Category: Nurse Information

If you desire to practice nursing in Florida, you will need to
become licensed through the Florida Board of Nursing. Law requires
licensing through the Florida Board of Nursing for both Registered
Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN). You will also need to
be prepared to fill out an application and pay an application fee to
begin the licensing process. You will mail in your application and it
will take roughly 30 days before hearing whether or not the Florida
Board of Nursing received all of the information that they needed. You
will also need to send transcripts from nursing school, complete a
fingerprint check, and agree to a national background criminal check
before being licensed by the Florida Board of Nursing.

It’s
important to realize that when applying for licensing with the Florida
Board of Nursing, you will need to supply information regarding any
criminal history that you have. This includes both misdemeanors and
felony crimes. Many people worry that if they have a felony they won’t
be licensed, but that isn’t necessarily the truth. The Florida Board of
Nursing will look at each case individually and on a case-by-case
manner. You will be required to submit official court documents of all
criminal history, even if you were on probation or charges were
dismissed.

If you have any history of being dismissed from a
job, you will also need to provide that information and explain your
side of the incident. If you have a history of criminal activity or
have received disciplinary action on a former job, you will need to
bear the burden of proof to explain your position. The emphasis should
be on proving that you are rehabilitated and are ready to live up to
the commitments of being a nurse. You can best do this by showing proof
of the positive works that you have accomplished since the questionable
activities took place.

Many years, ago, nurses were lumped into one general category and
were mostly there to assist the doctor with things that he or she
needed, or to be there to attend to patients. Today, there are many
exciting career opportunities for nurses that expand well beyond the
general realm of basic health care. Some of these careers include
becoming a nursing educator so that nurses are taught by people who
have had hands on experience in the field. Nurse management is another
wonderful opportunity. This position places a nurse in a management
setting and they are able to manage staff and patients in a supervisory
role. Of course the many career opportunities for nurses expand well
beyond just education and management. With so many specialized fields
in health care, nurses can now attend to patients in the element of
health care they are most interested in. For example, diabetic nurses
are specially trained to help people suffering from diabetes, while
intensive care nurses work in the IC unit of hospitals.

A
great benefit of the many career opportunities for nurses is the
potential for advancement both in a professional sense and a financial
sense. Since the demand for more nurses and more specialized nurses is
constantly increasing, many employers are offering enticing sign on
bonuses for qualified nurses. In some cases these bonuses can be as
high as $10,000 or more! Career opportunities for nurses can be in
other settings beside a hospital. For example, schools always need good
nurses as well as nursing homes, private practices, and even large
companies are now hiring their own in house nurses. The possibilities
seem endless for those who are in the nursing field, and now is a great
time to begin a new and exciting career path that will allow you to
grow and move up in your professional life.