Help! Should I study nursing in UK or USA

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Hello, I really need help!!! I'm, you could say, a mature student. I'm 27, married and have a child. I have been working as healthcare assistant in UK for 5 years. I have a Bachelor's degree from Lithuania but in communication and information. And I have started studying GCSES in Uk I've got maths, currently on my English and am accepted to a college for access to health care and science.

Recently my husband received an amazing opportunity of employment in USA. And we are thinking of relocating. My question is should I continue to become an RN in Uk or try studying nursing in USA? And would it be possible for me as an international and no traditional student to do that? Should I study the access course, would it be of any use to me in USA? Would my Bachelor's degree be of any use too?

I have tried to answer all these questionss via Internet but got lost in a massive amount of information.

Any help is greatly appreciated as Nursing is my long time dream!

Thank you!

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

You should study nursing in the country where you plan to live and work as a nurse

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Well I want to find out if it's even possible for me to study in USA, with qualifications I've got. Or would it be sensible to take my time and finish nurse training in UK and transfer to US

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

UK nurses are specialist trained and US nurses are generalist trained. That means they do theory and clinical hours in adult, paeds, OB and mental health nursing. A UK degree will find you lacking in these areas if you want to work in the US. Like Beachy said,get your degree where you plan to work.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

A lot will depend on where you plan on living and working for several years. If you train in the UK you are branch trained and will not in most cases meet US requirements. If you plan on moving back to the UK after living and training in the US then you have a lot of requirements to meet before you can work in the UK as a nurse. Check out the NMC threads in this forum

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Thanks, everyone. It makes more sense now. I'd love to have general knowledge of every side of nursing.

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Specializes in Tele, CVSD, ED - TNCC.

I'd like to mention one thing to you: In the US, since you have a bachelor degree already, you will most likely qualify for an accelerated nursing degree, it is a fast track to a bachelor in nursing here and makes you very competitive when getting a job, BUT keep in mind if you plan on going back to the UK, you will likely not qualify as an RN via the NMC due to having too few clinical hours, even if you have gained experience post-graduation (others can attest to this, or correct me if I'm wrong). In this case, even though you have a bachelor degree, it would be better for you to enroll in a traditional nursing program.

Regardless, once an RN, it is never easy to transition across countries, there will be transcripts, paperwork, fees, deadlines and sometimes testing. Just be prepared that it isn't easy, you can see many people post their stories on here, I sympathize with them, but each country has the right to protect the safety of their patients/citizens, so we just have to jump the hoops.

Good luck!

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