Yet another excelsior college question r/t reciprocity in Calif

SierraC · Oct 7, 2005

Hey, don't attach that attitude to EC- it belongs solely to the above poster(Sierra, not Lizz), whom I believe (based on her other posts) hasn't taken boards yet or worked as a nurse.

Hi, I take my boards in two weeks. I have a temp. permit to work . I had 8 job offers...have narrowed it down to 2...have to decide by next week...all on med/surg. Noone has questioned my EC degree. One of the nurse managers that interviewed me was an EC grad and said she flagged my resume and application when she saw I was an EC grad because she knows we are disciplined and self starters. I am not trying to raise any hairs here . I just believe that an EC grad is equivalant to any ASN grad...no less and no more. Not many ASN grads have many years of experience as a LPN.

:saint:

DYatesRN · Oct 7, 2005

I've learned after nearly 10 yrs. in the healthcare field that a good nurse will be a good nurse whether they got their degree out of the back of a magazine or from some ivy league school.
A stupid, lazy indifferent person will not benefit from the best (nursing) education, but it has been proven time and again that people who are determined can and will find a way to succeed and be good at what they do. Benjamin Franklin was self taught and had virtually no formal education growing up. So did Abe Lincoln. Most self made millionaires do not have a college degree. Yet you will find no shortage of highly educated losers who had every opportunity to succeed but because of their attitudes and lack of motivation are so untrustworthy they cannot hold jobs.
The same can be seen in the nursing field. You can't say who is going to be a good nurse or who doesn't deserve to be a nurse because they went to Joe's School of Nursing at PO Box 543, Hooterville, USA instead of Vanderbilt School of Nursing or UCLA School of Nursing.

Well stated! This is so true in any profession!

Sheri257 · Oct 7, 2005

Now take it easy Lizz!
Remember, I want resolution here, not more division.
If you think that my ideas are lowering the standards of nursing education and that my EC degree is substandard compared to the one you will one day receive, well, you're entitled to your opinion.
You may not know or work with me to verify any of my arguements, but it still hurts my feelings nonetheless that you will one day be an RN and look at me as substandard because of my EC degree.
I could be orienting you to the ICU or PACU someday and you still might be looking down on me as a new green nurse without a clue and not yet able to care for these patients on your own.

I apologize if I hurt your feelings. That actually wasn't my intent. It just seems so obvious to me what the problem is here and perhaps I get too overzealous in my arguments.

Then I read comments like this ...

I've learned after nearly 10 yrs. in the healthcare field that a good nurse will be a good nurse whether they got their degree out of the back of a magazine or from some ivy league school.

I pretty much thought we all agreed there were problems with the fly-by-night operations and MA's. Afterall, that is why EC eventually eliminated them. But I guess magazine schools are now ok. Sorry but I don't put those people in the category of Benjamin Franklin and Abe Lincohn. It's so ridiculous and frustrating that if I am too overzealous in my arguments you hopefully understand why. Comments like this don't help EC's reputation. :rolleyes:

BTW ... I wouldn't be opposed to testing. That seems like a good idea. Although keep in mind, 50 percent of LVN's do fail at least part of the challenge exams. And that's when they've already had the course material. So, I don't know how well people would do if they haven't had the material at all. Even if they are experienced, chances are they haven't been trained in all of the specialities. That would also be one monster of a test. A huge amount of material. Nevertheless, it's worth a shot, I think.

:coollook:

Sheri257 · Oct 7, 2005

What I meant by that is that it is not an advanced degree!

Uh ... ICU, Cardiac Cath Lab, Dialysis nurses, etc. aren't required to have advanced degrees. Yet I would never dismiss what they and other nurses do by stating it's not rocket science.

:rolleyes:

Jo Dirt · Oct 7, 2005

I apologize if I hurt your feelings. That actually wasn't my intent. It just seems so obvious to me what the problem is here and perhaps I get too overzealous in my arguments.
Then I read comments like this ...
I pretty much thought we all agreed there were problems with the fly-by-night operations and MA's. Afterall, that is why EC eventually eliminated them. But I guess magazine schools are now ok. Sorry but I don't put those people in the category of Benjamin Franklin and Abe Lincohn. It's so ridiculous and frustrating that if I am too overzealous in my arguments you hopefully understand why. Comments like this don't help EC's reputation.

Oh now come on, really. I was just using that as an *example*

And anyway...I think my picture would look pretty darn good on a 100 dollar bill.

