Newly qualified (UK) thinking of working in Cali

BRITNURSE35 · Jul 9, 2006

Hi Semtex,

I am from the UK but am living in Germany until Dec and then I move to California.

I am currently in touch with the California Board of Registered Nurses. You do get support and there are some good packages out there but you have to really research them.

Generally depending on what area you work in you can get twice the money as you would in England. If you register with a hospital that is willing to sponser you then you usually have to sign a contract for 2 to 3 years.

Are you RGN or RMN? I am moving to the Lancaster area for a while until my husband and I find a place in Ventura by the coast.

Firstly you need to apply to the California board, they will send you an application package. They will request that you get in touch with the university you trained at and have them send your transcripts to be varified. You will have to take the NCLEX exam whether you have adequate schooling or not (to meet their requirements).

If you do not have adequate schooling you have to take a nursing course that they recognise before you can take the NCLEX. Sounds confusing but it really isn't

I am waiting to hear from the board, so I don't know myself yet.

Good luck and keep in touch. Let me know how things are going and what you decide.

Regards

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2006

Hi,

I am going to move this to the Uk forum where you will get more responses from Uk nurses.

fergus51 · Jul 9, 2006

Newly trained UK nurses generally need to take extra courses to work in the US because the US requires that nurses be trained as generalists, not specialists. That means you will need to have clinical and coursework in adults, peds, psych and maternity to write the NCLEX. I believe some UK nurses have found places to make up these hours. You might want to look through the UK forum.

d4e5f6 · Jul 10, 2006

Hi there!

I am a UK trained nurse. I only qualified just over a year ago, and OGP (nursing agency in the UK which gets you to America) accepted me onto their books a couple of months after I had completed my training. You have to then take the American Nursing Exam (NCLEX)

Hope this helps you, good luck with everything

:)

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2006

Hi there!
I am a UK trained nurse. I only qualified just over a year ago, and OGP (nursing agency in the UK which gets you to America) accepted me onto their books a couple of months after I had completed my training. You have to then take the American Nursing Exam (NCLEX)
Hope this helps you, good luck with everything
Hannah :)

That is really good news which means nurses who want to come over need not worry until they have spoken to a specialist first because OGP wouldn't take you on their books unless you've got the goods. I do however know nurses overhere who have been refused by OGP and have still managed to get here. Every one is a individual.

semtex · Jul 13, 2006

Excellent,

Thanks all for the replies... I'll see if I can find more about the NCLEX on the web.

Cheers,

H

RGN1 · Jul 18, 2006

Newly trained UK nurses generally need to take extra courses to work in the US because the US requires that nurses be trained as generalists, not specialists. That means you will need to have clinical and coursework in adults, peds, psych and maternity to write the NCLEX. I believe some UK nurses have found places to make up these hours. You might want to look through the UK forum.

You will have to get transcripts from your school of nursing before you can take N-CLEX, at that point you will find out if your course has any deficits in hours. Most of the new style UK courses do not have enough hours in paediatrics, maternity or psychiatry. Paediatric & psychiatric nurses don't have enough hours in general nursing & are not able to apply unless they re-train in general nursing.

Some agencies seem to be a bit slow on recognising this so until you have your eligibility to take your N-CLEX from your transcripts you can't take anything for granted. Being accepted on the books is not an indication that you will be okay.

semtex · Jul 18, 2006

You will have to get transcripts from your school of nursing before you can take N-CLEX, at that point you will find out if your course has any deficits in hours. Most of the new style UK courses do not have enough hours in paediatrics, maternity or psychiatry. Paediatric & psychiatric nurses don't have enough hours in general nursing & are not able to apply unless they re-train in general nursing.
Some agencies seem to be a bit slow on recognising this so until you have your eligibility to take your N-CLEX from your transcripts you can't take anything for granted. Being accepted on the books is not an indication that you will be okay.

Any idea of the number of hours actually needed?

d4e5f6 · Jul 18, 2006

My agency wouldnt accepted me on there books until they checked my transcripts, you can alwasy call the transcript people at your school and ask them what they would write as hours (providing you qualified recently, thats what i did).

cariad · Jul 19, 2006

ogp usually ask you at your interview whether you have all 5 areas of nursing included in your training, theory and practical. each state board wants a different amount of each, so theres no knowing who wants what.