Hong Kong Advanced Practice Nursing

amitabha07 · Apr 3, 2011

hi hi ,
i'm a RN in Hong Kong and now working as a clinical tutor in School of General Nursing. I hope I can help to answer the captioned questionssss. ^^
HK health care system is under two system , they are government subsidized and Private sector.
I have worked as an invigilator in the EN licensing examination. most of the failure candidates haven't well prepared their clinical skills rather than their knowledge... they all are good at presentation however we need a "proper" techniques and the quick response to the change of situation.
For the written exam. i think the candidate usually failed in the "English" exam. that's the comments of my colleagues who is the marker for this exam. But please don't mind, this so-call as English exam is not going to test those who are native english speaker by those Cantonese speaking examiner. This "English" paper is going to test how is the candidate 's interpretation skills on the doctor's prescription.
if you cannot speak Cantonese, I think you can only work in private hospital but don't worry the salary is much more higher than in Public sector.
About the APN post, in public sector, which is only open to those working in Public sector. And quite few posting for private sector.
but RN maximum salary is already high enough, cause HK has very low tax rate .. nearly all the salary is owned by you ^^.
Actually I have a question about Canadian Nurse liscense too. My hubby is a Canadian Chinese, I may migrate to Canada too.. and hope can continue my career in Canada. and i will attend a ortho conference in winnipeg on this June. Hope can know more about Canada health care system too ^^

Hi,

Thank you for sharing the info.

Do you know there is any prep course runs by any school for overseas RN taking HK RN license exam? Even private tutoring may be helpful.

I heard it is hard to pass the clinical part. I suppose it is because there is a lack of knowledge of what will be tested and what will be expected.

Thanks,

Ann

becclkm · Apr 3, 2011

I was born overseas as family was in the US military. But I grew up in the United States eventually settling in the Bay Area in CA.
So if you can speak Cantonese fluently you can work in a public hospital? What's the difference between the public and private hospitals other than the pay and ratios? I agree for one nurse to take care of 16 patients in a hospital is unsafe. Is it just that nurse for 16 patients or is there an aide or maybe a LVN equivalent?

hi Ann,

in the public hospital they will have different policy. Some hospital has better management will employ more health care assistant (HCA) / Technical services assistant (TSA) to do the bed side work and they are capable to report any abnormalities to the responsible RN. and HK has EN (Enrolled nurse ) who is licensed and have two / three year training in hospital based nursing school. the different between EN & RN is their entry requirement. EN has no management training and therefore they will have no promotion. but nowadays, there is shortage of manpower, so quite alot of conversion course for those EN upgrade to RN is emerged.

to be honest, I have never heard any courses have been designed for the HK nursing license test. but the format is quite look like as NCLEX.

for the practical test, we will test the candidate about the basic nursing care skill, aseptic techniques and the administration of oral medication. the drug name is similar and all the skills is really "BASIC"

for say, give naso-gastric feeding for the elderly, bottle feeding for a baby, simple dressing, foley catheterisation or administer oxygen therapy, etc.

during and after the exam the examiner will ask the candidate questions around the selected test. usually, they will ask what's the indication for the therapy? how to evaluate your nursing care is effective?

DonnaL · Apr 10, 2011

Dear Wonnell,

I am a nursing student from the U.S. and I am going to take my NCLEX in June, 2011. I am interested in working in Hong Kong and came across Matilda International Hospital while I was researching for possible job placements. I have read so many great things about the OB unit in Matilda and thats definitely the unit I want to work in. I have a experience working in both Labor and Delivery and Post-partum. I was wondering if you have any positions open in your hospital? I would love to work there =)

becclkm · Apr 18, 2011

Hi,

for those Canadian Nurse who want to move to Hong Kong, may I ask what is the reason to get this move ? is there any difficulties to get a nursing job in Canada ?

e_pigpig · Apr 20, 2011

hi Ann,
in the public hospital they will have different policy. Some hospital has better management will employ more health care assistant (HCA) / Technical services assistant (TSA) to do the bed side work and they are capable to report any abnormalities ...
during and after the exam the examiner will ask the candidate questions around the selected test. usually, they will ask what's the indication for the therapy? how to evaluate your nursing care is effective?

Thank you so much for the information. It's very helpful. My family is moving back to Hong Kong this summer and I had a hard time finding information regarding the practical exam. I have my US RN license but heard that the license exam in Hong Kong is quite difficult which kind of makes me nervous.

Are you familiar with any other jobs that oversea RNs can work for while we are working on our license exam?

I do have some experience in the OB area and have looked into Matilda hospital. It looks like it's an excellent hospital to work for. But the commute will be very long for me as we probably will live in the New Territories.

becclkm · Apr 21, 2011

Matilda hospital is located on hk side and 半山區

Haha you know what though hk is small but the traffic jam is serious! But the hospital has accomodation to their staff and which is really nice!

