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!
Hi sorry to be intrusive but what visa did you get if you're not yet able to work as an RN in the US? I was under the impression I needed to have done the NCLEX before I could even start the process of getting a visa and moving over
Hi, so apparently you can go to a community college in the US and are able to top up just for certain hours that you're missing. I may have the same issue but with adult hours.
Thank you Courty! I will look into it. Is there any particular course?
Harley Beaumont said:
Hi sorry to be intrusive but what visa did you get if you're not yet able to work as an RN in the US? I was under the impression I needed to have done the NCLEX before I could even start the process of getting a visa and moving over
thanks
Hi, sorry I wasn't very clear but I got married to my husband who holds American passport so I filed my green card through him.
Thank you Courty! I will look into it. Is there any particular course?
Hi, sorry I wasn't very clear but I got married to my husband who holds American passport so I filed my green card through him.
So whichever state you applied to I would ask for their guidance on what you need to sit the NCLEX. Some states are more helpful than others. Let me know how you get on though. I'll be doing this in the next few years when I get my visa
Ahhh, thanks for answering anyway! Hopefully already being there will make it a bit easier for you to reach the hours! I'm still in uni, but we no longer do spoke placements and despite my begging they won't let me choose anywhere to help me get the hours for the BON.
not seen many people talking about what floridas requirements are like which is where we're heading so a bit nervous they're gonna be more than I can get
@CourtyJ you could try to register with NY BON. UK trained nurses seem to get through better with them and are allowed to take NCLEX without having to top up any hours. But in your situation with 0 hours, you may want to contact your UNI and ask them to review your degree. Adult nursing is the general track and should have covered a bit of everything. If you get your NY BON ATT and pass NCLEX and live close enough to commute from NJ to NY, you could work as an RN in NY while working on your NJ license. NJ may still require those hours but you could be earning and learning while working on your NJ license. Hope that's makes sense. Just some ideas. It's such a journey! Also some colleges do have programs for USA nurses returning to practice and foreign nurses as well. Give your local community college a call.
I'm a UK trained nurse going through the process at the moment. I'm applying to Pennsylvania. I'd recommend like Esther has suggested, applying to NY as I know many UK trained nurses who have been accepted with no deficiencies.
My issue is my location isn't negotiable, PA isn't a compact state but they are awaiting a change in legislation but no idea when this will be. I'm holding on to a little bit of hope with the help of my Uni I will get there.
If not, I'm hoping my qualifications may match those of an LVN/LPN. It's such a shame in this climate, your experience isn't taken into consideration - I qualified in 2014 and have worked in Trauma and Orthopaedics, I actually start a new job in MHDU in 2 weeks.
Good luck in your training
Hi,
I am in a similar boat with lack of clinical hours. I was wondering whether you had any luck with getting your license at PA?
Specializes in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Medical High Dependency.
Hi everyone
I finally have my CES report. It's been sent to the Penn state board of nursing. What do I do now? Just from a quick glance - I only have 37.5 hours for maternal health and care of children - I somehow imagine that's not enough. Do I need to wait in the BON verdict regarding my report?
I should also state I haven't applied to Penn state BON because obviously I wasn't sure if I would actually be able to be a nurse in that state - do I now have to register since my CES report has been sent to them?
Ahhh, thanks for answering anyway! Hopefully already being there will make it a bit easier for you to reach the hours! I'm still in uni, but we no longer do spoke placements and despite my begging they won't let me choose anywhere to help me get the hours for the BON.
not seen many people talking about what floridas requirements are like which is where we're heading so a bit nervous they're gonna be more than I can get
From what I've seen, getting an A&E placement/GP practice is the gold standard for getting all your hours in one place. Currently in the process of getting spokes in different areas, the tricky part is justifying it without saying explicitly "it's because I want to dart off!”
wondering if you could organise a spoke if it was adjacent to your area, e.g, if you're on a surgery placement, you could ask to go to a children's surgery or a caesarean to get maternity/paeds hours.
another goldmine: neonatal units can in some areas, be worked by adult nurses! That would count for neonatal/maternity/paeds hours. Again, it's just justifying to your spoke provider why you want it - still thinking of excuses, if you have any I can try, let me know!
From what I've seen, getting an A&E placement/GP practice is the gold standard for getting all your hours in one place. Currently in the process of getting spokes in different areas, the tricky part is justifying it without saying explicitly "it's because I want to dart off!”
wondering if you could organise a spoke if it was adjacent to your area, e.g, if you're on a surgery placement, you could ask to go to a children's surgery or a caesarean to get maternity/paeds hours.
another goldmine: neonatal units can in some areas, be worked by adult nurses! That would count for neonatal/maternity/paeds hours. Again, it's just justifying to your spoke provider why you want it - still thinking of excuses, if you have any I can try, let me know!
I've 2 placements left before qualifying so I'm crossing everything that I get an A&E!
I'm currently working as a support worker on the maternity wards alongside my degree but I don't know if this will help at all. Well, the plan when I qualify is to get a job in neonates here as I've heard many adult trained nurses can do so, get that couple years experience under my belt so I can apply in the US.
But everything I've read says it's the educational hours that they look for and not the experience with employment.
I've 2 placements left before qualifying so I'm crossing everything that I get an A&E!
I'm currently working as a support worker on the maternity wards alongside my degree but I don't know if this will help at all. Well, the plan when I qualify is to get a job in neonates here as I've heard many adult trained nurses can do so, get that couple years experience under my belt so I can apply in the US.
But everything I've read says it's the educational hours that they look for and not the experience with employment.
Yeah it's the hours you get on placement. As long as the areas somehow magically aligne (e.g, diabetic adult ward maybe can get a spoke to diabetic children's ward? Since they are related? IDK) I think that's how you can get the hours is being smart with spokes or magically getting A&E. for the board of nursing I'm looking at (Virginia) they want 24 hours in each field. Not a lot but it's getting TO those hours is the issue I'm having. I just wish you could say "I wanna spend two shifts at the children's ward today" but for some reason they won't allow that and it's frustrating ?
Specializes in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Medical High Dependency.
I've just had my CES report generated this week. It says my degree is "comparable to a US standard" and it's been sent to the BON. I've applied to Pennsylvania. I have 37.5 hours in both maternal and care of children and was worried it wasn't enough - I don't know if it is as last time I called the board they told me I'd need to apply to CGFNS and they'd tell me how many hours I needed in each subject? I had a health visiting placement which I think helped massively. It also depends on who you are dealing with at the University, the woman I had was so helpful, she went through all my placements and theory with a fine tooth comb for me. So don't be afraid to ask the person at the school to do a bit of digging for you - every little hour counts - for example I did a day with the community midwife and asked her to look into that and see if it would count. I plan to phone the BON back again and see if I have enough hours as right now I've no idea!
Good luck everyone. I've been doing this for a year now and was so close to giving up so many times, keep at it! There's hope for us UK nurses yet
Harley Beaumont
7 Posts
Hi sorry to be intrusive but what visa did you get if you're not yet able to work as an RN in the US? I was under the impression I needed to have done the NCLEX before I could even start the process of getting a visa and moving over
thanks