Australian nurses registering in california help!

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hi,

i am a nursing student who is just about to finish my bns in australia. i am married to an american and want to practice in california. i have been in contract with the board in california and they keep giving me different information.

so far this is what i have heard:

1. it takes up to a year to process an internation application, after which you can take the national exam and get registered.

2. if the board is not happy with your study, they will tell you what extra courses you have to take. ie. pediatric nursing class. however, i don't understand how you can take just a single class after you have graduated.

3. there are no public available documents to tell you what they are looking for.

4. you can not apply until you have graduated your program in australia and have recieve registration from your home country.

i am seeking any advice. any past experiences. i want to give my self the best opportunity for sucess.

many many thanks

melanie

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Just answered your other post, Would help if you had posted everyting in the one thread as makes it easier to answer questions.

Ca do their own evaluation and can't do anything without a full set of transcripts. This is the same for every state. There may be issues if your training does not meet criteria ie enough hours in all aread Midwifery, Mental health Paeds aswell as general adult. Again same for most BON's and some have posted in the Australian forum on having problems, similar problems also exist for UK nurses and current training. Processing for Ca is usually 4-6 months as are a lot of other BON's

All you need to do for California is follow requirements for foreign trained nurse, if moving to the US with USC husband then the process is slightly different and you don't need VSC

Specializes in CTICU.

What is a BNS? Never heard of that, what uni are you going to?

You send your completed transcripts to CA and they will tell you if you are deficient in any area. Have you done theory and clinicals in maternity, paeds, psych? There are no documents to tell you what they are looking for because it varies depending on the school etc. They want to make sure you will be a safe practitioner. It's very quick to schedule the NCLEX exam once you have approval to test, so make sure you're studying early.

You do not have to have a local license, I don't believe. However you may as well, you don't have to take an exam in Australia to get licensed.

Have you already got a SSN? You won't be able to be issued a CA nursing license until you supply them with your SSN. Should be easy enough to get once you're in the US, but may be difficult to get jobs lined up before getting here if you don't have the license in hand.

Anything else, let me know. I just arrived in the US from Australia myself a few months ago.

Thank you so much for your response. I have a SSN. BNS = Bachelor of Nursing Science. From the information on one of the Cali brn form, they want to know how many hours in clinical and theory I have in microbiology, anatomy, phys, medical, surg, paeds, obstetrics and phys. I have also looked at all the california programs with seem to be structured like this too.

My course has lots of med / surg training and mental health, but lacks on the paeds and obstetrics, then I saw the link you sent with the courses at monash. Do you recommend I do those to be safe?

Should I go through CGFNS before I apply to California BRN?

Melanie

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Should I go through CGFNS before I apply to California BRN?

Melanie

If there is no need for CGFNS then no need to go through them as doesn't matter what they say Ca will make their own evaluation. Hours are submitted by your nursing school so they have to complete it, they should have a list on what is on the syllabus

Ca will not review your credentials until you have a completed transcript from your BN program that you have from Australia. If you have that completed already, then you can start the process, you do not need to wait for any further work. Be aware that CGFNS can also not do a thing until there is a completed transcript sent to them.

The most important thing is to have clinical and theory hours in all of the required areas, if you are missing any of it, then they will not give you approval to sit for the NCLEX exam, nor will any other state in the US.

There are no quick fixes for getting to the US and being able to begin work immediately. Do you in fact have a green card and SSN# already? If not, then you are going to have many more hoops to jump thru before you can begin work over here. Being married to an American still requires the other steps be completed to get a visa for the US as well if you do not have it.

If you do not already have a green card, then there are additional requirements that you will have to be able to work over here. But not one thing can be done until you have all of the required courses completed.

And we are asking that you keep all of your questions on this same topic on one thread, there is no reason to start new ones when they are asking related questions. It also makes it harder for others to follow.

Thanks for your understanding.

of my apologies.

Specializes in CTICU.

The courses mentioned were not at Monash, but at Deakin Uni. If you didn't have clinical in paeds and maternity, then I would do the courses (but you don't want to waste $1000 on the subjects, so if you have some time then get the CA BRN assessment done before doing the PDUs. What do you need CGFNS for - CA do their own assessments?

Hi,

I am an Australian educated RN from Sydney.

I have a green card and received my letter from the California Board of Registered Nursing after about 6 months....

And yes, it states that I do not meet their requirements in Pediatrics and

Obstetrics.

Finding a school that is nearby (San Diego) and familiar with my situation is proving difficult, as they are geared up for new students.

Has anyone actually taken any remedial classes - and in a reasonable amount of time? It is incredible that it could take a year to do this. And at what cost :no::no:

I have not registered yet I am still a RN student, studying externally from Australia, but I live and work in California. From all my research an understand you best bet is to go to deakin, and do their Professional Development Units in maternity and paeds, completely external, you just have to organise your own prac.

cheers

melanie

http://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/pdu/modules/index.php

Did you try the PDU courses at Deakin? Also, did you get offered a Limited license or no license at all

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