State license lapsed after 18 years; how to get relicensed

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My Mom's RN license lapsed after 18 years of not practicing (she had to quit her job when I was born, b/c I was extremely ill). She wants to retake the boards to get relicensed so she can work again to help support the family when I move out.

What prep courses do you recommend?

Btw, I'm training to be a cardiac sonographer at Orange Coast College. I hope to work at either Long Beach Community or Memorial Hospital, b/c I admire the NICU nursing staff there who took care of me when I was critically ill...it was born 16 weeks early, Apgars were all zero all three times, and I had a massive PDA causing PAH and right-to-left shunt. The NICU nurses had so much fun with me...they'd dress me up, take me across the NICU to a brthday party, etc.

They made me want to get into the medical field. I plan on someday going to St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada to earn my MD after completing my BS in Echocardiography online at Oregon Institute of Technology. I want to become an interventional cardiologist.

Btw, why do I keep hearing stories of RNs who abuse med students and residents (abusing your future boss is not a good way to build a working enviroment, esp. a hospital); almost al of the RNs I've been around have been so nice.

And why are NPs under the board of nursing, and not the board of medicine...if they're diagnosing and treating, they need to be under the board of medicine. Nurses should stick to nursing, which is what they do best, not try to practice medicine. We have PAs for physician extension. Sadly, I've heard stories from my friends who saw an NP who was incompetent, and who prescribed antibiotics for colds or something like that. The student health clinics at the college gave him a hard time when asked to see the physician.

Thanks,

Doug

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If your mom wants to reinstate her license she needs to contact the Board to find out how to proceed. Your other questions are best addressed in threads of their own under other forums. Good luck with your schooling.

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We know she needs to take the NCLEX-RN again. What prep courses do you recommend?

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She can get herself ready by using the Saunders Comprehensive Review, found at any major bookstore. Other resources commonly used are the Linda LaCharity book on Prioritization and the Kaplan prep book for test taking strategies. If she can afford it, the Kaplan review course and Q bank are also used by many. HTH

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Thanks!

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We know she needs to take the NCLEX-RN again. What prep courses do you recommend?

Are you sure she has to take NCLEX again? I just took a refresher course with several people away from nursing for 20 years and all they did was the refresher course and clinicals.

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The California Board said yes, she has to.

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Specializes in High Risk Antepartum, Well baby, Postpar.

I retook the boards in June after an 18 year absence from Nursing. I took the time off to raise my four kids. Tell your mom she can do it!!! I bought all the review books but the best thing I did was an interactive online review through a site called Evolve. You took a pretest and it focused on your weaknesses. At the end you took an actual CAT style test(exactly like the actual NCLEX). It shut off at 75 for me...as did the actual NCLEX!! So good luck to your mom!:yeah:

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