Int. Nurse Is my Diploma no good any longer?

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Hello everyone,

first of all, my heart goes out to all of the victims of katrina!!!!

Thank you so much for all of your time to answer my request.

I am new to this post and need all your help I can get, thanks............

I have a nursing diploma from Russia (I live now in the States). I graduated in 1994 in my country, but I practices for a very brief time as a nurse. It was a nursing school for 2 years, kind of like a tech. college. I also, went to the University here in the States for about 2 years in nursing (I only have Chemistry and Anatomy-towards Nursina, the rest is basic, all together I have 36 credit hours) , but the University here told me that they would only accept me if I started from the beginning like I never had any education and they would not count anything from any other school and I had to sign a paper stating that.

It discouraged me so much to evaluate my education.

I have been researching for some time about what I needed to do, but few months ago I finally found some info. on http://www.CGFNS.org. well, I spoke to an agent there and she told me that I needed to have my Diploma and the other paper work to be translated and be sent to them for evaluation directly from my medical school, then after all this done they will send it to Alabama board of Nursing for another evaluation to see what I needed to do. I thought, if they would count most of my nursing clases toward my degree and I could go back to school and take some classes, but not all of them I almost started the procedure, but got discouraged again because I talked to a teaching nurse at community college and she told me that none of my NURSING classes will count anyway because it has been so long since I've graduated. She said that in the States if you were inactive or took nursing classes more then 5 or 7 years past, it's usless. So I stopped the process because I was told that my education is no good any more and I would just waist my money on this process.

I wonder if I can get advice from anyone concerning my situation, I appreciate any information, thank you very much for your help and time

Katrina

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Well, I can't imagine that NONE of your classes count

Do the evaluation through CGFNS

after the evaluation you'll see what you have and what you need

I'm not an expert any maybe somebody here knows more, but I would give it a try!!

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A two year degree in nursing from overseas is not accepted for the RN licensure. Technical program would be equivalent to our LPN program.

Ten years plus on classes and they will not be accpeted towards a degree here in the US normally, especially the sciences. Most will not accpet any courses over five years. However, if you had completed at least a three year program in nursing in your country and met the curriculum requirements, then there would not be an issue of you meeting the requirments for a license here. That is where your problem comes in. The only option that you have is to get an evaluation of your credentials as stated, and if they meet the requirements for the LPN program, and you can pass the NCLEX-PN exam, then you could do a bridge program for your RN. That owuld be one way to get around things.

What type of visa are you currently on?

Hope that this gives you a few options..............:)

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Thank you all for your time and encouragements,

Suzanne, I went to medical school for 3 years. I am an American resident, thankfully I don't have to struggle with this any more....

Do you think even though my diploma is over 10 years old, I can still evaluate it and get a positive respond and try for NCLEX PN exam?

I think my nursing may be equivalent to LPN program here. I also have some credit hours for Chemistry I & II, Biology I, Anatomy I as I repeated the courses in the states in 1998-99 and some other basic classes like EN, History, etc, all together I have 36 credit hours in the states. I guess they will not count them now since it's more than 5 years, boy, my timing is really messed up, I wish I knew then what I know now. Seems like nothing is counted now, even credits that I got here. I tried to find some info. years ago called board of nursing and did not get much help. I am sorry for writing all of that, I am just disappointed that all my hard effort, time and money was for nothing.

Thanky very much again for your help. Could you answer my question if you can?

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Medical school courses will not give you any credit towards your nursing degree. They are actually two very different curriculums.

I would definitely go with having an evaluation done. If you meet the requirements of the LPN degree, and then can pass the test, you will be able to complete a bridge program, some are only about 14 months or so for the RN.

Hope that this helps.

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Suzanne,

Should I evaluate my diploma even though it's over 10 years old? I was going to do it 6 months ago, but teaching nurse from the community college told me it would be useless "no matter who evaluated my diploma, it's too old". The evaluation process is complicated and costly and I am not sure anyone will accept it with all the timing. I maybe wrong. I am just confused, sorry.

thanks :)

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