getting my foot back in the door

1 hi,
i am new here and thought this might be a good site for some answers....i am a bsn who hasnt worked in 22yrs..i was a pediatric nurse at columia pres. in nyc...i am 48 now and have been busy raising my 5 children still all at home the youngest is 7...we have never needed for me to work, but now with the state of the economy my husbands job is really suffering and if i could even make a little money , maybe for food, it would mean so much...my lic. has expired and i would have to take a refresher course i know..not so easy bec i cant afford it right now and also the closest place that offers the class is 1 1/2 hrs away. but i would really like to do something in the nursing field just to get some exposure again and see if its what i want to pursue...i would like to work about 15 hrs week only bec i need to be home for the kids, i am willing to do anything does anyone have any ideas, anything at all would help !!
thank you
Sounds like your first step is to contact your BON about getting your license reinstated then do your refresher course. Good luck and be prepared for some shock at how much has changed over the years! As for working 15 hours a week, that would probably be a per diem job without any guarantee of hours. You would most likely have a better chance if you were available to work every weekend or every Fri,Sat.

Nina--I'm in a similar boat. In 1997 I fell and was injured, leading to disability and the loss of my beloved career. I'm doing better now and want to change my license status back to active. I've been told I have to take refresher courses which include about 70 hours of lecture, 20 hours in a skills lab, and 80 hours in the clinical setting. I was an OB/GYN/Neonatal ICU nurse for close to 20 years. I miss it and want to do something. I'll still be limited by my disability, but surely there is something I could do. I live in Oklahoma and think renewing active status involves some kind of refresher courses in every state. Good luck to you.Winona Cross, BSN RN

Find out from your BON what are the Board approved refresher courses. If the course is not approved it will do you no good towards reliscensure . I was out for 30 years took a correspondence course approved by my BON. You may have to arrange for a location where you can perform the clinical portion of the course on your own. It took me 8 months to get everything worked out. Find out all the other requirements from your BON and get started on them, there are many, many different things that need to come together.It's a huge hassle but completely doable. Good luck to you....

thank you all so much for your info. , i realize how difficult and time consumming it is to reactivate my license and that is what i was asking...in the meantime are there any job types that anyone would recommend until then, considering my background???