From the US wanting advice on nursing school in Melbourne

Silverdragon102, BSN · Oct 19, 2008

Basically you will always be classed as an international trained nurse in the US and will have to meet the requirements of the BON/BRN back in the US. Would also suggest you arrange with your university that you do hours both theory and practical in all areas as we have seen some Australian nurses post like the UK and have issues due to some hours not being enough

straight4 · Oct 20, 2008

Hi, I was also accepted into a school in Australia, and would like to know how many hours of theory and clinical are needed to meet the US BON's requirements? I am having a hard time finding the exact numbers, hence my difficulty in making a judgment on how wise it would be to attend school in Australia.

Thank you all in advance.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Oct 20, 2008

Each BON has their own requirements but I can give you a rough idea on what my hours where. Mental health 150 hours both theory and practical, same goes for maternity. I did paeds in my initial training as Enrolled nurse and did over 8 weeks practical and 150 theory. General adult was mostly my training both as Enrolled nurse

allnurses Guide · Oct 20, 2008

Depends on the BON - why not ask the BON you'd plan to apply to back in the US?

straight4 · Oct 23, 2008

Hi ghillbert,

I believe you did your first degree in nursing in Australia. Would you happen to know, if:

let's say I got my BSN in Australia, work here for 1-2 years, and let's say I get registered with the CA BON, and I start working as a nurse in CA. Then I do a graduate degree in the US. After that graduate degree, when I try to work in different states, would those states still view me as a foreign grad, i.e. I need to go through the whole registration/evaluation process to be able to work in a different state?

(I am trying to weigh my options...

For me, getting a full tuition waiver and eventually a PR in Australia are good incentives to study there, but it will be a 3-yr degree, compared to a 12-18 month accelerated degree in the US. Suzanne4 has mentioned that the very few countries that are accepting 3-year foreign degrees are starting to require a 4-year degree, which makes me think that the Australian degree wouldn't be too versatile, and which also makes me wonder if that means Australian nurses working overseas would pretty much be unheard of in the near future??)

Thank you in advance!

allnurses Guide · Oct 23, 2008

The length of the degree is not the issue - the clinical and theory hours are. The degree is three years generally because it does not have the same amount of non-nursing courses that the US degree does. Mine had the same amount of clinical and theory hours. You need to speak to the program you want to go to, and ask what hours you'll do in all of the required areas.

I don't understand your question about being treated as a foreign grad. If you are a foreign grad, you'll always be treated as one. Having said that, once you get the initial licensure, it's not so hard to endorse to many other states (some still want you to fulfil the foreigner requirements even for endorsement though).

I have posted several times that my opinion is, if you're planning to spend the majority of your career in the US, train in the US, get some experience and then go work in Australia as an RN. It's easy to get a job and a visa, and you have a path to PR from a skilled worker visa as well.

straight4 · Oct 25, 2008

Thank you ghillbert; hope you don't mind, but I have decided to PM you instead =)

esutton · Oct 25, 2008

Thank you ghillbert; hope you don't mind, but I have decided to PM you instead =)

So.... I am currently undecided about where I will spend the majority of my career nursing, which is why I am considering the MSN program at Melbourne. I am also interested in the pursueing a Nurse Practioner degree at some point. I am wondering if I got my MSN from Melbourne then at some point in the future wanted to get my NP from a US university, is a US university going to recognize my degree from AU or would this be a very difficult transition to make?

allnurses Guide · Oct 26, 2008

I did my BN in Melbourne and am currently completing my MSN in nurse practitioner (acute care) in the US. You just apply as a foreign-trained student, and the office of international studies at the university evaluates your foreign degree. Depending on how long you've been residing in the state where you attend school, you may have to pay out of state tuition and prove that you have sufficient finances to support yourself through the degree.

Edit: If you already have a masters degree from Australia, you could theoretically do a post-masters certificate in NP.

However - depending on which state you intend to practise in, you may have to complete the whole MSN program, apart from a few credits. This is because (eg. in PA, where I live) the state board of nursing which regulates NPs requires that you fulfilled a certain percentage of your classes in PABON-approved courses. The foreign MNP classes will not meet this requirement. So I have a MNP from Australia, but I pretty much have to complete the full MSN here, apart from getting credit for the research classes due to my previous masters study.

By the way, the Univ of Melb course is not MSN - it's MNSc.

esutton · Oct 26, 2008

What is the difference between an MSN and MNSc? Did you go to University of Melbourne or another school in Melbourne? So that is surprising to me you had a NP in AU and had to do the whole MSN degree over in the US? So how long is the program you are doing in the US to get your NP? Thanks so much for your reply!

Elizabeth

allnurses Guide · Oct 26, 2008

They are different - I just noticed you listed it as an MSN, but we don't have those in Australia.

I did not go to Uni of Melb. I was NOT an NP in Australia. I had a Master of Nursing Practice, which is a degree by coursework, with a minor research thesis. The MSN in the US is meant to be 2 years fulltime, but I'm working fulltime and just doing it part time. At the rate I'm doing, and with my credits, it should take around 3 years. The main problem is that they want you to have done all your clinical in a US site, as well as the BON-approved pharm, patho etc. I was able to get research subjects credited.