UK to US nursing

World International

Published

I have kind of a weird situation... I have dual citizenship in the US and UK. I'm finding it super hard to get into nursing school in the US. Has anyone transferred their BNS from the UK to the US? I know nursing over there is not generalised. So you choose adult, child or mental health nursing? How would that affect my NCLEX and transferring the degree.. because US nurses study all stages of life.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

You will have issues as you will be short both clinical and theory hours in one or more subjects and finding somewhere in the US to make up hours will be difficult

Up Vote Up Vote ×

How would that even work when I returned to the US to make up those hours? That's what I was thinking but I know you can do it, it's just not easy.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

There are a bunch of existing threads here about UK nurses getting (or failing to get) licensed in the US. Lots of info there. Have you had a look?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Yes but it is complicated because most of them are UK citizens trying to get residency and trying to transfer their license. Where I have citizenship in both locations. Maybe it would be best talking to the state board of nursing where I live and asking if they are familiar with the topic?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yes but it is complicated because most of them are UK citizens trying to get residency and trying to transfer their license. Where I have citizenship in both locations. Maybe it would be best talking to the state board of nursing where I live and asking if they are familiar with the topic?

They are likely to tell you that they can't tell you anything until you have a nursing degree transcript that can be evaluated for its equivalency to US nursing education, but it can't hurt to ask. And citizenship has nothing to do with licensure. Regardless of your US citizenship, if you study nursing in the UK (or anywhere else outside the US), you will be an "internationally educated nurse" when you return to the US, seeking initial licensure, and you will remain an IEN for the rest of your career. There's nothing you can do once you're back here that will change that. There will be extra paperwork and hoops to jump through for initial licensure, and any time you apply for licensure in a new US state in the future. There are known difficulties with UK-educated nurses getting US licensure, because, as you already noted, the UK uses an entirely different model of nursing education and licensure, and there are v. few places in the US that you can complete the additional required education. US nursing programs are limited by the BON as to how many students they can enroll, and most of them stay fully enrolled with students who are completing the entire nursing program. They rarely have extra "slots" to allow someone to enroll to take just one or two nursing classes. It's either the whole program, or nothing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Yes but it is complicated because most of them are UK citizens trying to get residency and trying to transfer their license. Where I have citizenship in both locations. Maybe it would be best talking to the state board of nursing where I live and asking if they are familiar with the topic?

As mentioned having citizenship makes no difference when it comes to getting registration. When trained from outside the country you plan on living and working in there are always extra hoops to jump over. Because of the way UK training is done means that hours are usually required to be made up in either Paeds or Obstetrics. Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more people having difficulty in finding nursing schools that will take guest students and the ones that do tend to cost $$ for the privilege. The BON will probably not be able to say much as they will need to see your transcripts but as mentioned no harm in trying.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment