Required Certifications

So I have to go out of state for my clinicals. I leave in 3 weeks. 

2 out of 3 certifications are a requirement to maintain my employment. The other one will benefit the patients that I see for my job. 

They don't want to pay me while I am gone doing clinicals (I am salaried not hourly). 

I'm trying to think of an analogous scenario in order to determine if this is reasonable. Did you accept this job knowing that you would need to obtain these certifications within X months (weeks, years, whatever)? Or is this a job you already had, and they suddenly decided that this certification is necessary? If they require this certification, I assume that you do a lot of that type of care with the patients you see - is there some reason why you cannot obtain your hours in the course of your job? That's usually how it works with specialty certifications. 

Did your hospital arrange this month-long clinical experience, or is it something you did on your own? I'm looking at the WOC certification requirements, and it looks like you can choose to do it either through an education pathway, or an experiential pathway. Did you choose to do the experiential pathway? If the choice was yours in how you went about it, I don't think it's unreasonable for the hospital to not pay for it.

I don't know, that's a tough one. When I was the nurse manager for a small community hospital that had a level 2 NICU, I would have to send nurses to the nearest big city, 2 hours away, to do a 2-week NICU clinical experience at the hospital where we would commonly transfer our sick babies that needed higher care. We had an arrangement with that facility that they would help train our NICU nurses, but we paid the nurses' hourly wages while they were there.

They hired me with the stipulation that I would get my Wound and ostomy certifications within a certain time frame (although Covid delayed that). I am from Montana and work in a regional hospital. There is no one that is certified to do any of the clinicals within a driving distance. We don't see enough patients to get the clinical hours I would need within the time frame either. The way I am doing it is the only way for me to go. 

Also- I did get my lymphedema certification and had to go out of state for that one as well but only for 10 days. I got paid during that time and didn't have to use any of my paid leave. It wasnt a requirement for my job but definitely benefits our patients. I had a different supervisor though - maybe she didn't know about the policy? But human resources would have.... 

Angelatacey said:

They hired me with the stipulation that I would get my Wound and ostomy certifications within a certain time frame (although Covid delayed that). ...

[...]

Who paid the course registration fees?  If your facility paid them, you might be able to argue that they should pay your time during the clinical portion as well.  However, this should have been addressed during your onboarding, not in the middle of the program.

Angelatacey said:

[...]

Also- I did get my lymphedema certification and had to go out of state for that one as well but only for 10 days. I got paid during that time and didn't have to use any of my paid leave. It wasnt a requirement for my job but definitely benefits our patients. ...

As you wrote that this isn't a job requirement, I presume that you negotiated this with your manager at the time.

Angelatacey said:

[...]

... I had a different supervisor though - maybe she didn't know about the policy? But human resources would have.... 

Have you read the policy, or are you accepting what your manager is telling you as factual?  If you haven't, you need to.

Best wishes.

I paid for everything- Almost $7000. 

I changed supervisors in the middle of my course. 

I will ask to see the policy when I meet with my new supervisor but wanted feedback from others before I met with her to see if I was being unreasonable in my request. 

Tha k you to everyone who gas given me feedback so far. 

Angelatacey said:

The way I am doing it is the only way for me to go. 

You couldn't have done the coursework/certificate program, rather than the experiential hours?

In thinking about it, I think this would be similar to being hired into a lactation consultant job with the stipulation that one must get their IBCLC within a certain period of time. In that situation, I would expect that the cost of getting that certification would be on the person who took the job, knowing that they would need that certification in order to stay in the job. 

Another analogous situation would be if I were to be hired into a manager position, but the stipulation to being hired is that I have to get my master's degree within 2 years. I would not expect my job to pay my salary while I'm taking classes.

You're actually pretty lucky that they're letting you take a whole month off in order to do the clinical hours. A lot of places would expect you to just do it during your days off.

1. I never asked for them to pay for my courses. I am just asking to be paid while I am at clinicals.
2. Getting the certifications was a requirement when they offered me the job and I accepted
3. I had only just graduated with my BSN when I was hired (hadn't even sat my boards yet). I was hired based on my experience as an LPN but the WOCN doesn't care about time as an LPN only as BSN. Thus I couldn't do the experiential pathway. It states  "Within the last 5 years, 1500 hours for each scope of practice and 375 hours must be within a year of applying to sit for exams". 

They aren't doing me any favors by allowing me to go do my clinicals. They knew the situation when I was hired.  If it wasn't a requirement for my job I wouldn't have dished out the $7000. 

You don't think that's generous of them to let you take a one-month leave of absence so you can get this certification? I do. 

Just as they knew you would need to do this, you also knew when you accepted the job that you would have to do it. 

@ OP

I don't think you should be paid. You should have discussed this upon hiring. You should have also looked into your specialty before applying to see what "training" or "certifications" are required. Nothing wrong with applying for a specialty position, but you need to ask either early on or during the interview what certs are required and if it's paid for. When I interviewed for my PICC line nurse position, I asked if I have to get my cert outside, but fortunately, I did not have to as it was to be paid for. As much as I think it's odd that the prices you are paying for your certs are so much, I can understand why it can be so much and why you have to go out of your for it (it's a specialty position).

If you haven't already, you can asking your manager or HR if there is some sort of reimbursement, but based on your answers, it seems unlikely. Seems like your on the way to finishing, so hopefully you'll pull through.

You are salaried and doing a mandated training, I feel as though you should receive your salary OR they should pay for the course. Hospitals all over this country are short nurses and paying ridiculous fees for travelers. They should work on retaining their current staff and this is one way that would help. They could stipulate that you have to stay X amount of years after finishing. Your certification makes them money.