March is a month away and I got a notice in the mail that it’s time to renew my nursing license. Here, in Wisconsin, we have to renew them every 2 years in order to maintain the license. It costs, roughly, sixty-five bucks to renew every two years – – there’s no continuing education requirements to be met…. just money (of course). I think in other states, nurses have to meet a certain amount of hours of continuing education in order to maintain their licensure… here in Wisconsin – good ol’ cold hard green cash will do.
I graduated nursing school in 1994 and worked full-time(+) for 10 years – I haven’t practiced nursing now since 2004. That is when I quit my full-time nursing career and started down the path of self-employment with my design business at E.Webscapes and hosting business at Blogs About. It will be 4 years in October since I’ve done any kind of professional nursing, whatsoever. On my very last day of work, I remember my boss asked me if I’d ever be back? I replied, “When I start to miss this, seriously miss this, I’ll come back.” At the time, she gave me 6 months – – – I should have laid money on that bet.
It will be 4 years this August and I haven’t begun to seriously miss it yet. I do get that little twinge now and again – – but it goes away. I will renew my license this March, again. And for another 2 years, I’ll maintain my license to practice nursing in the state of Wisconsin. I do it as a fallback measure…or as Chris Rock would call it.. my ‘in case shit’ insurance. It’s something I can always fall back on in case the self-employment thing blows up on me.
Of course, I think I would need a nursing refresher course by then. It scares me just a little bit that I can be hired on as a Registered Nurse just because I’ve paid the right amount of dollars on the right date every two years, despite any practical professional experience for the past 4 years. I am not required to take a refresher course at all… I could get hired even after 10 years of non-practice. I do think the State of Wisconsin should require at least some type of continuing education in order to keep up the license.
But, for now, it’s my sixty-some dollars that I’ll send into the State License and Registration Department to keep my status active for the next two years, and will face this decision again in 2010.
Very thoughtful post, Lisa. You have a conscience and care about your patients. I’m sure you were missed. Yes, it would seem that out of practice nurses participate in some sort of refresher course when re-entering the profession. Even down here in sub-tropical (41.9 degrees)Louisiana, money AND classes are required to maintain a license.
And as for the self-employment thing, YOU GO GIRL!:)>-
(» Read Debbie’s last blog post..The Monk)
I was wondering how you made the transition from nursing to web design. Care to share that story with us?
(» Read Debbie’s last blog post..The Monk)
OMG OMG OMG!!! :d I’m soooooooooo excited! My mom bought me WordPress for Dummies and it just came in the mail! I’m starting to read it now! I just wanted to say thanks sooooooooooooo much for writing it! Now I can make my site better. LOL!
(» Read Celina’s last blog post..What time is it?!?)
Very cool post, Lisa.
Good week.
Graziano, Italy
I dunno, I think Minnesota requires all the continuing ed stuff and given the choices we have with some of the nurses here I might prefer the one who hasn’t practiced for ten years…
I duuno; I think the state should PAY you to renew; after all, how many RNs are WordPress experts?
(» Read Charlie on the PA Turnpike’s last blog post..Paul Sorvino shops where we shop)
LOL, and as hard as nurses are to find and keep, they should be more accommodating.
(» Read Debbie’s last blog post..The Monk)
“392 times this has been viewed.”
There must be a lot of frustrated nurses out there. I too am about to send my $65 to have my WI nursing license renewed. I’ve been self-employed doing contracted medical transcription for six years. Unfortunately my work contract is not being renewed this year and I’m now in the position of deciding if I should go back into nursing. I think I would like to because I also feel the “pull” to go back, but I don’t think I could even think about going back without enrolling in a refresher course first. Only thing is that the nearst refresher course is 40 miles away (I live in Milwaukee), seven week full-time commitment, and $800.00 to boot. Who can afford to not work for seven weeks? With the desperate shortage of nurses, you would think somebody out there would be making it easier for nurses to get back to work. Ugh!
@M&M – I totally hear you on that.
Although.. when I worked in nursing, I did spend several years working as a DON and used to hear of other hospitals (not the one I was working for) who made that part of their recruitment package in trying to recruit during the nursing shortage. Some of them would provide nurses who had been out of practice for a certain amount of time with a PAID refresher course – – meaning, they paid for the course AND paid you your hourly (or salary, depending) wage to attend it.
They looked at it as a win-win – – you got the education you needed to get back in the game, they got an experienced and competent nurse on their floor… and usually, as part of the deal – you have to sign some type of agreement that you have to work for them for X amount of time or you would need to pay back their investment in you.
I feel like I’ve been out of nursing for so long, I am not even in touch with how bad the shortage is anymore… so I’m not sure if any places are doing that. YOu might want to check with some of the larger facilities in Milwaukee like Froedtert or Columbia to see if they have those kinds of opportunities available. You could easily find out by calling their Human Resources Dept. or if they have a Nurse Recruiter, etc.
Good luck!
@Debbie – from a patient point of view, I would imagine that the continuing Ed. piece would build a bit more confidence in the nurse who is caring for you… but that’s just me. If I were Queen – I would require it.. but I’m not.. so I just pay. lol
Transitioning from nursing to design might make for a good blog post someday.. I’ll keep it in mind, thanks!
@Celina – thanks for sharing and I hope the book is something you find very helpful!
@Astro – well, at least they are required to continue their education. Even back when I was actively practicing..it was overwhelming to keep up with all the new stuff coming out… new techniques, new machines, new meds…there’s something nice about a nurse who knows what she’s doing, ya know? lol 😉
@Charlie – I’m not entirely sure where I could get a job that would combine my nursing experience with my WordPress expertise. Maybe a paid blogging job on a medical website..that’s about it lol
LOL, and as hard as nurses are to find and keep, they should be more accommodating.
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