Job application in terms of international RN 5 years experience

[alvinanicole]

Hi my name is Alvina,

I am originally from Singapore. Gotten my green card, and have been in the country for a month. But I have been licensed in the state of PA since March.

I graduated and went straight into the surgical icu. I was working in the SICU for 3 years. Have been promoted and been charge nurse during my perm night shifts while I was studying for my BSN. After that 3 years, for 2 years I went into agency nursing, working as a floating nurse in the ICU, ER and Home health private care. Have been into the P1 rooms in the ED whenever i was floating in the ED due to my ICU experience. & currently I am BLS certified, and should be (fingers crossed) be ACLS certified by the end of the 3rd week of october.

I am currently looking for job applications in the ICU. I was wondering if those 5 years of experience count? Or do I have to apply for graduate nurses job application?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. THank you!!!

.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Where was your experience, in Singapore? I would say it should definitely count. If I were you, I would study and get yourself CCRN certified, then there is no question with the employer hospitals that your experience translates to this country. You will still need to learn to manage the electronic health record, and workflow here in a US unit.

[alvinanicole]

Thanks for replying! I was working in a 1500 bedded hospital in singapore. It is a trauma center too so as a SICU nurse, i have been handling those and have also floated to other ICUs, like the medical, neuro icu etc. I am really looking forward to getting myself CCRN certified, however from what i know, it requires at least 2 years of experience?

Does that refer to working in a hospital here for at least 2 years ?

[xuale01, BSN, RN]

I am interested in your nursing working experience while you are studying BSN in USA. Were you working as CNA or RN?

[alvinanicole]

Graduated with a nursing diploma (3 years), went straight working into the ICU. Was trained to be charge nurse when I was doing perm night shifts, as I was working in the night, and studying in the day. After which I transited to private nursing, as it paid slightly more, and I need money to convert my license and do the CGFNS test.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

I would recommend reading the AACN website as the eligibility for CCRN exam is very clearly described. You can count your hours in Singapore if it was recent and at a facility "equivalent" to a US hospital. Was it one of these facilities accredited by the Joint Commission International?

JCI-Accredited Organizations | Joint Commission International