But aim at getting hk liscense ... Not much company allow foreign license.. Except Matilda :)

May be you can set your time frame that eg half a year staying in quarter for preparing the exam first! If u are a good driver then u can drive daily :)

yan615 · May 6, 2011

Oh nooo I don't know why i couldn't see this message until now!! I just want to say thank you for your suggestion!! I really appreciate it.. I didn't apply to Matilda but I just found a clinic nurse job . not very good pay either.. but i guess it's a good chance to go into the hk industry too..

I couldn't make it to the March exam because the nursing council required me to make up theoretical hours!! =( I took some courses so hopefully that will do.. Hopefully, I can take the next exam..

For those who are trying to apply for the exam as well, I heard that the clinical part requires you to perform the skills the "hong kong way"... so If you know any local nurses, it would be a great help when studying if you have their notes or ask them to teach you..

hahaahda · May 17, 2011

Hi All,

I'm a nurse working in San Francisco in home care & hospice and am looking into working in Hong Kong as well. I do not have actual hospital experience besides the time spent in school during clinicals. I speak fluent Cantonese and Mandarin but I do not hold a HK passport. I would also like to know if my California license is transferable and what steps I need to take in order to be able to work as a nurse in Hong Kong. Thank you! =)

~Linda

anna_t · May 18, 2011

Hi, It is great to find this post and knowing that I am not alone.

I am an RN in UK and want to move to HK (where I was born) with my children, however I find it extremely difficult to get the licence to practice in HK. My mum was an EN with the public sector for many years and she was originally trained in UK, with her she has no problem to registered in HK because it was well before 1997!!

My background is from neonatal nursing, I have completed specialist courses in this field and do not want to go back to general! When I looked at the past exam paper provided by the NCHK, I really and truly have no idea how to answer them not to mention the practical exam! Please if anyone has any suggestion or tips to get through the exam or will that be an option to do a distance course through OU?

I am planning to visit HK this summer and submit my paper works to NCHK, if there are any part time jobs anyone knows of, please share...

Good luck all.

Anna x

maria83 · May 19, 2011

I'm glad to find this thread!

I'm a RN from Australia and the husband and I are looking at moving to HK in probably a couple of years time. He was born in HK, and has been wanting to move back there for several years now, so the move is inevitable (just got to wait for him to finish studying!) I've had a look at the registration requirements for RN's there and it seems like a lot (not to mention the two trips to HK needed to sit the separate exams..and that's provided I pass both the first time!)

So although I've got a little while until the husband finishes studying and we head over, I thought I'd start getting ready now! There are a couple of things I'm thinking about and was wondering if anyone could give me any ideas/ let me know if I'm on the right track?

My experience since graduating as a RN has been in paediatrics with most of this in paediatric ICU. I've done a bit of research on good old Google and it seems like all the PICU's, NICU's and adult ICU's are in the public hospitals (where I'm not going to get a job, knowing no Cantonese whatsoever!). However I've been playing with the idea of switching to theatre or some sort of perioperative nursing in the future, and seeing that as I'm not likely to be able to stay working in intensive care in HK, I was thinking of switching over now and getting some experience in that area before I go...it seems like there are a good few jobs in theatre or perioperative nursing in HK. Is that correct? Would you say perioperative nursing would be an area which should (hopefully!) be not too difficult to find a job in? (I also hope to have a baby and only work part time by the time we get to HK, so I'm trying to make myself as employable as possible!)

I also saw that someone (sorry, not sure how to go back and look up the name!) said they had to do extra courses in order to get the number of contact hours for the nursing council to let them sit the exams. Is 202 the amount of extra hours they told you you needed? or is that the amount you needed in total? I just wouldn't mind checking before I send in my application. (They didn't say anything about the amount of contact hours needed on the website!)

Would really appreciate any help anyone can give me! Thanks (and sorry about the length of this post!):)

hahaahda · Aug 4, 2011

Hi Everyone!

I too have some questions regarding working in Hong Kong. I'm from San Francisco and is currently a home care & hospice nurse. I have a RN-BSN. I speak Cantonese and Mandarin. I have questions regarding whether Hong Kong Nursing Council will let a nurse who is not born in Hong Kong to sit for boards. I am looking at the application form and it requests Hong Kong Identity Card/Passport. My dad is HK resident and I was born before he received his US Citizenship. Would that be a problem? Thanks!

~Linda =)

becclkm · Aug 4, 2011

Maria,

I hope I can help to answer your question!

If you cannot speak Cantonese that really can't work in general ward in public hospital. But don't worry, HK private sector on medical & health industry always has space to expand! Private hospitals are always welcome to the overseas nurses who can speak fluent English or Mandarin or both.

Padeatric , obsteric, Operation theatre, ICU are always lack of manpower either in Public or Private sector. So don't worry. Private hospital always has better salary than in Public ^^

Lots of nurses practice in general hospital and don't have any specialty training ,even though they are working in specialty unit, Employer in any sector is always welcome them to join!

Apart from this, the newly graduate RN is needed to have ward rotation by at least 3 specialties in two years!

Therefore, you just need to find your job first, if you have any recognised experience in your own specialty then you can make a choice on what you would like to do, otherwise, the specialty you work is designated by your employer ^^