Working with an out of state license

[doularoz]

I am currently an RN in Pennsylvania but took a job in New York. The hospital is making me work as an aide until all my paperwork is processed and I have a New York license in hand. I'm a new grad so this is my first job Someone told me that there were two ways around this but the hospital probably didn't want to bother. One was called a diversion or something like that. If anyone has heard of this the information would be greatly appreciated. They are paying me as an aide also. I thought I would have my license by now. I feel like I'm being taken advantage of and have an interview on Tuesday at another hospital in PA. Thanks for any advice.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I agree you are an RN and should be working as an RN...BUT you can't work without a license. Without the NY license (registration) you AREN'T a New York Registered Nurse.

The PA job sounds more feasible.

[cannoli]

You can't work in a state unless you are licensed in that state. The only exception that I know of is working for the Department of Defense, in a military hospital you can work with a license from any state.

[CougRN]

if you have a license somewhere else you can apply for a temporary one while they process your new license. other than that they have the right and obligation to not pay you as an RN until you have a license in their state.

[sjoe]

"You can't work in a state unless you are licensed in that state. The only exception that I know of is working for the Department of Defense, in a military hospital you can work with a license from any state."

The VA also does not require specific state licensing. And I believe some traveling nurse agencies manage to "cover" their nurses, so they don't have to be re-licensed everywhere they go. Call one and ask about it, since I don't know how they manage this.

But it seems to me that your NY employer is fully justified (and legallly mandated) to do exactly what it is doing, except that it doesn't have to hire you as an interim unlicensed employee in the meanwhile. It is doing this as a benefit to you, hoping you will stay with them once you get your license. Most employers will simply say "come back when you get your state license." It certainly does not seem to me as though you are being taken advantage of--quite the contrary.

[rncopper]

"You can't work in a state unless you are licensed in that state. The only exception that I know of is working for the Department of Defense, in a military hospital you can work with a license from any state."

The VA also does not require specific state licensing. And I believe some traveling nurse agencies manage to "cover" their nurses, so they don't have to be re-licensed everywhere they go. Call one and ask about it, since I don't know how they manage this.

The VA is considered "government" and so, like the military hospitals, you only need to have a current license from any state to work in a government facility (this also includes IHS); it does not need to be in the state in which you are working.

Travel nurses MUST have a license in the state they are working in. The agencies do not "cover" us. Now, there are "compact states"; if your home state is part of the "compact states" (there are presently 15 of them, with 2 more to be implemented 1/1/04, 1 to be implemented 1/1/05, and 1 to be determined when it will be implemented), you are allowed to work in another compact state without getting that states license.

FYI - compact states are: AZ, AR, DE, ID, IA, ME, MD, Mississippi, NE, NC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WI.

[doularoz]

Thank you for your replies. We live on the PA boarder and one of the instructors at my school thought there was a procedure to make you legal until you got a licnse.