RPN and Travel Nursing/Nurse Practioner

suzanne4, RN · Jul 27, 2005

From what I understand, the title is not used in all of Canada?

I do not know of anyone that has been able to use that for immigration to the US, as the US requires a generalist degree, and not the specialist. You would need to meet the hours for licensure as a full RN with the complete medical training to meet the requirements.

One is that you hold the title and training of a professional registered nurse in your country. I know that this is not what you wish to hear, but almost every nurse coming over from the UK has to make up these other hours and they are RNs in their country.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 27, 2005

You may be able to get into a direct entry program here for MSN/NP, but only that type of program. You will need to take all of the general type nursing scourses that you have not already taken with your specialist training.

This type of direct entry will accept a degree that is not a BSN, the requirement is that you have at least a Bachelor's degree. Not sure if this is any help.

margarita · Jul 27, 2005

1. Can Canadian Registered Psychiatric Nurses (with a BSc. in Psych Nursing, not a BN) enjoy the same kind of "travel nursing" (and, by extension, the immigration opportunities therewith) opportunities in the United States that Canadian Registered Nurses do?
2. Can RPNs become Nurse Practioners if they want to? Would they qualify for most MN programs, like most RNs would?
In essence, apart from the obvious difference in specialization (psychiatric field versus medical field) what is the different between a RN and a RPN?

I am an RPN and a few years ago I looked into trying to get work in HAwaii. I have 20 years experience and thought that if I couldn't be hired as an RPN then perhaps I could be hired as a therapist or whatever. When talking to the recruiters the problem was that I had to have a registering body in the US. I was hoping the nursing shortage especially on the islands would work to my advantage, but alas, it did not. I was told that I would have to have registration with one of the other states and that CAlifornia was the easiest.(?) With your additional schooling you may have more luck, but that was my experience. Good luck!

suzanne4, RN · Jul 27, 2005

It is no longer just registration, it is also meeting the requirements for a Visa Screen Certificate. CGFNS is quite strict on what they will accept and what they will not. They require you to have full training in all areas and not sepcialist training, and that is per US regulations for licensure.

The requirment is clincical as well as theory hours in an approved school of nursing. You cannot do volunteer work on a specific unit and have that count.

I deal with foreign nurses and preparing them for work in the US on a daily basis.