Help and advice on being a UK nurse in the USA

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Hello there, I was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice.

I'm a mature British national seeking to study nursing as a degree. However, my partner is American and I will eventually be marrying and moving over there. I have a few years before this will happen.

My question is, during this time, would it be worth completing an Adult Nursing BSC Hons in the UK? I have read various things about the differences in US/ UK Nursing education and it appears that our system over here has quite a few holes. Would my British General Adult Nursing degree hold any weight over there? Would further study be required of me over there also? I understand that Boards must be sat to obtain a license, but I was wondering if further education would be needed before that?

Sadly, for the moment, I am unsure as to whether I have the necessary qualifications to even apply for a College over there - although investigations are being made. I currently just hold GCSEs, which is the equivalent of a British High school Education. But again, the systems seem to differ.

Has anyone heard of anyone starting a degree in the UK and transferring to the US halfway? Or would it be advised that I take the whole course in the UK?

My case is that I have a few years and if there is anything I can possibly do in this time, I am determined to achieve it.

Thank you very much for anyone that can offer any advice or assistance in this matter.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Nursing education in the US is generalist and it includes theory and clinical hours in adult, peds, OB/GYN and mental health nursing.You would need to have all of those covered to meet US requirements.If you wanted to work in the US then going to school there would be your best option. Do a search on here about this topic. There are several good threads about this very topic.

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Specializes in Critical Care/NICU.

Hi

Do you have the qualification to get on a BSc degree in the UK. You will need A levels or access course.

I am British trained adult degree nurse and I have registered in the US. But I think things have changed since I completed because I had theory and placements with children, mental health, maternity and learning disabilities. These are the area which UK nurses seem to lack when trying to register for a license in the US.

UK nurse training is of a high standard and we are trained to register and work in the UK.

Hope this helps

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Thank you for your response. I have searched through the other topics and they were very informative. However, due to my situation, I'm really looking to make use of the years that I am left spending in the UK. And one thing I have noticed - and I may have missed it, but I am unsure - but I have seen nothing about transferrals. Is there no way of transferring from halfway through a UK nursing degree to a US nursing degree? Or is this unprecedented? Thank you for your help.

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Thank you for your reply. At the moment, I still need to take an access course to even apply for a bachelors over here. What I'm trying to figure out right now, is if it is possible to start the degree over here and then transfer over there halfway through. Or are the courses so utterly different that this wouldn't work out. As I posted in the reply to the other kind person who responded to my call for help, I could not seem to find or read about any instance where a transferral has occurred. Is it even possible?

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Specializes in NICU.

No, I very much doubt that you can pick up in a US nursing program after completing some UK courses. The only thing you might do is get some US nursing pre-reqs done, but the whole university system in the UK vs the US is different that it might not work anyway.

If you can get the UK degree done, that go for it and then try to get the extra hours you need.

If not, then I suggest moving to the USA as soon as possible. My husband was in a somewhat similar position. He has a science undergrad degree from the UK and worked in IT for a few years. He was looking at becoming a teacher and we decided just to wait until he got over here to do it and he was able to complete a 1 year masters in education program over here. Yes, immigration is the suck, and it's expensive, but it's what you have to do in order to become a permanent resident, with most of the rights as a US citizen (we are now applying for his US citizenship, so he will have dual, which is allowed). I highly recommend visajourney.com, which has guides on how to walk through the immigration stuff without a lawyer, as long as you have a "simple" case and don't have a criminal history/overstays/deportations.

Best of luck.

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