pollymurro

Hello I am a mental health nurse hoping to work in the USA. I know that i need hours in theory and practice hours in all med, surg, children, psyc, and midwifery. However, I'm not sure how many hours are required in theory and practice for each field before i am permitted to sit the NCLEX. Appartently I also need hours in microbiology and A + P, once again though not sure how many hours. If anyone could help, I would be really grateful. Or if anyone is a mental health registered nurse trained in the UK and has moved and undertaken the NCLEX, it would be good to hear from you to see how you found the process. Many thanks

Hello, yes I agree with all the above comments. If your intention is to return to the USA one day, I would advise that you undertake your nurse education in the USA. The reason for this is that as discribed above, the USA is very strict on the amount of hours you have to have completed in each area of nursing. Moreover, there is no certainty that your nurse education programme in the UK would cover the required hours in all feilds gievn the fact that we undertake a specialist training here. Further, if you did have the required hours, you would still have to sit the NCLEX exam before you could practice as a nurse in the USA. I'm in the position of trying to revise for this now having completed my nurse education here in the UK. However, I'm finding this very challenging as the exam is very difficult if you did not do a generic training (I followed the mental health nursing pathway). If you did your nurse education in the USA the whole of the focus of the BSN would ultimately be on passing the NCLEX. I would look into how easy it would be to transfer your RN licience (once you hvae it) into the NMC (UK nurses regulatory body) to practice here as an RN if you really want to live here - it may be easier that way.... Hope this helps

Hi Sounds like a difficult time for you. My colleauge and I have an article on Stress and Burnout that is due to be published in the next issue (Thursday) of 'The British Journal of Nursing'. The article is specifically looking at stress and burnout in forensic mental health nursing; however, alot of the reccomendations we have put foward I am sure would be useful for all nurses - it might be worth a quick look. The referance for the article is: Dickinson, T., & Wright, K. M. (2008) Stress and burnout in forensic mental health nursing: a literature review. The British Journal of Nursing 17 (2) pp. 82-87 Hope this helps TD

Hi I am a RN (Mental Health) trained in the UK. I have a BSc (Hons) and MSN. I am hoping to eventually move over to the USA. However, I am having problems with USA not recognizing my nursing qualifications as I was educated in solely mental health nursing - not a generic route. I was wondering if there were any nurses out there who were in the same position or were and have been able to sit the NCLEX with just being a mental health nurse? Would be really grateful of any help/advice - here is hoping. TD