Clinical Hours Requirements

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Hi everyone, I am British Ex-military ER/trauma nurse with 10+ years experience. I am in the process of trying to make the move over to the US to nurse. I have applied to the BON and just had my CES report completed by the CGFNS. I am concerned because on my university transcripts my uni put N/A next to clinical hours in paediatric/obstetric and mental health. This is true as I am an Adult nurse so only had theory on those areas of nursing as they are considered nursing branches in the UK. i.e. you become a paediatric nurse and do all your clinical hours in paediatrics or a mental health nurse and do all your clinical hours in mental health facilities. Nurses in the UK do not have practical obstetric/ maternity experience as this is the role of a midwife. Since qualifying I have gained a lot of experience in paediatrics and mental health from working in the ER for so long and being deployed on military operations. Is my lack of clinical hours at uni as annotated on my CES report going to prevent me from being able to take the NCLEX/gain a US nursing licence? I don't really know a way around it- as an adult nurse in the UK I am not able to go and work on a paediatric unit/labour ward or mental health facility. Any UK nurses had the same training but still been successful? Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.

I'm not a nurse from the UK but I'll throw my thoughts in. You may have to work with a program in the US to figure out how to get those hours, It's hard to say without hearing what the state you applied to says. This will largely depend on what state you are applying to, some are more strict than others (though I would guess that all should/would require some form of experience).

I'm not sure how the UK handles their emergency receiving but in the US we get everything. I get 19.6 laboring women who L&D won't take and precipitous deliveries, 30-40% of my patients are pediatrics, and there are no shortage of mental health patients in the ED.

Sometimes you get the whole package at once. I recently had a IV heroin and methamphetamine user with a precip in the ED, thankfully at full term, and we delivered and I took care of mom and baby until we got baby up the the NICU and mom up to postpartum (with a mental health and social work consult).

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Thank you for your reply. Yes it is the same principle in the UK. We deal with everything from mental health to problems in pregnancy,we have a paediatric unit within the department so I have plenty experience in all of these areas in the 10+ years since graduation. But non of this is annotated on the CES report as it all concerned with clinical hours whilst at university? I have applied to Michigan BON.

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Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.

Can you get a written statement of the continuing education of this from your hospital or service branch? That might help you out.

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Yes I could, but the report went off to the BON yesterday. Can it be added after that? Thankyou for your help

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Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.

I would call the BON and see what they say. It wouldn't hurt to ask and will be far more beneficial than trying to appeal a potential no from them later.

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Thankyou, I really appreciate your advice

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Generally your transcripts have to show both clinical and theory hours in Paeds, Obstetrics, Mental Health and Adult. US nurses are general trained. Clinical and theory hours are expected to be concurrent. Last I heard there was no courses in the UK to make up these hours

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Generally your transcripts have to show both clinical and theory hours in Paeds, Obstetrics, Mental Health and Adult. US nurses are general trained. Clinical and theory hours are expected to be concurrent. Last I heard there was no courses in the UK to make up these hours

Thankyou for your comment. If this is the way the majority of UK nurses are trained how does any UK nurse obtain a US licence? There are many British nurses working in the US?

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Specializes in Adult and pediatric emergency and critical care.
There are many British nurses working in the US?

A ton of our flight nurses are from various parts of the UK so I know it can be done. The state I'm in (which unfortunately isn't Michigan) is quite friendly to foreign health professionals who want to challenge their boards. Quite a few don't have their exact requirements but if they can prove they have the education or experience the state doesn't have a problem. The tricky part in the US is that the individual states can set different requirements as to who can challenge the boards and why.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Thankyou for your comment. If this is the way the majority of UK nurses are trained how does any UK nurse obtain a US licence? There are many British nurses working in the US?

We are however seeing less and less UK nurses working in the US with the current training. As mentioned best thing to do is contact the state BON but don't be surprised if they say they will wait to see your transcripts. Some universities also do offer some clinical and theory hours in the foundation course that seems to meet criteria

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