Can a UK Mental health nurse work in America or Canada

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2016

You must realize that mental health nurses do not exist in the States. Here in the States, all nurses are trained as generalists who are able to work in all specialties (e.g., mental health, obstetrics, pediatrics, adult med/Surg, etc.).

Since the education of a foreign-trained mental health nurse would not fulfill the requirements of the generalist nursing training that nurses here in the states receive, you likely would be unable to work here without taking some classes and correcting some deficiencies in your education.

isyguy2000 · Mar 4, 2016

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Is there any advice you would give, please? So could adult nurses in the UK work in America?

I am open to doing some classes if that is what has been required in the states. Any advice on this?

Again, do you think Canada operates the same?

Thanks

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 4, 2016

I do not know about Canada, but I know one GB-educated mental health nurse who moved here to the US by marriage. To her, the best way is to just go through a direct entry Mental health MSN program and become mental health nurse practitioner if one doesn't want any other specialty but mental health. By her experience, her coursework was so different from the US that she would have to basically go through the whole thing once more either way.

Interestingly, her coursework was accepted without problem almost everywhere. Less interestingly, the whole enterprise costs a whole lot of money.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 4, 2016

Moved to the International Nursing forum.

There are a few provinces in Canada that accept RMN. If you do a Google search for psychiatric nursing in Canada, it will bring up the website that lists the provinces. All are on the west side.

Even adult nursing misses out on most of the meeting requirements for the US and for Canada as their training is general rather than specialized.

dishes, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2016

Look at BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba's provincial college of registered psychiatric nurses for information on applying as an internationally educated psychiatric nurse. Your first step is to have your education evaluated by the national nursing assessment service (NNAS).

RNShirada · Jul 1, 2017

I realize that this thread is old, but Katie, MI, I am interested in the route you mentioned your U.K. mental health nurse friend took to become a mental health nurse in the states. Surprisingly, despite my qualification as a U.K. psychiatric nurse, the California BON gave me the authorization to take the NCLEX a few years ago without having to make up any hours/classes. However, when I seriously looked into it, I, along with the senior nurses running a foreign nurse NCLEX review course, came to the conclusion that it was actually impossible for me to pass the exam without having to start nursing training here from scratch because my U.K. qualification did in no way educate me for the material on the NCLEX since mental health was my specialty.

RNShirada · Feb 24, 2018

Hi, baby white. It was a few years ago, but I just gathered all the information the Ca BON required for international nurses to register here and sent it to them. I have to say, it was a nightmare dealing with the board because they lost my application TWICE, took my money, and NEVER answered their phone, so I had to waste so much time and money redoing everything. Somehow I was approved. My UK qualification was from 1999 if that makes a difference. However, it was all a big waste of time. As I was getting close to the deadline of the time given to me to pass the NCLEX, I followed the instructions of this very helpful woman from the board who I had found who actually responded to emails, who told me to submit an extension so that my information would be kept on file, but once again, they cashed my check but NEVER got back to me ever again, so my application was destroyed. This whole process took years and has been the biggest disappointment in my life because I fought so hard to make it happen despite all the frustrations along the way. I hope your husband has a better experience than me, and I wish you both well.

babywhite · Feb 24, 2018

RNShirada said:

Hi, baby white. It was a few years ago, but I just gathered all the information the Ca BON required for international nurses to register here and sent it to them. I have to say, it was a nightmare dealing with the board because they lost my application TWICE, took my money, and NEVER answered their phone, so I had to waste so much time and money redoing everything. Somehow I was approved. My UK qualification was from 1999 if that makes a difference. However, it was all a big waste of time. As I was getting close to the deadline of the time given to me to pass the NCLEX, I followed the instructions of this very helpful woman from the board who I had found who actually responded to emails, who told me to submit an extension so that my information would be kept on file, but once again, they cashed my check but NEVER got back to me ever again, so my application was destroyed. This whole process took years and has been the biggest disappointment in my life because I fought so hard to make it happen despite all the frustrations along the way. I hope your husband has a better experience than me, and I wish you both well.

Wow, Shirada, I'm really shocked; I thought your experience was good, as you stated they actually ended up registering you. Thank you so much for your response. Are you able to tell me how you did it in the end? I am here feeling so guilty as our relocation here for a better life was all my idea, and I'm working in my full capacity as a Nurse, and he is not. I would really appreciate any guidance you can give; thank you.

RNShirada · Feb 24, 2018

I gave up after years of the runaround. Well, yes, my application was eventually accepted ON CONDITION I take and pass the NCLEX within a certain time frame, so initially, I thought that was great because I had read stories that many folks had to fulfill other impossible criteria before getting the green light to even take the exam. However, after extensive research, calling and meeting with several nursing faculty at local colleges and universities, and even signing up for intensive NCLEX review classes specifically for foreign nurses, it became abundantly clear that I was in a catch-22 situation. A review was useless because I did not have the three years' worth of education of US nurses to benefit from a review (I would have to start from scratch). In short, I had permission to take the NCLEX but no avenue to succeed in passing it without retraining. I even began to start the process of taking some classes at the community college. Still, it was a case of my having to take years off the prerequisites of the prerequisites BEFORE I would even have been eligible to even begin nursing school, which is super competitive to get into (you need A's in every class) with maybe only 40 places. I was older and never even wanted to be a general nurse, so my motivation and interest weren't there.

RNShirada · Feb 24, 2018

I did do very well in the basic classes I took (top of the class), but these were not even the prerequisite classes for nursing school, but I took up one semester! Something I found out later that might be worth looking into for your husband is becoming a Psychiatric Technician (make sure to go to the BON website for accredited schools). The training is 12-18 months, and if there were any programs close to me (the closest colleges to me that offer it are 2 hours away í ½í¸”), I would have done that, despite it being inferior to mental health nurse. Maybe your husband would even be qualified enough to be able to just take their licensing exam. I was severely depressed and burned out by the time I looked into it. Lmk how it goes!

babywhite · Feb 24, 2018

Thank you, Shirada, for your response.