How much money is Sonny getting from this Excelsior? Of course Sonny has proven that the future does not matter, just the money making capability of the here and now. His lunacy will probalby lead to an obama in Georgia.
ATLANTA --- Gov. Sonny Perdue has jumped into the fray over whether students of a nontraditional nursing program should be allowed to be licensed as registered nurses in Georgia.
Meanwhile, a key lawmaker in the conflict over the credentials of students from New York-based Excelsior College said Monday that there is still room for compromise between the school and the state.
Mr. Perdue's statement, issued late last week, marked a rare public rebuke of the Georgia Board of Nursing, a panel whose members he appoints. The board has said a new law passed by the General Assembly earlier this year bars it from licensing students from Excelsior because the college's programs don't meet "criteria similar to, and not less stringent than, those established by the board," as required by the law.
The college and supporters such as Mr. Perdue dispute that stance.
"This administration has not seen any evidence to suggest that graduates of the schools seeking approval yesterday have posed a threat to public health or safety," Mr. Perdue said. "Further, I do not agree that recent legislation dictated the conclusion reached by the Board yesterday."
House Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, said the board is acting exactly as it should under the new law. Ms. Cooper, herself a registered nurse, sponsored the new law.
"What everybody's forgetting in this is patient safety. ... Somehow or other, the patients have gotten lost in all of this," she said.
Ms. Cooper said there is still room for a compromise.
"I think we need to work this out," Ms. Cooper said. "I don't want to close the door on Excelsior."
Comments
How much money is Sonny getting from this Excelsior? Of course Sonny has proven that the future does not matter, just the money making capability of the here and now. His lunacy will probalby lead to an obama in Georgia.
I agreed with Ms. Cooper. I think our RN's should all have to have the same schooling and training. Anything beyond that should only qualify them to be LPN's. Our Patients health is the important thing here. So Perdue I don't agree with you on this one!! SusieQ
OK....SusuieQ, don't come running to me when you are crying about being overworked and the acuity of your patient load is insane. My degree is just as good as yours....and I will put it to the test in any clinical situation
Considering the so called shortage of nurses and the shortage of schools to accommodate students, I sure would like to know what differences there are in criteria. I can understand the other schools not wanting to dilute the education but is that really the case here?
"What everybody's forgetting in this is patient safety.... Somehow or other, the patients have gotten lost in all of this,"she said." *FYI*: The patients have not been unsafe to begin with, nor forgotten. And I don't believe for a minute that the patients were ever the case in point here- just used as a fine excuse. I have been a Georgia LPN for 31 years, have worked at the same level as the RN's on my staff- with the sole exception of being the charge nurse, which MOST of the RN staff DON'T do either. I am an Excelsior Nursing student close to graduation. I am currently assigned to end-semester ADN students' on rotation on my unit with a local traditional school, once again helping to teach & demonstrate best-practice skills to the students, needing to remind them of the simplest hand-washing, gloving, ID-patient-each-time-you-medicate protocols. Their instructor watches me bite my tongue as she quizzes them, as I know the answers; thanks me for the "good help." These students are about to graduate. I have often precepted newly hired graduate RN's & BSN's. My skills are safe. Patients are NOT in danger. Gov. Perdue is getting no money- he simply has good common sense.
Just becuase the school is not traditional does not mean the graduates aren't prepared. School has and always will be about how much you apply yourself, not where you graduated from. There is no reason why these people should not be able to be RNs in GA.
OK, if RNs can be anyone that can pass some tests, then why not do the same for physicians? Lets take anybody with a degree that can pass tests and make them in charge of your health. If someone is not an RN, they have NO idea what all goes into the education and preparation that makes it possible to make life-changing decisions in a split second. I do not doubt that there are some graduates of Excelsior that are very competent. That does not, however, mean that they all are. EMTs can pass tests, with no professor guided/observed time with real patients, and call themselves an RN, if this law is passed. Do you want your 3 month old baby that is turning blue and has about 4 minutes to live (if something is not done) to be taken care of by a graduate of a quickie program? Don't assume that an MD will be there either. Spend some time in the hospital setting and you will see that your health, wellbeing, and outcome of your stay all depends largely on your RN.
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