Frequently Asked Questions

Any substantially affected person (i.e. a licensee or applicant) may seek a Declaratory Statement. Declaratory statements regarding an opinion of a board, or the department when there is no board, as to the applicability of a statutory provision, or of any rule or order of the board, or department when there is no board, as it applies to the licensees particular set of circumstances, pursuant to Section 120.565, Florida Statutes. The petition seeking a declaratory statement must state with particularity the licensees set of circumstances and must specify the statutory provision, rule, or order that the licensee believes may apply to the set of circumstances.

You may visit our online License Verification where you may utilize the service to see if the status of your providers license and whether there are any disciplinary cases or public complaints against the licensee.

You may learn more about the Complaint process and submit the appropriate complaint forms by visiting our online Enforcement website.

You may learn more about reporting unlicensed activity by visiting our online Enforcement Website.

You may learn more and request public record and/or disciplinary documentation or view Declaratory Statements by visiting our Public Records website.

Applicants for initial licensure are required to submit fingerprints via Livescan for a Level II background screening. Applicants who are fingerprinted after January 1, 2013 will have their prints retained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

A declaratory statement is a means for resolving a controversy or answering questions or doubts concerning the applicability of statutory provisions, rules, or orders over which the board, or department when there is no board, has authority, pursuant to Rule 28-105.001, Florida Administrative Code. A petition for declaratory statement may be used only to resolve questions or doubts as to how the statutes, rule, or order may apply to the petitioner’s particular circumstances. A declaratory statement is not the appropriate means for determining the conduct of another person or for obtaining a policy statement of general applicability. A petition for declaratory statement must describe the potential impact of the statutes, rules, or orders upon the petitioner’s interests.

Requiring an APRN to obtain a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) would require a legislative action. Currently, there is no mandate regarding this educational requirement. You may review the APRN Consensus Model on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) website for further information with your inquiry.

Employers may require completion of agency/facility specific continuing education (CE). If you have questions regarding specific CE for your agency/facility, please speak with your supervisor.

Licensed Practical Nurses, Registered Nurses, Clinical Nurse Specialists and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners are required to complete 24 hours of appropriate CE during each renewal period, including two (2) hours relating to prevention of medical errors. In addition to these 24 hours of general CE, every third renewal two (2) hours of domestic violence CE must be completed for a total of 26 hours. See Rule 64B9-5,  Florida Administrative Code (FAC) for more information about continuing education requirements.

The NCLEX or National Council Licensure Examination is the national licensing examination for practical and registered nurses. Quarterly and cumulative passage rates for first time test takers are calculated and published by a contracted testing service and are made available to the Florida Board of Nursing and are posted on the website.

The NCLEX National Average passage rate is the average number of all member first time test takers for a reporting period, calculated by the National Testing Service using the test takers’ scores during the reporting period, to determine the average of the conglomerate scores.

Pursuant to s.464.019, F.S., the Florida Board of Nursing monitors these passage rates to ensure the achievement of Florida approved nursing education program graduates. Approved nursing education programs must achieve a graduate passage rate that is not lower than 10 percentage points less than the average passage rate for graduates of comparable degree programs who are United States educated. An approved nursing education program shall be placed on Approved/probationary status by the Florida Board of Nursing pursuant to s. 464.019 for failure to meet the required passage rates on the NCLEX for two consecutive calendar years (http://laws.flrules.org/2014/92).

For more information on NCLEX passage rates or to view individual Florida nursing education program NCLEX passage rates on our interactive website entitled “Compare Florida Prelicensure Nursing Education Programs”, please visit our Education and Training Programs page.

CNA Applicant – EDOH0380Z

LPN/RN Applicant – EDOH4420Z

APRN Applicant – EDOH4420Z

LPN/RN Multi-State Upgrade Applicant – EDOH4420Z

Continuing Education is a requirement to renew a professional license. Section 456.025(7), F.S. requires the Department to implement an electronic continuing education tracking system for each biennial renewal cycle and to integrate such system into the licensure and renewal system.  The two systems are now integrated.