Getting my medical license.The process is so painful that sometimes I feel like stabbing myself in the heart and gouging my eye out, and jumping off a bridge at the same time. And the most frustrating part of it is that thereu2019s not a single thing I can do to speed things up.The website isnu2019t very user friendly.They request way too many documents. Like, you need to submit 6 different things to prove your citizenship. Canu2019t it be assumed that if the Federal Government gave me a passport, they know that itu2019s because Iu2019m a citizen? Canu2019t it also safely be assumed that if I graduated from a residency program, I must have graduated from a medical school at some point?The website doesnu2019t tell you everything you need to send. After youu2019ve filled out the application online, there is a PDF youu2019re supposed to find somewhere. The PDF was the old application form. Youu2019d fill it out by hand or by editing the PDF. If you did that, youu2019d see an number of appendices that told you what other documentation you were supposed to supply. But if you apply online, thereu2019s nothing to let you know what youu2019re missing. So, you have to call them. When you do, they tell you that you need a bunch of stuff youu2019d never have guessed: a background check, forms youu2019re supposed to submit to your residency programs, etc. Why not put that in the online application?Then, after you do all that, you might wonder if your file is complete. So, you call. Theyu2019ll tell you that your application hasnu2019t been processed yet. How long till it gets processed? 3 to 4 weeks! So, they wonu2019t even look at your file for 3 to 4 weeks. And, 3 to 4, of course, means 4. Then, when they look at your file, it might even be week 5 by the time they respond to you. At that point, theyu2019ll tell your that your file is missing some stuff.You ask for clarification about the missing stuff, because youu2019re pretty sure youu2019ve already sent it. You hear nothing back for a week. You call them, only to hear that they thought theyu2019d emailed you what you were supposed to fill outu2024 You submit what theyu2019re asking for, having wasted another week waiting. Then, they tell you that your file has been submitted for final approval. YAY!Then youu2019re told that, since you used to be a nurse, you should also submit a nursing license verification. Okay, no biggie, you think. You did a similar thing for Iowa a few years back. Youu2019ll just go online and have the state of Michigan send the state of Tennessee some information about the nursing license that expired 6 years ago.You get on the Michigan website, and things are so disorganized that you canu2019t for the life of you figure out how to submit the verification request. Oh, and the process has changed. In 2024. you could use the Nursys verification site. But Michigan has pulled out of this process, becauseu2024 just because. Now, you have to call during business hours, realize that youu2019re supposed to download and fill out a form, attach a money order (you canu2019t pay online anymore), and mail it to a P.O. Box.You do that, sending it by express mail. You call the next day to see if itu2019s been received. Now youu2019re told that if you want to send things by express mail, thereu2019s another address you should have sent it to, an address that was never communicated to you when you talked to the Michigan people on the phone. You learn that sending mail to the P.O. Box means that it will sit there for a week, after which it will be processed by the Cashieru2019s office/Finance office/Treasury office, then slowly make its way to the Bureau of Licensingu2024 this process might take 2 weeks. At this point, youu2019ve sent your initial application 8 weeks before. You wonder why it is that the process couldnu2019t be more streamlined. Why couldnu2019t they be a uniform process for all states? Why couldnu2019t they at least be a central database where healthcare providers could send their documentation, so that whenever they apply for licensing in a new state, that state can immediately receive all the relevant documentation. Youu2019re powerless. You try to think of other things you might do.You remember that Iowa must have a copy of your nursing verification license. You wonder if you could talk to them and see if theyu2019d share it with you. Youu2019re told that they will emphatically not release the document to you. Why? Who knows. Anyway, they might consider releasing it to the Tennessee people if they are contacted directly by their Medical Board. You sheepishly ask the people in Tennessee if theyu2019d be willing to contact Iowa, giving them a phone number, email, and fax number, knowing full well that it will be to no avail.You decide that maybe, if you were to track down the cashieru2019s office in Michigan, you could fly there and make the payment in person, in a bid to speed up the processing of your license verification request. Itu2019s after hours now, so you canu2019t be sure. Thereu2019s a plane early in the morning. You could fly to Detroit, rent a car, drive to Lansing, and give it a shot. Butu2024 what if it doesnu2019t work? You decide to wait until the morning and call the office to see if getting there in person would make a difference. You are told that it is impossible to make a payment in person, becauseu2024 rules. Thereu2019s literally not a damn thing you can do.And that, my friends, is the story of my life right now. The most frustrating part of this saga is that not only can I not work, but Iu2019m sort of homeless right now. Let me explain. A while back, I bid on a house. I used what is called a physician loan. What my lender did not tell me is that you need an active medical license. So, we were a week from the closing date before I learned this. At this point, I had three options:Walk away from the home purchase and rent. This wouldnu2019t have been a terrible idea.Prolong my temporary lease at the place I was renting. I would not do this because I hated, hated, hated them with their nickle-and-diming tactics.Wait for my license.I opted for number 3, because I thought it couldnu2019t take much longer until Iu2019d get my license. My belongings are currently in storage. Iu2019m staying with my sister in Florida. Itu2019s not the worst thing thatu2019s ever happened to anyone in human life, but itu2019s still really frustrating. The only bright spot is that I get to spend time with my family. I have a nephew and two nieces here that I hadnu2019t seen in 9 months. Theyu2019re growing so very fast. I am constantly peppering them with mental math questions, but they seem to love me for some reason. So, all in all, things could be worse.
