Strange nursing lis. question?

Question

Can a RN hold a license in two states? I have seen several articles about compacts between states. What if the two states you wish to hold a license in are not both part of this compact? For instance , I understand that if you had your license revoked in a state that was in the alliance, that it would be reported to all others states boards.boards. But if you can hold two lis. in states that are not part of the alliance ,and you lose your lis. in one state , what keeps a nurse from practicing in the other they already have a lis. in ?

Answer 1

You can hold a license in different state. You need to make sure that the state you are applying to does not require more tests or education or an in-service. I know that CA does require that you take their exam and will not allow people to just transfer a license.

To have license's in different states all you need to do is get a hold of the states medical board, which is allows in the capital city for that state.

You are right that you can have a revoked license in one state and still get one in some other states. If you do this, the penalties are extremely harsh if they find out. Most of the time these including fines and time in jail. Jobs that require you working with children or disabled or elderly have background checks so they will find out, no way around that one.

Answer 2

A nurse can hold licensure in as many states as she wants to pay the state fees for. Every time you renew your license (every 2 yrs) you are asked a series of questions about your criminal record, etc. Yes it's on your honor for the most part so you could probably get away with lying about losing your license but if you get found out... the penalties would be much more severe for lying on your license application. When a nurse loses her license you can bet it's for something serious so lying about it is totally unethical and is very frowned much upon by the State Board and the hospitals.