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I'm surprised how easy it is to complete an MSN with perfect grades at Capella. Have you felt that your MSN actually prepares you to work in whatever setting you chose?

I was traumatized last year by the abusive behavior of nurses and nursing assistants. The memories of this trauma keep haunting me to this day, and it is affecting my confidence in my new job. I'm a hardworking nurse. I go to work expecting to work, not to sit down, gossip, and color pictures like they did. I concluded it was out jealousy that they started to make my life a living hell: I was constantly assigned the heaviest patients (which I enjoy to a certain extent), and I was refused any help and teamwork when I was drowning in work. Instead of listening to me, my manager reprimanded me for staying over to finish charting so frequently. I still tried to be open and honest with her about what I'm experiencing on the unit. I had some hateful comments targeted directly at me, and I knew I wasn't accepted by some nurses and nursing assistants on the unit. When they started making up lies about my behavior and actions, I got very anxious and depressed. They told my manager I had not responded to a two different cases of patient deterioration (the first time video footage confirmed I was telling the truth), they claimed I had been abusive towards a patient (patient was delirious, and I was being extra attentive to him), and that I had delegated outside of someone's scope of practice (I had only prioritized my own tasks, and requested the nursing assistant help the patient clean up in the meanwhile). I get very frustrated when I know I've done the right thing and given my best, but no one believes me, or sees my integrity. Because of the frequency of these lies my manager and director started to believe that there was something wrong with me, and recommended that I transfer to a different department because they thought I could not handle the workload. They did not want to address the real issues. They did not trust me, and I felt powerless. It is kind of difficult to describe the severity of all of this. However, I ended up attempting suicide multiple times before I realized all I need to do is resign. I have a history of PTSD, and up until then I was blaming myself for what had happened. I was also contracted to the hospital, and I was worried about the consequences of breaching that contract. When no one was standing on my side, I decided to quit and go back home because I felt that after attempting suicide I had nothing more to lose. My suicidal ideation and anxiety subsided soon after I resigned from that hell hole. I'm still bitter that no one believed me, or that in the end no one from the company apologized to me. No one cared when I was in the hospital, or when I resigned. It's an odd feeling to have; it's like I went through all of this abuse and trauma, but really I didn't exist for them anymore. They must've felt accomplished to get rid of me, as sad as it sounds.

Thanks! I didn't have any issues with those hours. From what I know, in the UK you specialize early on but in Finland we have general degrees, so this difference plays a role.

Hi nickyjoy, I'm a Finnish RN with a Finnish BSN and my degree is more than equivalent to a US degree. I think HBO refers to a university of applied sciences (UAS), and this is the same in Finland with regards to nursing degrees. To get a license in the US, you need a general degree including all specialties and enough hours in each specialty. I was told the minimum requirement is 40 h of theory and 80 h of clinical internship but as you know the EU standards exceed these. The application package for California board of nursing includes a page for Breakdown of Educational Program for International Nursing Programs, and this is where your school should write down your completed hours. The board will also need your degree diploma and transcripts as well as verification of your international nursing license. Let me know if you have any more questions!

I'm a Finnish RN with a Finnish BSN and I applied with the Colorado BON. I don't think I needed the work experience for licensure but I'm with a recruitment company that wanted me to have at least 1 year of experience at the beginning of my process. In my case it took a couple of months to get the CES report from CGFNS, and another a month to receive authorization to test from the BON. I decided to sit for the NCLEX a month after ATT and I got my license the next day (Colorado is efficient!). I think the Finnish BSN is comprehensive and very much equivalent if not more competitive than American BSNs, and I didn't have any issues with credentials evaluation. I don't think you need to be worried. Let me know if you have any more questions! I'm traveling to the US in a couple of weeks.

Hey Scalzu87, What kind of problems is your school having with the forms? The breakdown of hours? I'm from Europe as well and I had some issues with counting the hours in my degree. I basically did the hard work and sent the form to my school for approval, to make it official. Unfortunately, you can't really avoid the breakdown. With the CA BRN you don't need to involve the CGFNS. They write: "Although, if you have been evaluated by CGFNS, the Board will accept official copies of your nursing transcripts (including the clinical portion of your training) from this organization." You can just fill out the breakdown in their application (https://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/applicants/exam-app.pdf, see page 17).

I was told that you should have a minimum of 40 h in theoretical instruction and 80 h in clinical practice in each specialty. You can't mix the two to make sure you have enough hours. You should have your BSN evaluated as such. I had my degree diploma and transcript translated as well as secondary school documents.

I actually didn't have a very detailed transcript but that was fine. My degree included integrated courses and the transcript lists them this way instead of "Biology 101", for example. The point where I can relate to your case is the fact that I basically had to figure out the hours myself (for the table on the CGFNS form). It was simple enough to count the clinical hours in each nursing area but trying to categorize these integrated courses wasn't as easy. I did my best with syllabi and schedules that I still had, and eventually I just had my school approve the estimation as official. I'm sure they still want to see the transcript but I wonder if it would be ok to gather course by course information without the grades - if those are lost forever. Do you have a personal copy of your school documents from the time of graduation? Is there a classmate that has their transcript? You said you're in contact with a BON, have they replied to you?

I looked up the equivalent score for the IELTS, which is what I took, and I don't think 83 (6.5 in the IELTS) is too difficult. I didn't really prepare for the exam, and in TOEFL terms, I got a score in the 110s. I've studied and used English for 20 years since I was 8 years old. I think if you feel confident, you should just familiarize yourself with the exam format and what's required to reach a certain score. I watched some YouTube videos to figure out what kind of speaking performance correlates with a specific band score. Also, at least the IELTS is very fast-paced and the answers aren't as obvious as in tests I took in school. Be prepared to stay alert and write with smoke coming out of your pencil, haha!

I realize this is late for Dave and his wife but maybe you can benefit from this schwester23. Credentials evaluation depends on the state of your choice but my experience with Colorado board of nursing was that I had submit my official documents to the CGFNS for a CES report. The CGFNS requires a nursing school diploma, transcripts (course-by-course grades regardless of compatibility with the US) as well as a transcript verification form that is filled out, signed, stamped and sent in a sealed envelope directly from one's nursing school. On this form there's a table for breakdown of hours, which is important (please, see it here: http://www.cgfns.org/wp-content/uploads/AcademicRecordsFormNurses.pdf). In each nursing subject area there needs to be at least 40 hours in theoretical instruction and 80 hours in clinical practice. The science courses are of interest as well but you don't need to care about the right column that much (I didn't put down any hours there). Besides nursing school documents they request a license verification form which is pretty straightforward (you need to ask for German licensing authority to fill it out, sign, stamp and send in a sealed envelop directly to the CGFNS), and secondary school documents. In my case, I sent them my gymnasium and Abitur records but later on the requirement was waived. I hope this helps.

People have very different experiences with the CGFNS but I think they mention up to 10 weeks on their website. Personally, I received the report in 6 weeks after "ready for review" status. I think your report can be issued any day now.

If a CGFNS representative doesn't know license verification through Nursys is acceptable, there's a certain person you need to ask for. It's just that writing a name here will get censored due to protection of privacy. I'd advise you to ask to speak with a supervisor and explain the situation if explaining it to a frontline representative doesn't help.

Is there anything I can help you with as a European RN? I'll ask my German colleague later if she's willing to go over these things with you.

I thought any document that is created, signed and stamped by your nursing school is an original document. It just sounds absurd for them to deny a translation based on that argument.

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