RN to MD, Maintain nursing license in Med School?

[atnightingale]

Hello. I am a longtime RN recently accepted to Med School. I am thrilled, but I am wondering what others in my situation have done about their Nursing licenses. I currently maintain 2 licenses, one in the state where I live and work, and one in a state where I have worked at a camp a couple of weeks a year for the past 6 years. Because of Med School, I am moving back to a state where I previously held a nursing license.

I am not planning on working during med school, but I do occasionally find myself in situations for brief paid or volunteer work etc. which is not a substantial time commitment, but which needs a license. I won't have a medical license for 5 years, so I am wondering what other's have done. I don't want to get into scope of practice issues, but I am pretty careful about those. I also need to figure out if my various nursing boards consider Med school as continuing education and how they feel about practice hour requirements while in school.

As a side note, I have also seen a few doctors who were previously nurses list themselves as MD, RN and I am really curious about the thought that goes into that.

Does anyone have any relevant thoughts or experience?

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[sunshinefl]

I kept my RN license active during medical school. It expires soon but I also graduate in 3 weeks. I'm going to transition it into "retirement" mode right before it expires and I leave the state for residency.

 

[atnightingale]

I kept my RN license active during medical school. It expires soon but I also graduate in 3 weeks. I'm going to transition it into "retirement" mode right before it expires and I leave the state for residency.

Good to know. Oddly enough "retirement" hadn't occurred to me.

 

[sunshinefl]

Good to know. Oddly enough "retirement" hadn't occurred to me.

so my state has a special license status to kind of put it in hibernation, rather than let it just default.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

I wasn’t a nurse but I had a commercial drivers license that I kept active my first year which I am glad I did because I worked all summer between first and second year. I also worked a good chunk of second year but if you have notions of working in between 1st and 2nd year, you will make way more as a nurse than a med student.

 

[kbRD2MD84]

i'm planning on keeping my RD license active. at least i can make a little money on the side.

 

[Itisnottoolate]

I am an NP and I just finished my first year. I kept mine active so far. I just renewed my certification and that is good for 5 years. The state renewal is every two years so I will probably renew that next year. I have also kept my DHEC and dea active. I had planned to work some this summer but my practice is so short of clinical staff, they do not have enough to cover the full time providers.

 

[sunshinefl]

I just put my RN license into “retirement status” when I got my resident physician license.

 

[longwayaround]

I have kept my RN and NP active (and board cert and DEA and x waiver), but starting to wonder if it's worth the money in 3rd year of med school.

I worked part time until the end of summer 2nd year. just finally quit bc I cannot manage to add any hours, even telemed to 3rd year rotations- bc it's grueling + you have NO CONTROL over your schedule and find out at the last minute. Also, as you all know, it's really exhausting.

DEA was the most expensive, but they all charge fees. I keep thinking it's easier to keep the licenses up than have to reinstate at some point. Maybe I think I feel like I need some sort of back up plan in case I have a catastrophe in medical school... or maybe just all the work to get these licenses/ certifications makes it seem weird to just let them lapse. Also I've thought about possibilities of volunteering with an RN/NP if the opportunity came up- but now I don't have time for much anyway. Am I being crazy?

 

[Mad Jack]

I kept my RT license for one year but then decided it wasn't worth the effort, as medical school took enormous amounts of time and my license was incredibly expensive to keep (my state is probably one of, if not the, most expensive states in the nation for licensing). If it's cheap and easy keep it, but if it's like it was in my home state it's not worth the hundreds of dollars and yearly CME commitment

 

[engypac]

I have kept my RN and NP active (and board cert and DEA and x waiver), but starting to wonder if it's worth the money in 3rd year of med school.

I worked part time until the end of summer 2nd year. just finally quit bc I cannot manage to add any hours, even telemed to 3rd year rotations- bc it's grueling + you have NO CONTROL over your schedule and find out at the last minute. Also, as you all know, it's really exhausting.

DEA was the most expensive, but they all charge fees. I keep thinking it's easier to keep the licenses up than have to reinstate at some point. Maybe I think I feel like I need some sort of back up plan in case I have a catastrophe in medical school... or maybe just all the work to get these licenses/ certifications makes it seem weird to just let them lapse. Also I've thought about possibilities of volunteering with an RN/NP if the opportunity came up- but now I don't have time for much anyway. Am I being crazy?

Looking back, was it worth it to work part-time?