UK registered mental health Nurse wanting to work in the US, is it possible?

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My husband is a BSC Registered mental health Nurse in the UK and wants to practice in the US, we already live in the US as green card holders. He registered with California board of Nursing but they refused to register him saying he does not have General Nursing hours, can someone tell me if they have personal experience of this and is it possible he can be registered some other State or what does he have to do, thank you.

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The entire US educates and licenses RNs as generalists. There is nothing in the US that corresponds to the UK registered psychiatric nurse; there are plenty of psychiatric nurses in the US, but we were educated and tested in all areas of nursing to get licensed. Every US state will require that your husband have didactic (classroom) and supervised clinical hours in adult medical-surgical, psychiatric, pediatric, and obstetrical nursing on his school transcript(s). Work experience that wasn't part of his formal education wouldn't count.

Different countries use different models of nursing education and practice, and nursing credentials don't necessarily "translate" easily from one country to another. Your husband may be able to find a nursing school in CA that will allow him to take the specific nursing courses he needs in order to meet US licensure requirements; that's not a common thing (most nursing programs are full of students doing the entire nursing program, and most schools don't offer the opportunity to take individual, specific classes) but it couldn't hurt to ask around.

Best wishes!

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Thank you very much for the info, I have read a few posts though it's a few years old of UK mental health Nurses been registered by a few US Nursing boards to take the Nckex, it's rather disheartening really as in the first year of our Course we do all the different forms of Nursing and then branch out to our specialties. I am praying that this happens for us or that he only has to make up a few hours

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Specializes in ER.

Briefly, your husband has only trained in one of four branches, the other three are adult med/surg, pediatrics, and obstetrics/maternal health.

If you were in the UK you would need to go back to school and complete the other three branches, which would take between 3-5 years. Your guess of a "few hours" is seriously short of the mark!

He is not going to be regarded as an RN anywhere in the US, or anywhere outside the UK for that matter.

He would likely have to complete a full RN training from scratch in California.

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Skylark your post makes a very interesting read, I'm not sure you know much about Nursing in the Uk but I'm not here to argue but to get opinions and people's experiences which I will respect. When all of this is done in whatever way and I know it's going to be a positive outcome I will surely share the experience.

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ul 1, '17 by RNShirada

I realize that this thread is old, but Katie MI, I am interested in the route you mention your UK mental health nurse friend took to become a mental health nurse in the states. Surprisingly, despite my qualification as a U.K. psychiatric nurse, the California BoN gave me authorization to take the Nclex a few years ago without having to makeup any hours/classes. However, when I seriously looked into it, I, along with the senior nurses running a foreign nurse Nclex review course, came to the conclusion that it was actually impossible for me to pass the exam, without having to start nursing training here from scratch, because my uk qualification did in no way educate me for the material on the Nclex, since mental health was my specialty.

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Specializes in ER.
Skylark your post makes a very interesting read, I'm not sure you know much about Nursing in the Uk but I'm not here to argue but to get opinions and people's experiences which I will respect. When all of this is done in whatever way and I know it's going to be a positive outcome I will surely share the experience.

I worked 25 years in the NHS, (in the UK) before moving to the US.

Contact OGP* to verify the requirements for the training transcript, which you will need to submit prior to applying for the NCLEX.

*That's O Grady Payton btw, the agency that prepares UK nurses for NCLEX. but of course you would know that with your vast superior knowledge!!

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I worked 25 years in the NHS, (in the UK) before moving to the US.

Contact OGP to verify the requirements for the training transcript, which you will need to submit prior to applying for the NCLEX.

Who is OGP please.

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Specializes in ER.

Once again, its O Grady Payton, I believe that they are the only nurse agency that is still attempting to get UK nurses through the NCLEX.

Anyone who trained in the UK after 2000 does not meet the training requirements due to the training following specialty branches instead of a generalist syllabus.

If you submit a training transcript for mental health nursing ONLY, you are wasting your time and money as it won't be accepted for a GENERALIST RN licence.

You will need to complete the 3 branches that you have NOT done, which in this case would be adult med/surg, then pediatrics, and then obstetrics. Each branch will take around 15 months, and you would need to be sponsored by your employer to do it.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Thank you very much for the info, I have read a few posts though it's a few years old of UK mental health Nurses been registered by a few US Nursing boards to take the Nckex, it's rather disheartening really as in the first year of our Course we do all the different forms of Nursing and then branch out to our specialties. I am praying that this happens for us or that he only has to make up a few hours

But in the first year do you get clinical and theory hours in Paeds, Mental Health, Obstetrics and Adult? If not then there is the problem as the US train generally unlike the UK as previously mentioned

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Hi dear silverdragon102 thank you, yes we do clinical and theory hours in all of the above you stated in the first year of the Nursing Course and then you branch out to what you will like to specialize in which in the case of my husband is Mental health. He was hoping to be told how many hours he is lacking in the other areas as majority of his hours where focused in Mental health. He is very much passionate about Mental health and that is what he wishes to continue with but of course he can't be registerd here in the US as an RN until he takes the Nclex exams and which he is trying to do. If there was an exam for RN Mental health of course that is what he would have headed for

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Thank you, his transcripts where not submitted only for Mental health as you yourself know with your personal history of working in the NHS and perhaps trained there too. He did clinical and theory hours and Adults, Paeds, Learning disability, Obstetrics and community Nursing in the first year of his training and then branched out to Mental health. His interest is really in Mental health but the only way he can work as a US RN is to take the Nclex. OGP is an Agency that helps bring UK RN's to the US but we're already here as green card holders and I work as a labour and delivery Nurse under an Agency..... and you know what that means so going with OGP as an Agency Nurse will be a bit difficult for us, but what we're your reasoning behind going with them?

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