RN34TX · Oct 8, 2005

I apologize if I hurt your feelings. That actually wasn't my intent. It just seems so obvious to me what the problem is here and perhaps I get too overzealous in my arguments.
Then I read comments like this ...
I pretty much thought we all agreed there were problems with the fly-by-night operations and MA's. Afterall, that is why EC eventually eliminated them. But I guess magazine schools are now ok. Sorry but I don't put those people in the category of Benjamin Franklin and Abe Lincohn. It's so ridiculous and frustrating that if I am too overzealous in my arguments you hopefully understand why. Comments like this don't help EC's reputation.
BTW ... I wouldn't be opposed to testing. That seems like a good idea. Although keep in mind, 50 percent of LVN's do fail at least part of the challenge exams. And that's when they've already had the course material. So, I don't know how well people would do if they haven't had the material at all. Even if they are experienced, chances are they haven't been trained in all of the specialities. That would also be one monster of a test. A huge amount of material. Nevertheless, it's worth a shot, I think.

I thought about the 50% failure rate of LVN thing as well when thinking about this. At the time I started at EC, the CPNE only had a 57% first time pass rate, not very good and almost caused me to not want to do it. The highest year I'd seen as 68% which was the highest it had ever been.

EC started having workshops and skills labs later on and they say that it helped improve the pass rates.

My theory is that if 50% of LVN's are failing exams covering material already learned in their program, then something is wrong with either the LVN programs and/or the exams themselves because that's pretty bad.

But who knows.

Now, let me tell you how people can get trained in all of the specialties that they don't have experience in:

The same way people are prepping for the CPNE today.

I had no peds experience outside of clinicals in LVN school and the CPNE tests peds and adults.

But...every decent sized hospital where an LVN works has a friend of a friend of a friend who works peds, OB, psych, ICU, OR, etc. and that's how preceptorships get set up.

Come in on your own time and follow someone willing to train you.

That's how many are prepping for the CPNE today.

If you get a crappy preceptor who barely meets standards at work and teaches you bad habits, well then you probably won't pass the clinical exam.

That's how the RN to BSN program at my employer works as well.

If you don't have someone to follow around for let's say, the leadership class, then you start networking at work and eventually someone knows someone that you can work with to meet your goals.

Sheri257 · Oct 8, 2005

My theory is that if 50% of LVN's are failing exams covering material already learned in their program, then something is wrong with either the LVN programs and/or the exams themselves because that's pretty bad.
But who knows.

Those are the stats for my school. I don't know if that figure applies statewide. The vast majority pass the exams for NP1 but the NP2 exam is the one everybody failed that I know of. The challenge exams are the same final comprehensive exams we take at the end of each semester. The NP2 exam includes all the material covered for Med Surg, OB and Peds.

Some LVN's hadn't been in school for years. Others were fresh out of school and still failed. As we've previously discussed, the LVN schools are regulated by a different state board so, maybe that has something to do with it.

But then 80 percent of the regular NP2 class also failed the final so, maybe it was just an incredibly tough exam. My school really likes to pile on tests the last week of school. I know that class also had two other tests the same week as the final so, unless you were really diligent about constantly studying all semester long, it was probably very difficult to pass that test.

And, if you were an LVN who hadn't been in class and and had not been tested on the material all semester long, it was probably even tougher to pass because it was a huge amount of material.

So ... it would be interesting to see how people would do with comprehensive third and fourth semester exams. If this situation is any indication, it could very tough.

:smokin:

StrawberryBanana · Jun 14, 2010

I think it's very arrogant of California to deny EC Nursing grads, who are ALL previous LICENSED nurses, yet accept foreign nurses, in place of them...and here we are...all graduating from USA Nursing schools..arguing about this. Do you think the foreign nurses, who graduated in their 2nd/3rd world countries are having to sweat this right now? Go figure .

Bebet39 · Jun 14, 2010

That's right. They are too pompous and out of order.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 14, 2010

Just FYI, this thread is about 5 years old.

StrawberryBanana, have you contacted the Cali BON? Might be best to get the answer directly from them.

StrawberryBanana · Jun 14, 2010

I have, but to no avail. I did speak with EC and they confirmed that Maryland and California still do not accept them. However, they said they have heard of people working for a year and applying to California and being able to obtain their CA license..although they make no guarantees.

caliotter3 · Jun 17, 2010

I would contact the CA BRN to get a definitive answer. Not many people are vocal about getting their license elsewhere, working elsewhere, then getting a CA license, after graduating from EC. Worth getting an answer from the horse's mouth.