AHPRA refused registration for USA nurse to be registered in Australia

[Lilliemichelle]

I'm an American nurse married to an Australian.

I just received the news today that AHPRA has not accepted my application to have my Registered Nurse license in Australia (I put the application in last year, July 2014)

I graduated in 2012 from a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing Degree in Indiana, USA. I did a total of 727 clinical hours, but in order to meet the criteria for AHPRA I needed to have done 800 clinical hours.

My experience as a nurse after graduation does not seem to factor into my application. The letter I received today states that I did not meet section 53(b) Criterion 5, and that "In order to be eligible for registration in the future as a registered nurse you must complete further education in a Board approved pre-registration program leading to registration as a registered nurse, such as a Bachelor of Nursing."

-Does anyone have recent/similar experiences with AHPRA (I know they went through a lot of process changes recently, and it has become much harder for international nurses to become registered)

-Did anyone else fail to meet these same criterion, and what did you do about it?

It seems like all I need to do is go back and take more undergrad coursework with clinical hours, but since I already did all the clinical hours that are included in the program I graduated from, I'm not sure if they can offer me anything else. I'm waiting on a response from them.

I also called several other Bachelor's degree programs in my area to see if they would accept me as a student for a clinical course, but they said it was not possible since I wasn't doing their whole program.

I would love to hear any suggestions and ideas out there!!

Thanks in advance for any help! :)

[withap]

Hi Lilliemichelle, my wife is is a similar situation. it appears she is less than 20 hours short of 800 required. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and worked as a nurse since 2009 in Chicago. Hoping there is some path for her to get the last few clinical hours required. Hoping someone else has had this issue as well and could comment, would be greatly appreciated.

[gypsynursesarah]

What ended up happening with your application @lilliemichelle? I am having the exact same problem.

[Rockclimbingnurse]

I know this is an old thread, but I had 720 clinical hours. However, they must've changed some things because they granted me registration but with with restrictions.

I have to be under direct supervision for 3 months full time. Therefore, I'm pretty much useless to employers

[sunshinerainbows]

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your luck. I thought I remembered seeing something about how you could take a bridging course if you feel just short of the hours, if you have the time and money.

I'm about the start my application. How did you go about showing your hours? Was it based on predicted hours or hours in reality? As in, did you sit down with the syllabus and write out how many hours you were supposed to get, or did you sit down with a calendar and write out how many hours you actually got (like excluding holidays, or if you were sick)? How did you handle simulation, if it wasn't specified on what days or for how long it would be?

Thank you. I hope you find a solution.

[sunshinerainbows]

I was just coming back here to say that I now see they do this - If your only problem is a lack of hours but you have at least 720, you can be registered with restrictions.

Have you looked at doing some time in rural areas?