If you are graduating from nursing school (LPN or RN), congrats are in order first. Second, if you know that you will have to disclose information whether its a criminal conviction, illegal drug use and treatment, or psychiatric information on a State Nursing Board application for initial licensure by examination, CONSULT with an attorney in your state BEFORE you submit your application.
I spoke with a NCLEX Applicant recently who was told by a nursing instructor at her nursing school that "its no big deal" "just complete the form and you will be okay."
I would say it is a big deal whenever you are applying for licensure before a State Nursing Board. Its your license, your career, your livelihood, and your life. Oh, wait a minute maybe that's just me.
Talk to someone before you submit your application. Consult with a license defense attorney or an attorney who practices before your State Nursing Board. You can google "license defense attorney" and your state or contact The American Association of Nurse Attorneys at www.taana.org.
A consultation may cost you a few hundred dollars but it is worth it so that you are not second guessing yourself and you know what your are options are in the situation.
I know in Ohio, if you look at the FY 2008 Ohio Board of Nursing annual report which is available online, the majority of complaints reviewed by the Board involve NCLEX-Applicants (RN and LPN) disclosing information on the application for licensure by examination. Between 9-10% of all NCLEX-Applicants to the Ohio Board of Nursing disclose information triggering a complaint.
Now, you can take this stat to mean several different things and I will leave that to you to decide. What it says to me as a license defense attorney is different from what this says to me as a registered nurse which is different from what it means to me as a consumer of healthcare services and the aunt of a nephew with a chronic medical condition who is frequently hospitalized vs. what it says to me as a nurse advocate.
A nurse educator who I respect said to me last year that in general the quality, caliber, and mindset of your typical nursing student has changed from what you see now vs. 10, 15, or 20 years ago. You can see this reflected in the interactions and incivility between nursing students and nursing school faculty, increased Nursing Board monitoring of new nurses related to criminal convictions and other issues, and the tension and bullying issues in the nursing workplace.
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
I am applying for nursing school but have a felony that I have had expunged and my concern is will this affect my ability to sit and take state board or my ability to practice nursing?
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Posted by: Cherie | December 04, 2009 at 12:15 AM