Can US RN with Associate's degree work in Australia

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I am a Registered Nurse with 2 years experience as an RN with 2 previous years experience as an LPN here in the US. My RN experience is in Maternal Nursing - Postpartum. I would like to work in the same area in Australia. My husband is Australian and we are looking into what it would take for me to move there and work as a nurse. I have seen that RN's need a Bachelor degree there. Is there a bridge program that I would have to take? How long do you think all this would take for me to actually be able to work there. Our son was born there in Brisbane and I noticed that all the staff working on the Maternity ward were Midwives. Would I have to go back to school to become a midwife in order to do Maternity nursing there in Australia. Thanks for all the help in advance.

Thanks for your reply- I got over 800 hours of clinical experience, but criterion 6 and 8 were insufficient ( drug administration, pharmacology, etc and "evidence that the curriculum of the program of study focused on the various aspects of nursing practice"). I sent everything possible from my Community College where I studied nursing, but its not enough.

You have a BS of Nursing from the States? I could go back and continue my education in the States but they dont teach any more pharmacology in the RN-BSN programs, its mostly public health, so I would still lack the criterion 8. I think it would be best to duke out Uni here, a Masters, and then just be done with it, plus it would be quicker to do it here than get the BSN in the States at this rate....

Did you have to do a bridging course? What is your specific education?

Hi katikati,

I think I am hearing your explication of the situation, and their response, correctly. With that information in mind, I will ask you this question.

Did your coursework cover pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, dose calculation and med administration?

If your answer to this is "yes", there was no deficit in your pharmacology course. Most likely, it was a deficit in the evidence your school provided. These are typically not documents the school would be familiar with sharing. They would need to draft something up specific to your needs. That's l the exact hurdle I had while applying.

As far as their public health requirements... this is something I would like to learn more about. I can speak with my contact at AHPRA if your interested.

To answer the questions you asked about my experiences with this...

No. I was not required to take a bridging program.

I happen to have a BSN but, this is not a requirement for AHPRA approval.

There were certainly problematic areas of my application. I identified a couple and ironed then out before applying. There was at least one issue for me after applying. It was impossible for me to get acceptable documentation of my secondary schooling. I was able to write up a 'statutory declaration' instead.

Understanding the AHPRA registration process is extremely confusing and tedious. If someone is qualified in America, they are certainly qualified here. The real problem is proving it.

The #1 reason for Americans being denied or required to take a bridging program is insufficient evidence. I heard that directly from a case manager at AHPRA.

Just out of curiosity, did they contact you at any point before the final assessment about the potential issue?

So sorry to hear about all this. It can be such a nightmare handling this.

Thanks for your help, I did have my dean compose the documents specifically for me. In the end the ADN degree is less education than the BSN, the US based bridge programs from RN to BSN have several more units that are dedicated to upper division nursing, which perhaps is parallel to the BSN education in Australia.

AHPRA is a nightmare, they were good with letting me know that I needed to provide more documents, but the description of what they needed was so broad, its really a rubrics cube.

There is a pdf from AHPRA explaining Criterion 4, and pretty much you need a BSN: "A qualification at AQF level 5 or lower does not meet the minimum requirements of qualificationassessment criterion 4 for a registered nurse or a midwife."

"Registered nurse and midwife - AQF level 6 and above, AQF 5 with subsequent qualificationsAll other applications undergo a comprehensive review process, including: ï‚· recommendation on whether an applicant's qualifications are substantially equivalent to anAustralian Bachelor degree."

Ya know, 'cus in the US, I couldnt pull off a BSN with my BS in Public Health and ADN. Which I understand, so its the same here in Australia. I do believe AHPRAs wording is false advertisement though as an Assosciates Degree would be AQF 6 equivalent, but that is not the case.

I appealed my rejection, and sent them 2,000 pages. What was in those pages? All of my lectures. I would do the same- send all the pdfs, every project you had in school. My case was turned around and as of yesterday I am now an OZ RN, with an Assosciates Degree in Nursing!!!

It all took 400 days, my case.

It can be done, but it was not easy by any means.

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