional schools have no clinical time. It is a clinical exam. Which doesn't satisfy the clinical requirements in some states. Regardless of clinical skills since in a RN position. Which seems odd, but never the less, it is that way in GA and a couple of other states.
The circumstances have changed since the time you went to a non-traditional school. At least one of them at the time you could be anything or nothing and get into the nursing program. Then they changed it to reflect that only LPN's or Paramedics (and a couple of other disciplines) could be part of a bridge program. I would be clear with the BON that you were an LPN who bridged as opposed to someone with no experience who had no clinical time but the test. That coupled with 11 years as an RN should be enough--there were some odd "rules" about clinical time that was not job related or some other such blah, blah, blah.
I had a former coworker who went non-traditional as a high school graduate. When he wanted to get a job in Georgia (after 3 years as an RN in another state) he was told that he needed a "refresher" clinical experience off the time clock, as a student in state. Which I am not sure how one gets that.....
Good luck, and hopefully your experience as well as the fact you were a former LPN will help! Here's a blurb I found from a non-traditional college's website--link to Georgia's BON.....only an interpretation, apparently, and per TOS not meant to be any sort of legal advice, just interesting how your LPN experience may help...
Preceptorship required for selected graduates. In April 2011, the requirements for RN licensure were revised. The State Board Requirements for Georgia contains a link to a chart on how to interpret those statutory changes.
Endorsement: Stipulations vary based on prior health care experience; LPN’s with one year experience as an RN will license with no preceptorship; LPNs with less than one year RN experience, Paramedics and Corpsmen will do a preceptorship.
July 3, 2013
ToothFairy(5)
58 Posts
So I graduated from a " non-traditional " college about 11 years ago with my ADN. Was a LPN for 4 years before that back when a LPN could work as a nurse on a med-surg unit. Now I have to move to Georgia and they refuse to grant me a license saying I need more experience. Or need to complete 480 hours of preceptorship? The way their statue looks this protochol seems to be for new grads which I am not. Anyone ever fought this and won? I have filed a formal grievance with the BON with no response.