Australian nurse wanting to work in America

World Immigration

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Hello! I am an Aussie RN from Melbourne Australia. I am very interested in working as a nurse in America due to family reasons. Especially interested in Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Colorado or Arizona. I have completed a 3 year bachelor course in Australia and am concerned that I may not have the required obstetrics and pediatric hours required. Is there a course I complete in Melbourne or even in the USA to make up these hours? I would love to know where to begin the process of moving to the USA. i would like to add that i was an IV drug endorsed enrolled nurse for 5 years prior to an RN in case that helps. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

Specializes in med/surg.
On 2/17/2018 at 12:21 PM, YeXinZhi said:

My advice is:

1. Pick another state that does not require the SSN or ITIN and will not require supplementary courses in obs and paeds. New York and Montana are two states that I know don't require this. You have to be flexible in terms of where you want to live and practice.

Can anyone confirm that new york and montana do not require the obs/paeds hurdle that many of us are having trouble with ?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
8 hours ago, aussiebro said:

Can anyone confirm that new york and montana do not require the obs/paeds hurdle that many of us are having trouble with ?

But the hurdle may exist when endorsing if they are not the states you plan on living and working in

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Specializes in Med/surg.
On 8/24/2019 at 2:34 PM, OzNurse73 said:

So I started my application process well over 2 years ago and I’ve come to a standstill. I do not have the clinical practice hours in paediatrics required by the board to go ahead with my application. They said I require 80 hours of supervised clinicals. My initial bachelors degree did not include a paediatric specific placement and although I’ve worked for several years in paediatric surgical, this is not recognised as sufficient experience. My options now are to complete a Grad Cert in Clinical Nursing (Paediatrics) here in Australia or to pursue a bridging course in the US which will probably cost just about the same as a Grad Cert by the time I allow for all the fees and related expenses. TBH I’ve put the idea on hold for now. Seems like a huge hurdle just to have 80 hours of supervised practice.

Good luck to those of you still pursuing!

Hi Hope this helps you

I was in the same situation only a few month ago and now I have NY as well as Texas license.

My ces report was denied by texas board because of the ped/obs hours however I used my ny license to apply endorsement and I successfully received Texas license

Note: NY board doesnt require ped/obs hourse. You can take NCLEX for NY then You can apply Texas endorsement by using the NY license . If you apply endorsement after licensed in NY then ces is not required by the texas board

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Specializes in Med/surg.
On 3/25/2020 at 3:25 AM, Silverdragon102 said:

But the hurdle may exist when endorsing if they are not the states you plan on living and working in

Hi

NY doesnt require ped/obs and then you can apply for the endorsement in state such as texas. Texas doesnt require ces report once you are licensed in other state

I did my nursing in melbourne and now I have ny as well as texas

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
1 hour ago, Chicarol said:

Hi

NY doesnt require ped/obs and then you can apply for the endorsement in state such as texas. Texas doesnt require ces report once you are licensed in other state

I did my nursing in melbourne and now I have ny as well as texas

But not the case will all states. California do their own review, some states will still require CES if trained outside the US when endorsing so a lot will depend on where the plan is for living and working

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Specializes in Med/surg.
26 minutes ago, Silverdragon102 said:

But not the case will all states. California do their own review, some states will still require CES if trained outside the US when endorsing so a lot will depend on where the plan is for living and working

Of course all states are different( Very wellknown fact already)..

California is wellknown to have their own thing. But Its important that to land in the us first and work out from there... many aussie nurses not sure if they can even sit for the NCLEX...my point is as an australia educated nurses you can get the us license (ny) and figure out which state you want to go afterwards...

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Specializes in Med/surg.
On 8/23/2019 at 11:33 PM, MikkieZhzh said:

Has anyone been successful I need to relocate but have a nursing degree from Australia. Is there a state I can try without doing additional courses at the moment

Hi hope this helps

I did my nursing in melbourne 3 years bachelor. I got new york as well as texas license recently. Try NY they dont require any additional course. No ped/obs required for New york board.

I am signing a contract soon with US recruit agent. Hoping to go Texas

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Specializes in RN.
On 5/31/2020 at 1:31 AM, Chicarol said:

Hi hope this helps

I did my nursing in melbourne 3 years bachelor. I got new york as well as texas license recently. Try NY they dont require any additional course. No ped/obs required for New york board.

