Moving from UK to USA

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Nov 21, 2018

Ciara, US nurses are trained as generalists, and so you will need both coursework and concurrent clinical student experience in Mental Health nursing, Obstetrics and Peds to be eligible to be licensed here. California is notoriously difficult- so you will want to investigate their BRN website for details.

Ciara1997 · Nov 22, 2018

Thanks so much for your reply. I knew the training in the US is more advanced and covers a broader range of nursing fields. However I am willing to do whatever it takes to get me to where I want to be :)

Just wondering if you know, do I need to take each Childrens, Maternity and Mental Health as post grad courses, or is it just experience required for these fields?

Hopefully its the latter, as it would take me another 5 years on top of my adult nursing to be able to even look about doing the NCLEX and any other US competency exams!

elkpark · Nov 22, 2018

Thanks so much for your reply. I knew the training in the US is more advanced and covers a broader range of nursing fields. However I am willing to do whatever it takes to get me to where I want to be :)
Just wondering if you know, do I need to take each Childrens, Maternity and Mental Health as post grad courses, or is it just experience required for these fields?
Hopefully its the latter, as it would take me another 5 years on top of my adult nursing to be able to even look about doing the NCLEX and any other US competency exams!

It must be formal didactic (classroom) and supervised clinical (as a student) education. Work experience is not sufficient to meet the requirements.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 22, 2018

Paeds, Obstetrics, Mental Health and Adult must be both clinical and theory and with California have seen that BRN requires clinical and theory to be taken at the same time. The US isn't more advanced just different ways of teaching. The UK prior 2000 did general training, I trained in the UK and have both clinical and theory hours in all relevant areas. After project 2000 the UK decided to make their training more specialised.

Ciara1997 · Nov 22, 2018

Paeds, Obstetrics, Mental Health and Adult must be both clinical and theory and with California have seen that BRN requires clinical and theory to be taken at the same time. The US isn't more advanced just different ways of teaching. The UK prior 2000 did general training, I trained in the UK and have both clinical and theory hours in all relevant areas. After project 2000 the UK decided to make their training more specialised.

Thankyou for your response!

Awh ok, that's sort of a pity then. I think all nurses should have experience in a range of filds of nursing, as it is the general public we deal with.

Did you train then prior to 2000?

Do you know what routes I need to take after this degree in order to obtain all of these requirements? As in, do I need to do each post-grad course (children's, maternity and mental) separately, or is there any course to integrate these?

Thanks again for your help

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Nov 23, 2018

Thankyou for your response!
Awh ok, that's sort of a pity then. I think all nurses should have experience in a range of filds of nursing, as it is the general public we deal with.
Did you train then prior to 2000?
Do you know what routes I need to take after this degree in order to obtain all of these requirements? As in, do I need to do each post-grad course (children's, maternity and mental) separately, or is there any course to integrate these?
Thanks again for your help

Honestly- I thin the most straighforward route for you would be to enroll in a community college ADN program once you're in the states. Because finding all of these courses separately is nigh unto impossible. An ADN would be simpler, cheaper and qualify you for NCLEX faster.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 23, 2018

Thankyou for your response!
Awh ok, that's sort of a pity then. I think all nurses should have experience in a range of filds of nursing, as it is the general public we deal with.
Did you train then prior to 2000?
Do you know what routes I need to take after this degree in order to obtain all of these requirements? As in, do I need to do each post-grad course (children's, maternity and mental) separately, or is there any course to integrate these?
Thanks again for your help

I trained in 1986 and bridged from ENG to RN in 1997. There is apparently King's college doing make up courses but I don't know a lot about it to say it will benefit California. If that doesn't pan out then unless you are seconded to courses there isn't anywhere in the UK to make up the required courses

Hoosier_RN, MSN · Nov 27, 2018

Also, look at the CA nurses forum on here. Areas of CA are very overloaded with nurses, both new and experienced, so you have an idea what to expect when moving here as well

DowntheRiver · Nov 28, 2018

I don't have any experience in this area myself, just hearsay from a co-worker who had this issue in the past, but she said anybody would be better off moving to the US and completing a nursing program here than completing the program there if you want to work in the US.

Also, the person who mentioned the nursing glut in California is spot on. But, here in Florida we need nurses and there are jobs to be had all over the state. In fact, we became a compact state early this year and with the compact license it can afford you the opportunity to work all over the US (but not California and several other states).