A nurse practitioner’s TikTok video has sparked conversation about the recurring financial costs required to maintain professional licenses in the nursing field. The video, posted by a creator who identifies as a nurse, details a series of renewal fees she says she must pay to continue working.
The video shows a woman in blue scrubs sitting in a car, with on-screen text that reads “LIFE IS A SCAM.” She begins by saying, “Life is a scam, nursing edition,” before explaining her recent experience with license renewals. She states that her Nurse Practitioner (NP) license was set to expire soon, prompting her to log into her “Breeze account” to handle the renewal.
According to the video, the first question in the renewal process asked if she had renewed her Registered Nurse (RN) license. “No, that’s what I thought I was doing right now. Wrong,” she said. She explains that the two licenses are “Two separate things, not under the same umbrella.” She then says she renewed her RN license for $190.
Renewal process involves multiple separate fees and certifications
The video details a sequence of additional costs. After the RN license, she says she renewed her NP license for $150. She then adds that in her state, a “furnishing number” must also be renewed every two years to prescribe medication, which she says cost $180. “Let’s not forget,” she states, that she needed to complete 30 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to qualify for the RN renewal, for which she “also paid.”
The nurse in the video also recounts her decision to align the expiration of her Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) certifications with her RN license. “I thought that a BLS and ACLS would be like— a renewal would be like in, in one course, right? Wrong,” she says. She states the BLS renewal cost $90 and the ACLS renewal cost $250.
She describes these courses as “at-home, self-paced computer classes that I basically teach myself, and then I go in and do a skills check with a computer.” She expresses confusion about the value, stating, “So I’m not entirely sure what I’m paying for.” The video concludes with her summarizing the cycle: “I need to do all of this every 2 years for the rest of my life on my birthday month just to be able to continue working in a field that I have 2 degrees in that I paid for and that I passed multiple state licensure exams on that I paid to take. According to the video’s creator, scam.”
The video’s public caption reads, “Maybe pick a different career… but what do I know?” The total of the specific fees mentioned in the video—$190, $150, $180, $90, and $250—adds up to $860, not including the cost of the 30 CEUs she says she paid for. The video does not specify the cost of the CEU courses.
Viewers in the comments section shared their own perspectives on the costs
The video’s comment section included several responses from viewers. One comment read, “Employers should pay for all of this.” Another noted, “then they charge you to use your debit card to pay 🙄.” A third comment questioned the structure of the certifications: “Mind you BLS is the beginning of ACLS so if your ACLS certified you shouldn’t need a separate BLS 😂.”
Other comments highlighted different aspects of the issue. One stated, “Keep in mind there’s no professional licensing board for hospital CEOs.” Another offered a practical suggestion: “Claim it all on taxes.” A final comment summarized a sentiment expressed in the video: “Why are we paying to effen work.”