I am signing a contract soon with US recruit agent. Hoping to go Texas

Chicarol do u mind contacting me via email or any other way you prefer

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Specializes in Med/surg.
8 hours ago, MikkieZhzh said:

Chicarol do u mind contacting me via email or any other way you prefer

Hi there

I was in the same situation only a few month ago..desperately looking forinformation and searching and calling numerous times...and now am glad I got the licenses and being able to help others

advise for you..

contact cgfns and start cvs process This will take anywhere 6-10 month

start NCLEX prep. I did mine in melbourne

once passed NCLEX for ny then apply texas endorsement, this could take 3 month. Note if you apply texas endorsement CES report is not required by the texas board.


Apparently other states accept endorsement without ces report. Once you sign the contract with US recruit agent, they issue you SSN and they usually arrange license endorsement for you
 
-No additional course/supplement needed

-No need to do ped/obs certificate in Australia or US

-No need to go to canada

once you passed NCLEX for NY, endorse to texas is a smooth process


send me an email then I will reply to you

 I cant find your email address in this

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Specializes in RN.
4 hours ago, Chicarol said:

Chicarol

Email: [email protected] thanks

Hi there

I was in the same situation only a few month ago..desperately looking forinformation and searching and calling numerous times...and now am glad I got the licenses and being able to help others

advise for you..

contact cgfns and start cvs process This will take anywhere 6-10 month

start NCLEX prep. I did mine in melbourne

once passed NCLEX for ny then apply texas endorsement, this could take 3 month. Note if you apply texas endorsement CES report is not required by the texas board.


Apparently other states accept endorsement without ces report. Once you sign the contract with US recruit agent, they issue you SSN and they usually arrange license endorsement for you
 
-No additional course/supplement needed

-No need to do ped/obs certificate in Australia or US

-No need to go to canada

once you passed NCLEX for NY, endorse to texas is a smooth process


send me an email then I will reply to you

 I cant find your email address in this

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Woah!
I checked this forum post two years ago before I started my journey to RN in the USA. It felt like everyone had the same questions and no answers - so I did what I could and started my applications and pushed forward without a clear path to registration. Fingers crossed that It wouldn't be too time consuming / expensive.

I am so happy to see that there are some clear cut answers for people now! Thankyou Chicarol for your amazing advice RE: NY registration. I may be emailing you soon with some questions.

I have been Nursing in AUS and NZ for about 10 years - Completed my degree at Flinders University in South Australia. I Married a UScitizen and have since moved to Austin Texas and have had my greencard here for two years (Working in a coffee shop in the meantime, $12 an hour yay - the American dream people).

I applied for the Texas Board of Nursing and made my CGFNS Application 12 months ago and only just now received my CGFNS CES report stating that I was deficient in Maternal/Infant, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing and Nursing care of Children. See image attached.

FYI - If you are even considering becoming registered in the USA submit that application for the CGFNS CES report yesterday - it is a pain in the orifice, it takes forever, their communication is appalling and If I didn't already invest so much time and money into using them I would never, ever use them again if I could help it.

My TX BON application has expired as of this week (The same week my report was issued....) so I have sent them an email asking how I should proceed....

When I look at nursing courses at colleges here (Austin community college in particular) it is clear that the deficiencies in my nursing degree are the equivalent of the third semester of study here in Texas (See other attached Image)

Before I read this post I would assume that my best course of action would be to contact the College and ask to do ONLY that semester of courses and practicals and this would give me educational equivalency. I have no idea if this is something that they will do or not and have not yet contacted the college as I am awaiting clarification from the Board of Nursing.

Now I am thinking that my fastest track should be to apply to the NY BON with my current CES report forwarded to them - Hopefully they accept it without further education, sit the NCLEX with them instead, become registered there and then apply for registration via endorsement rather than examination for the Texas Board of Nursing.

Phew. What a last couple of years it has been...

Comparability.pngdeficiency.png
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I recommend trying to work as an LPN initially if you’re deficient in those areas. The board of nursing North Carolina allowed me to do that and I actually found it to be a great transition to American nursing as many things here are different. Also pay is approximately $67,000 AUD/ year In my state (in the USA) which isn’t bad for full time day shift work. I wasn’t getting much more than that as an RN in Australia anyway.

Many hospitals will then have cheaper education for staff as most hospitals are linked to University’s here. I took that opportunity to then take on OB/PEDS classes I needed. So it was a long journey to become an RN again here in the USA. but working as a LPN in the mean time made it a lot less stressful and I was learning so much in the healthcare field that I love so much everyday- which made the NCLEX RN easier also.

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