UK Staff nurse to US RN - is it possible?

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Specializes in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Medical High Dependency.

Hello everyone

I am a staff nurse with 8 years experience in trauma and orthopaedics who has a BSc in Adult Nursing. I’m revisiting the option of immigrating to the USA - we would be settling in Pennsylvania - my other half already has a job lined up for there. It’s all pretty negative so far all the info I’m finding on transition for UK nurse to USA RN as our degree doesn’t appear to transfer due to not enough/no hours experience in OBGYN/Paeds ect. 

 

Is there anyway to make up these hours? Does anyone from the UK have experience in this? I see they also have LVP/LVN in the US and it appears almost equivalent to Staff Nurses here in the UK - would it be worth while even looking into one of those jobs instead of an RN?

 

I’m finding this all quite stressful it just seems almost impossible and when the move is depending on your situation it’s definitely a lot of pressure!

 

Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in Med/surg.

Hi. In a similar situation. I do know of UK trained RNs that have successfully obtained their license in the US through the state of NY having completed Adult nursing which is the general track. I am in the process of applying through CGFNS and have already paid for the CES report to be sent to the Pennsylvania BON but am trying to change to the NY CVS service. I think NY may be slightly easier to obtain a license but there is still the process to convert to another state if not actually residing in NY. I am researching as I go along.

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Specializes in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Medical High Dependency.
On 9/29/2022 at 2:34 AM, Thrive2021 said:

Hi. In a similar situation. I do know of UK trained RNs that have successfully obtained their license in the US through the state of NY having completed Adult nursing which is the general track. I am in the process of applying through CGFNS and have already paid for the CES report to be sent to the Pennsylvania BON but am trying to change to the NY CVS service. I think NY may be slightly easier to obtain a license but there is still the process to convert to another state if not actually residing in NY. I am researching as I go along.

Hi there

I also know of nurses who have successfully gained licences in New York but haven’t actually practiced there. One nurse in particular went to New Jersey. I’ve also applied to CGFNS for CES report for Pennsylvania but all very slow.

It’s funny you mention potentially applying to NY as I also thought of this but wondered if license by endorsement would still work as think PA would still need a CES report as we are foreign trained?

If you get anywhere with it can you let me know? I’ll keep you posted on my CGFNS journey too - once everything submitted I’m going to pay for expedited version just so I know what I’m doing and not wasting my time!

 

Lauren

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Specializes in Acute medicine.

Hello, I am also about to start my CGFNS Process but got discouraged due to the hours requirements.

Have you guys gotten your report yet and if yes, did you meet the minimum requirement please? 
I am really hoping for the best.

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Specializes in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Medical High Dependency.
3 hours ago, Esther140 said:

Hello, I am also about to start my CGFNS Process but got discouraged due to the hours requirements.

Have you guys gotten your report yet and if yes, did you meet the minimum requirement please? 
I am really hoping for the best.

Hi Esther 

I haven’t yet. CGFNS apparently still don’t have my transcripts yet despite being sent twice. Will post on here the result once I do though.

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Specializes in Acute medicine.

Alright. Thanks

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Specializes in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Medical High Dependency.
Just now, Esther140 said:

Alright. Thanks

Are you UK trained? If you are, I know of a quite a few nurses who have been successful in gaining a licence in NY. They seem to use a different criteria when it comes to evaluating the nursing degree. Just in case you aren’t limited in location it’s handy to know  

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Specializes in Acute medicine.

Yes, I’m UK trained.

I will try to apply through NY and transfer when I’ve moved over there hopefully. My preferred final location is Texas.

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Specializes in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Medical High Dependency.
4 minutes ago, Esther140 said:

Yes, I’m UK trained.

I will try to apply through NY and transfer when I’ve moved over there hopefully. My preferred final location is Texas.

Good luck! Texas is a compact state so this should work. I’m sure there’s something on a previous post who has done that - apply to NY then apply by endorsement to Texas 

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Specializes in Acute medicine.

Thank you

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So I thought I would add my journey to give hope to those who are going through or are about to go through this process. I am a UK trained Adult nurse, but my credentials were accepted by the NCBON. Im am now going through the background check.

At the end of the day it comes down to how your transcript is compiled by your university and presented to the evaluation service as well as what placements you did. The BON will dictacte if there is a hours requirement for each speciality, for the NCBON when I spoke to them prior to getting evaluated they stated there was no minimum only that hours were present in each speciality. However every BON is different so email and probe get as much details as possible.

This is the most important step. When it comes to getting your transcript evaluated every hour counts. I spent 2 days back and forth emailing the university nursing cohort admin assistant about how to fill in the hours on the form stipulate that if you did placements in any of the specialities even for a day/ half a day you want those hours included. If your placement covered those speciality patients you want hours included.  If you had lectures and those specialities were partially covered you want the hours, that sort of detail will make the difference. Your university needs to do a bit digging to find all this but its worth it. The biggest challenges will be OBS/GYN and PEDs but depending on your uni you covered more than you think

At the end of the day the uni isn't gonna lie for you so just work on getting as much as you can then apply to the BON and go from there. 

 

For credential evaluators we did not use the CGFNS reviews are bad and they take a LONGGGG time. NCBON offers another evaluator who was cheaper and only took 5 days to evaluate. However again I was detailed in asking what is allowed to be included by the university to help direct the evaluation. 

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Specializes in Acute medicine.

That’s great! That’s such a relief. As a UK Trained nurse, I’m trying to not be discouraged by what I see and just go ahead with the evaluation. What credentials evaluation board did you use and how long did it take?

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