Tennessee to California nursing requirements

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Specializes in Critical care, Med Surg/Tele, Psych, SNF.

Hi everyone. This is my first post on allnurses, so please excuse any points of ignorance.

I just passed the NCLEX PN (thank God), and I want to go start my process for the RN right away.

I decided that I want to go out of state for my RN (Tennessee), and I tried calling the BRN, and they were no help.

Can someone please tell me some information about endorsement? I saw on the BRN website that they might require additional courses to meet California requirements, or that they may have to retake the NCLEX-RN examination again. I'm just really confused by the information.

Thank you in advance for your help.

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Not certain what info you wanted from the BON in Tennessee about going to school in that state or if you called the board in California to get info about their requirements about endorsement from TN? I do know a nurse (LPN) who came to TN for her LPN from California because she could get into school quicker in Tennessee.

She has gone back to California to work and I have lost track of her.

The best advice that I can give you is to pick a school of interest in Tennessee, apply, and get their curriculum. Then you may be in a better place to get a reply from the board in California about any additional courses required for endorsement to California.

Hope this helps.

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Specializes in Oncology.

Just to clarify for my own understanding: you will be going to school for your RN in Tennessee, but want to work in California after you finish?

If that's the case, you could just apply for your initial license in California, and not have to worry about endorsement. NCLEX is NCLEX, so you wouldn't need to retake the NCLEX-RN if you're just switching states.

Whether you'll need extra classes to meet BRN requirements depends on your school and their course of study. I think you'd probably need to talk to someone at the BRN to find out for sure if the courses you'll be taking are sufficient. The other option is to see if someone at your school's Student Services department knows if graduates have had to take additional classes to meet CA requirements.

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Specializes in Critical care, Med Surg/Tele, Psych, SNF.
Just to clarify for my own understanding: you will be going to school for your RN in Tennessee, but want to work in California after you finish?

If that's the case, you could just apply for your initial license in California, and not have to worry about endorsement. NCLEX is NCLEX, so you wouldn't need to retake the NCLEX-RN if you're just switching states.

Whether you'll need extra classes to meet BRN requirements depends on your school and their course of study. I think you'd probably need to talk to someone at the BRN to find out for sure if the courses you'll be taking are sufficient. The other option is to see if someone at your school's Student Services department knows if graduates have had to take additional classes to meet CA requirements.

Thank you so much for your help. For clarification, you are correct. I want to go to school in Tennessee, but come back to work in California.

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Specializes in Critical care, Med Surg/Tele, Psych, SNF.
Not certain what info you wanted from the BON in Tennessee about going to school in that state or if you called the board in California to get info about their requirements about endorsement from TN? I do know a nurse (LPN) who came to TN for her LPN from California because she could get into school quicker in Tennessee.

She has gone back to California to work and I have lost track of her.

The best advice that I can give you is to pick a school of interest in Tennessee, apply, and get their curriculum. Then you may be in a better place to get a reply from the board in California about any additional courses required for endorsement to California.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your help!

I called the California board of Nursing. Not Tennessee.

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