Advice for overseas (UK) psych nurse please

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Hello everyone,

Would be very grateful for help, this is my first post. I am in the UK, have completed 'general'/RN training in the UK and then completed psychiatric nurse training. I have about 10+ years experience in psych nursing. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places but I can't see many psych nurse jobs in Florida.Can anyone advise? I am at the very early stages, have not done NCLEX - I understand that you don't need to complete CGFNS exam for Florida. If anyone can give me advice about this would really appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

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Specializes in Stroke Rehab, Elderly, Rehab. Ortho.
Hello everyone,

Would be very grateful for help, this is my first post. I am in the UK, have completed 'general'/RN training in the UK and then completed psychiatric nurse training. I have about 10+ years experience in psych nursing. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places but I can't see many psych nurse jobs in Florida.Can anyone advise? I am at the very early stages, have not done NCLEX - I understand that you don't need to complete CGFNS exam for Florida. If anyone can give me advice about this would really appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

You are right you dont need CGFNS for Florida but you will need to complete the requirements for Florida BON then get your Visascreen and take the NCLEX. In the meantime you will need to find a sponsor to bring you over here...I dont know about other hospitals in Florida but there are Psych jobs out there - I know there are some at our hospital and I know they sponsor as they are sponosring my friend right now (but not for Psych),

YOu may get more repsonses if youpost in the internationalsection as this will give you a lot of answers to your questions if you read the stickies - see you there!!;)

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I am in the very northeast corner of Florida--in Jacksonville, and can give you an idea of what we have here:

Off the top of my head I can think of these places:

Shands hospital: a community public health hospital with a psychiatric unit

Wekiva Springs: a private faciltiy for addictions, including eating disorders

Ten Broeck: a private facility; general psych & addictions; in-patient and partial hospitalization

Mental health resource center: a public psych hospital; kids and adults

River region: a public facility for addictions.

That's all i can think of right now.

Good luck!

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Thanks very much Sue and Wannabe :idea:

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Specializes in med/surg.

I had heard that FL can be a pain as far as waiting for your ATT goes & they won't issue the full license without a SS#. If you don't mind the wait - & with retrogression I guess it's not really a problem then go with them.

However, if you wanted to get on & take the exam you will find applying through Vermont or New Mexico easier. New Mexico issues a longer lasting license (2 years) than Vermont (6 months) then you just endorse it to Florida (at a cost, of course) later on.

It's one of those swings & roundabouts things. Some people think you're best off going with the State you want straight away others feel it's easier & quicker to go the Vermont/NM way. The choice is yours to make.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Unless you are general trained intially you wont be able to work in the US as a Psych nurse I will move your thread to the international forum where you will get more responses

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