Foreign medical graduate wanting advanced nursing

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Please help me out there.I am a physician in my home country just moved into states on the green card.In addition to prepare for Usmle,i also want to get involve into nursing.My aim is to do Nurse practitioner or CRNA.Plz tell me whether Exclesior college is right for me and what about bachelors in nursing?i have already read medical subjects in my medical schools.Will i get advantage of that or will i have to do bachelors again?

You can go:

- BSN, then graduate program for NP or CRNA. 3 +2-3 years, with work a couple of years in between for CRNA/better grad schools.

- accelerated BSN, direct bridge to NP. About 3,5 years total.

- direct entry MSN to NP. 3,5 to 5 years and expensive.

- anesthesia assistant (same as CRNA, no RN/experience needed, need to pass MSAT, but only can work in some 20 states)

- physician assistant (most schools are not friendly to IMGs)

- at least one state (Missouri???) let's IMGs who passed all steps to work as assistants in practices. Check it out!

Your pre-recs will be welcomed in any place and you won'the have problem to get into nursing school. Please be aware, though, that nurses in the USA are generally not welcome people like you and myself. I know four more people who went from IMG to nursing, all in different parts of the country, different systems and different level of care and all plus me had experience of being grievously bullied. If you can allow options limiting bedside care like direct entry MSN, go there.

Yup! Missouri. Assistant physicians I think. PAs are pissed about it lol.

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@notnursezelda...I chose exclesior because it is only college which will give credit to my medical background and will give me associate degree by appearing in their various tests.After passing tests,i will be eligible for NCLEX.I can not do full 2 years of associate to be honest.

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@dranger...sir,those assistant physicians missoury requirement is that year of graduation from medical school should be maximum 4 years...I am much above it unfortunately

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Guys my plan is to do associate degree from exclesior college and then work for an year before enrolling into NP or CRNA school.Most CRNA programs say that they can accept persons with associate degree with bachelor in any OTHER field.My point is that will my medical degree not equivalent to that OTHER bachelor even?

Correct. Many hospitals are looking at a minimum BSN for new hires especially critical care areas. So even if you graduate Excelsior (the CPNE is a true clinical skills challenge and you must think like a registered nurse not a medical graduate) and pass the NCLEX it can take quite some time to secure the minimum 1-2 years ICU experience. Plus you are not eligible for a nursing license in CA ever as a graduate of EC and there are additional requirements for gaining a nursing license in several states. AZ & GA require additional precepted clinical experience at candidate expense. Other states you cannot be licensed directly only by endorsement. You need to check the details on EC website.

Whether your IMG education will be deemed equivalent to a US bachelor's will depend on how your credentials are assessed.

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@justbeachynurse...I live in minnesota .Here EC is recognised

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
@justbeachynurse...I live in minnesota .Here EC is recognised

Just know if you move it may not be accepted. It's a known risk of attending the program that although a center of nursing excellence it does not meet the educational standards of all US BoN.

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!justbeachynurse...plz give me some insight about starting salary after i get adn RN.

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You can check out salaries on salary.com, glassdoor.com. Some job listings have postings about it.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
!justbeachynurse...plz give me some insight about starting salary after i get adn RN.

Too many factors. Depends on where you get hired. Suburb or major city. Mean for all types of jobs is 10-15% lower than national average. Average $22-28/hr depending on facility (acute, long term care, subacute, specialty, rehab, outpatient), shift, whether differentials are offered. Most major metropolitan hospitals have the luxury of only hiring BSN/RN. Many competitive areas choose applicants that established rapport and a positive reputation after having completed clinical rotations at the facility. By going through Excelsior you will not have that opportunity since your only clinical experience will be to demonstrate clinical competency in the weekend challenge exam in GA, TX, PA or NY.

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Specializes in critical care.
@notnursezelda...I chose exclesior because it is only college which will give credit to my medical background and will give me associate degree by appearing in their various tests.After passing tests,i will be eligible for NCLEX.I can not do full 2 years of associate to be honest.

Without knowing the RN scope of practice and the nursing process, you are really going to struggle with skipping nursing school.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Without knowing the RN scope of practice and the nursing process, you are really going to struggle with skipping nursing school.

The few I know that were IMG struggled tremendously in changing their thought process especially when it came to nursing diagnosis & care planning which is unique to the nursing model of care. One thought their med school rotations were sufficient prep for the CPNE and was thoroughly humbled when they were the first to fail for missing a critical element and sent home. If I recall correctly they remediated, practiced and were successful later. Medical school =/= nursing school any more than the reverse. Know what you are getting into. Many struggle through Excelsior needing significant remediation because they either don't have a strong practical working/clinical background or do not realize the amount of effort and initiative needed to attempt a distance based challenge exam program. There is no professor to ask questions. No classmate sitting next to that you can go to the library to study with. No group projects. It's here's the exam content guide pay for & take the practice exam then take the challenge exam on material traditional students spend 1-2 semesters learning in the classroom facilitated by a licensed, graduate degrees nursing education professional.

People think EC is the easy way. A strong nursing background, especially in nursing diagnosis & care plans, practical clinical experience coupled with a strong self initiative to prepare abs challenge the exams.

Know what is expected of you as the entry to professional nursing practice student before stating the program. Those who do plus are self motivated and independent are successful

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Specializes in Short Term Rehab; Skilled Nursing.
Please help me out there.I am a physician in my home country just moved into states on the green card.In addition to prepare for Usmle,i also want to get involve into nursing.My aim is to do Nurse practitioner or CRNA.Plz tell me whether Excelsior college is right for me and what about bachelors in nursing?i have already read medical subjects in my medical schools.Will i get advantage of that or will i have to do bachelors again?

My significant other was a physician back home and when we moved to US he finished RN through Excelsior (foreign MD to RN). Excelsior at start was more as a back up plan, but it ended up he was not able to pass USMLE Step 2 CS and he ended up being a RN. Long story short, you need to decide whether you want to get your USMLEs done and to try to get the residency (that is becoming very challenging for IMGs, especially the ones with "graduation cut off date" issues) or you want to pursue you nursing career.

As previous posters noted, MD does not give you that much of advantage. Nursing in US is not like nursing anywhere else in the world. It is not an arena that MDs can enter just like that. Been there, done that, it took us a while to realize that getting higher nursing degrees is not an overnight express...

Excelsior will take at least a year if you devote full time + over time study to get it done expressly. Realistically - let's say 2 years. CPNE waiting time is around 6 months and you would definitely need to put in a lot of hours to shift from medical to nursing model and overall way of thinking as a nurse :) It might look easy, but it's not. Good thing, with ADN from Excelsior, you can brigde directly to FNP since your MD training is above bachelor degree. We were looking into online program offered by South University. That will take additional 2.5-3 years... CRNA... That's like going to MD school from the scratch. Being said,you would need to get your BSN first after ADN from Excelsior in order to be eligible for ICU positions(ICU experience is prerequisite for most CRNA programs). CRNA programs are very competitive to get into.

I was a dentist back home so Excelsior did not want to take me. For that reason I attended LPN school and practiced for almost 3 years. I did start Excelsior back in 2013. but got accepted to med school recently. Those few more exams that I have with Excelsior are on hold for now. I can only imagine my struggle when CPNE gets me :)

Best of luck...

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