Board of Nursing Review

Today our school took a field trip to the Board of nursing, review hearings. I am amazed at what goes one at these and I hope I never, ever have to go before the board!

There were nurses there from other states requesting approval to sit for Fla NCLEX. Nurses who had their licenses revoked for reasons ranging from drug and alcohol abuse, to med errors. Nursing students who had just passed nursing school, waiting on approval to sit for the test but having to go before the board first because of prior criminal or health histories.

Get this. So many were denied the right to sit for the NCLEX for years from now because of a new law FL. just passed on July 1st of this year. It states that if you have any felony drug charges or convictions, medicaid-medicare charges, fraud charges, etc....that you wikll be denied your license or the right to sit for your NCLEX until 15 years from the date of your probation termination. So many new nursing students were denied. Students whom just passed school in April and May, applied for their seat for the NCLEX and even though this was done before July 1st....they were still denied because today was the day they would have had their approval to sit for the test. I feel so awful for them. Many of them had things in their past for 12 years ago to jsut 3 years ago, but have gone through various programs and kept clean records, changed their lives around....now they have to wait. One lady has to come back before the board in 2017 to get her license. All that hard work, for that. I would be devastated.

So, I learned a lot. Most importantly I learned ....keep your nose clean, dont do anything to close any doors for yourself because they may never open again....and if you ever have to go before the BON....be PREPARED.