When I was a 13 year old girl, my friend's family brought me on their week long vacation to Wildwood? Ocean City? Atlantic City? I can't remember. It had a boardwalk. Anyway...we fried in the sun, slathered in baby oil, day after day.
Imagine our delight when a hunky lifeguard motioned us toward him from his perch atop the big white chair.
"Would you two do me a favor," he asked?
We looked over our shoulder to make sure he was truly talking to us, and then we giggled.
"Go to the next lifeguard station," he pointed to one about a quarter mile up the beach, "and ask that guard for the Sea Plus rag, then bring it back to me, okay?"
His white teeth. His solo flex abs. The fact that he was talking, to us! We giggled a little more, then went happily on his errand.
But alas, the next lifeguard didn't have the Sea Plus rag. He told us not to worry, he pointed down the beach toward the next life guard station. We would find it there, he was certain. We would return triumphantly to solo-flex boy! He would love us! God only knows how many miles we walked from white chair to white chair, before we figured it out. They were messing with us.
I'm beginning to think an Ohio nursing license is a bit like a Sea Plus rag.
I started applying for my license back in September. I've worked in several states, and I always keep my license current for the state I'm living in, even if I'm not working. I'm not saying I'm ready to rush out and find a nursing job any time soon, but I like to have the option. Ohio said they needed documentation from every state I've been licensed in. Totally understandable.
Will do.
Check.
I did my FBI background check.
I waited. I called. Can't talk to a real person. Ever.
Finally after months, the clouds parted and a voice, a real voice came on the line.
New York is holding you up. We don't have their papers.
Lousy New York. I got right on it.
Never heard anything.
Many phone calls later, I got another live body.
We need your license to be current for the last state you were employed in.
But that was Maryland. That was two states ago. I have not been *employed* as a nurse in five years(though I have had a complex and all consuming caseload of one and my knowledge base of autism far surpasses most pediatricians).
Well, you need to reactivate your Maryland license in order to get an Ohio one.
But I haven't worked there in five years and I no longer live there. Would they even give me a license? And in the meantime, my Virginia license which was current nine months ago when I started this process, has expired!
Silence.
Can I just take a refresher course or something?
Only if you already have an Ohio nursing license.
There's seriously no way to get a nursing license if yours has expired? Can I take the boards again? (I am a good student and they weren't that hard. Nursing school was difficult. The boards were not).
She didn't know. The Ohio nursing board doesn't know what to tell me.
Maryland isn't calling me back.
It's not looking good for the Sea Plus rag.
Imagine our delight when a hunky lifeguard motioned us toward him from his perch atop the big white chair.
"Would you two do me a favor," he asked?
We looked over our shoulder to make sure he was truly talking to us, and then we giggled.
"Go to the next lifeguard station," he pointed to one about a quarter mile up the beach, "and ask that guard for the Sea Plus rag, then bring it back to me, okay?"
His white teeth. His solo flex abs. The fact that he was talking, to us! We giggled a little more, then went happily on his errand.
But alas, the next lifeguard didn't have the Sea Plus rag. He told us not to worry, he pointed down the beach toward the next life guard station. We would find it there, he was certain. We would return triumphantly to solo-flex boy! He would love us! God only knows how many miles we walked from white chair to white chair, before we figured it out. They were messing with us.
I'm beginning to think an Ohio nursing license is a bit like a Sea Plus rag.
I started applying for my license back in September. I've worked in several states, and I always keep my license current for the state I'm living in, even if I'm not working. I'm not saying I'm ready to rush out and find a nursing job any time soon, but I like to have the option. Ohio said they needed documentation from every state I've been licensed in. Totally understandable.
Will do.
Check.
I did my FBI background check.
I waited. I called. Can't talk to a real person. Ever.
Finally after months, the clouds parted and a voice, a real voice came on the line.
New York is holding you up. We don't have their papers.
Lousy New York. I got right on it.
Never heard anything.
Many phone calls later, I got another live body.
We need your license to be current for the last state you were employed in.
But that was Maryland. That was two states ago. I have not been *employed* as a nurse in five years(though I have had a complex and all consuming caseload of one and my knowledge base of autism far surpasses most pediatricians).
Well, you need to reactivate your Maryland license in order to get an Ohio one.
But I haven't worked there in five years and I no longer live there. Would they even give me a license? And in the meantime, my Virginia license which was current nine months ago when I started this process, has expired!
Silence.
Can I just take a refresher course or something?
Only if you already have an Ohio nursing license.
There's seriously no way to get a nursing license if yours has expired? Can I take the boards again? (I am a good student and they weren't that hard. Nursing school was difficult. The boards were not).
She didn't know. The Ohio nursing board doesn't know what to tell me.
Maryland isn't calling me back.
It's not looking good for the Sea Plus rag.
*photo from http://www.shop.advanceweb.com/
14 comments:
Key-rist! That's unbelievable! I'll hold good thoughts for someone with their head out of their you-know-what to find a reasonable solution!
OMG. What a cluster-f! Hope you get some resolution.
Nice to know that bullshit is alive and well. We have the same problems here.
Completely ridiculous. Seriously??
Ahh...the Catch-22 of the bureaucracy. That's what happens with power incongruent hierarchies. They make the rules then don't give anyone the ability to make decisions that make sense.
Good luck.
What happened to the compact state options on the Virginia license? VA compact state license allows you to practice in certain states while you get a license for that state, or so they say. That is totally stupid to have documentation from all states you have practiced in. If you show proof from the previous state you were licensed in , there shouldn't be any problem in getting a license from that state. Also, good luck from getting what you need from VA. Their patient prescription regulatory program (part of the State Board of License that issues and renews 19 categories of health professionals) was hacked into on April 30, so they shut down the whole website. No one could renew online and the number to get paper renewal was computer generated, so no one could use this number to get a paper renewal. I finally called VA State Board of Nursing directly and asked how to get a paper renewal. The receptionist was very nice and I received it in 2 days. But what a hassle!
The state police are still investigating this! There's talk of suing the internet security company by the state. The worst part is that the hacker was able to steal 35000 patients info, and for some reason these patients aren't able to get their pain meds because the pharmacists can't check the records - that's just shameful and unethical!
Good luck,
Peacekeeper
OMG. Another thing to cause anxiety, confusion and delay.
one more example of why some/most things should be at a federal level
are we one freakin' country or not!?
a nurse is a nurse - just let them nurse
I am having a hell of a time with diability and health insurance so if you need me to tear someone to pieces please let me know - I am so riled up
and remember I was born in Brooklyn and now live in Jersey - that makes me doubly dangerous
Why not post some pictures from when you were 13. Inquiring minds would love to see them.
Gosh, I HATE shit like this. This is one of the things I have let hold me up about school, too. What do you do if you have not been working? They make it SO hard to get back in.
I hope they get it worked out.
:)
I gather that cross is made from red tape? Ugh.
Sounds like a snipe hunt in the woods down home.
cluster f*ck is right, niksmom.
hang in there. there's a reason for all this. just trying to figure out the big reveal over here, scratching my head.
Completely frustrating-breathe
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