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Going on in Georgia: Nursing Students Face Licensing Woes | 13wmaz.com | 13WMAZ

Eleven-hundred nursing students in Georgia wonder what they'll do now that the Georgia Board of Nursing says it won't grant them licenses.

The board says that's because state legislators changed the nurse-certification law this year.
About one hundred people from Excelsior College met with the board this afternoon expecting answers.

"This is not just about picking up the sick in the injured," said Van Causey an Excelsior Student.

Causey spent 25 years of his life in the medical field, 18 of them out of ambulances saving lives.

"I enjoy I enjoyed making a difference for people," said Causey.

Patching up patients brought Causey to the Medical Center of Central Georgia, working as a clinical technician, until he finally decided to finish his nursing degree. He enrolled in the college 14 months ago. Causey says he spent about 8 hours a week in his car, driving to and from classes in Fayetteville.

"It's expensive, I'm driving a car that gets more mileage that what I was previously driving but I was spending $90 a week just back and forth to school," said Causey.

He couldn't believe after months of work that the Georgia Board of Nursing might not grant him a license.

"To take approximately eleven hundred students in the state of Georgia and throw them back to the streets and say we don't want you and that's the way it comes across is like you don't want us you don't think we're good enough to be RNs in Georgia," said Causey.

Some hoped meeting with the board would patch up their problems, cut the board took no action.

"We're very disappointed by the board's decision today," commented Debbie Hatmaker, Georgia Nurses Association Chief of Programs Officer.

"We need more nurses, we've got nurses willing to do the work and here the state of Georgia like, so?" said Sheri Taylor, an instructor with the Kaylim Career Institute, that helps about 700 Excelsior students with their studies.

Causey says he just wants the board to solve the problem.

Excelsior College says its students average around 40 years old with ten years work experience. Many of them balance school with work and family.

Board President Linda Herren says the education committee will meet in October to discuss plans for current students and recent graduates of the program. They'll then make a recommendation to the board at their next meeting.

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