Sung to the tune of O Christmas Tree.

O Washington, O Washington

Where would my NP license be?

I had much success and little complications when it came to getting my RN license out of Washington.  This gave me a false sense of "all is well" and I thought my NP license would be little or no trouble.  NOPE.

I did the application.  I sent in the fee.

*Fee listed on application is wrong, send five more bucks please.  Done/Check!

Application contradicts itself many times.  Do I, or do I not, need my certifying board to contact you?

* No contactee, no licensee.  Get letter from PCNB. Done/Check!

Do you or do you not need transcripts.  They can’t decide.

*Hey applicant, where are your transcripts?  Order transcripts.  Done/Check!

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.   Waiting.  STILL WAITING.

So…. today I called.  But before I called, I contacted my university and confirmed that they had, indeed, sent the transcripts.  I knew they had sent them some time ago because when I asked them to send them to the WA nursing commission, I also asked them to send me a copy.  I have had my copy for some time.

Sure enough, they have a record, including date and time of when they sent these transcripts.  So…. I call the nursing commission.  They say they have no transcripts.  I tell them that the university has confirmed that they were sent.  She says she’ll call me back.

Wait.

Wait.

Waiting.

No call.  I call her back.  She’s less than pleased.  She says that I never sent them.  Not…they’re lost.  Not… we can’t find them.  Not…. they must’ve gotten lost in the mail.  NOPE.  The lady says I never requested them.  In other words, she is saying that I’m lying to her.  GRRRRRR!  I decided this wasn’t worth arguing about but I couldn’t let it go.  I called my university again and talked to the same guy that I spoke with before.  I asked him to send the transcripts again while complaining about the lady at the nursing commission. This fella took it upon himself to call my less than polite bureaucrat and inform her of the date/time that I requested the transcript, the date it was sent and even told her that she should apologize to me.

I found out about this guy’s actions when my little bureaucrat called me back….now highly displeased.  End of the story…. I’m still waiting.  University is sending another set of transcripts.  We’ll see if these "arrive" or not.

Now… lest you think that I think Washington State Nursing Commission is bad and life was better "back home"…. that is so not so.  Washington has a long way to go if it wants to compete with Florida in the "Who Can Screw Up Kris’ Application/License Worse" game.

Lets review Florida’s stats, shall we?  As a point of reference/clarification, I took the long way into becoming a nurse practitioner.  I put myself through college from day one.  So, at one point I bailed out and became an LPN thinking that if I got a hospital job they would help to pay for some of my education expenses.  It was a good plan.

So….. I first became an LPN, then an RN then an NP.

Sent in application for LPN license.  It’s taking forever to get a seating pass to take my exam, etc.  State claims I never sent in application.  This was the day I learned that all mail to nursing board must be sent certified.

* Turns out they divide the applicants up by their last initial.  The guy who covered "C" my last initial had quit several weeks earlier but nobody thought they should process anything sent to his desk.  After a few more days of my phone calls they decided to go find my application and process it…. what a concept!

Completed my bachelor’s degree and applied for RN license, seating pass for exam.  Waiting. Waiting.  My employer’s having a stroke…..waiting.

*After several days of searching and telling me that I wasn’t in their computer system somebody figures out that I am in their system but that there is a typo in my social security number within the computer system.  Board of nursing claims only department of revenue can fix this and that correction may take 8 to 9 MONTHS.  At the time I worked for a private company that was owned by a couple.  The meanest lady on the planet was one of the owners.  She had a hair trigger temper.  I told her what I had been told.  She exploded.  She contacted Tallahassee as did the company lawyer.  Next thing I know I’m being Fed Ex’d a seating pass to take the test in two days.  Voila.

Got married.  Sent in certified marriage certificate and fees to change name on license.  Wait. (This was the best of all of their screw-ups.)

* For reasons unknown to anyone at the board of nursing office, they keep sending this back to me unprocessed.  I resubmit….. SIX TIMES.

Attempt #6 appears to be a success when I go in my mailbox and see a license…. a nursing license…. in my mailbox.

*License was for Dana.  DANA! Board of nursing VOIDED my license and issues a license to Dana (they took his name off of the marriage certificate).  My husband has never spent one day in a nursing class.  I had to personally drive to Tallahassee to get this fixed.  For years afterward the state board would never send me a renewal notice or the little quarterly newspaper thing…. but they sent it to DANA!

Apply for NP license.   Wait.  Wait. Wait.

*Contact board of nursing.  They state they don’t have my application.  I sent it certified so I give them the name of the person who signed for it.  Suddenly it’s found.  (Its a MIRACLE).  But then it disappears again.  Repeat this same phone conversation for 9 weeks.  Then in my mailbox one day is my application.  They returned it to me.  Sans the check which they had cashed.  I called to ask if there was a problem with my application… they told me they returned it because they don’t accept certified mail….BUT THEY HAD ALREADY ACCEPTED IT….AND CASHED THE CHECK.  Just as I was about to blow a vein in my head they issued my license.

So… as you can see…. Washington still has a long way to go if it wants to compete with Florida in this arena.  A long, long way to go.

I leave you with a picture of my precious gift, being particularly cute.