US NP Seeking Licensure in UK

[jglase570]

Hello All,

Looking for insight into my current situation.

I am a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner in the U.S. with a Master of Science in Nursing, and a little > 1 yr of experience working in Cardiology (as an NP). Prior to this, I worked as a Critical Care nurse (RN, BSN) for 3 years. As of four months ago, I relocated to Lakenheath RAFB with my husband to the U.K., (husband is active duty Air Force).

Unfortunately, there are no open positions on base for Nurse Practitioners. Thus, I have researched and somewhat understand the process of transferring my US nursing license to the UK after reviewing the NMC site: Trained outside the EU/EEA, yet, have a few remaining questions. Are there particular recommended study prep courses for the U.K. nursing boards or Nurse Practitioner boards? If so, which ones (I used Kaplan prep in the U.S. for my BSN, and the Fitzgerald Review/Leik Book/APEA questions for my Family Nurse Practitioner boards)?

Additionally, once I have attained my RN licensure with NMC, I am seeking clarification on how to proceed with transferring my U.S. NP licensure to the U.K.. What are some of the things I would have to do there to get certified to work there as a Nurse Practitioner? Would I need to go back to school at all? Or resit my boards?

Please, any and all insight is appreciated! TIA :)

-Jessica

[skylark, BSN, RN]

American hospitals seem to cope only because the overseas nurses who work in them have such a different attitude and work ethic to their homegrown nurses.  Their own nurses are the personification of the "too posh to wash" school of thought, and they leave all the actual nursing care to the overseas nurses.

As one of the overseas nurses, I regularly see American nurses delegate as much as they can, and avoid patient contact at all costs!

[CeciF, MSN, APRN]

canadian.j said:

I ended up getting an Advanced Nurse Practitioner role in Oncology as an internationally trained/educated NP here in London and can help if have any questions. 

@canadian.j I have a huge question: How did you get an NP position in the UK off the bat? I was told a US NP would have to start as an RN again.

[canadian.j, MSN, RN, NP]

CeciF said:

@canadian.j I have a huge question: How did you get an NP position in the UK off the bat? I was told a US NP would have to start as an RN again.

@CeciF Hey ya! Unfortunately I didn't, I had to start as a Band 5 and work my way back up over 2 years. I only had to be bedside/ward nurse for approx 6 months then moved into a more senior clinical leadership position where I could at least use my advanced assessment skills. From there, I then progressed to a full fledge NP role. Mind you, I also had to retake my prescribing as the UK doesn't accept an international qualification, so that was done within those 2 years as well. A real headache! 

** just adding to this!! My educational qualifications were 1:1, I used UKNIC to have my qualifications assessed so I was covered from a qualification standpoint as my MScN was comparable. 

[CeciF, MSN, APRN]

Thank you, @canadian.j!