US RN moving to London UK

[Smitty555]

Hello all!

I am in the process of transferring my license to work as an RN in the UK. I am looking for any studying advice for the NMC CBT and/or the OSCE. Any one have experience with these exams? Preparation they used? Tips/advice?

Anything is appreciated!!

Thank you ?

Randi

[app22]

On 6/26/2020 at 3:27 PM, alainamarieowens said:

Hi there! Yes I passed the OSCE by myself on my first attempt. I took the test at the Northern Ireland location which I believe was a big factor in my passing as the staff there was incredibly friendly and encouraging during the test, and also they have a higher pass rate than the other testing centers. Are you already scheduled to take the exam somewhere? I would higly recommend the trip to Londonderry if you haven't booked elsewhere, it really was worth it.

I studied using all the online materials they provided me with (which was not much) and the biggest thing was understanding what they would be looking for during the test. The skills that were available to be tested on were not hard at all, and the APIE section is just general nursing practice, but whats tricky is making sure you demonstrate exactly what they are looking for and not miss any critical things (ex: asking for consent, hand washing, completing the provided paperwork within the time frame). I did most of my studying just reviewing the Royal Marsden procedures, and then looking at the frameworks online from the test center. They provided me with a list of the possible skills I would be asked to demonstrate, the critical features of each skill, and all the critical features of the APIE sections. After I could understand what they were looking for in each section I wrote a rough script for each scenario, and then just practiced it within the time limit over and over. I think this was essential because on test day my nerves definitely took over and the clock ticking is very stressful. So having a script in your head of what to say is one of the best ways to get through that. Even though in real life you could probably do any of these easy skills like removing a cather, doing a dressing change, giving medications, etc. without any difficulty, its really important to make sure you have an idea of how you will do all those skills within the time limit of test day and not forget to say any of the most important components of each section.

You will find a lot of resources online that have contradictory information about what to do in each section so my advice is to stick to whats on the blackboard site the test center gives you, use the royal marsden, and then use your own nursing knowledge and experience to come up with an idea of how you will perform all of that on test day. It's not the hardest test in the world, but you definitely wouldnt be able to wing it and pass like you could possibly on the CBT.

Let me know if you have any more specific questions, I am happy to help! I had so much trouble to find information online while I was studying!

Alaina

Thank you Alaina! Yes, I have definitely noticed that I will have to be very meticulous about my studying for the OSCE. No I havent been able to schedule my exam so I will definitely take Northern Ireland into consideration! As I go on into studying further, I will be sure to ask you about any questions if you don't mind:) thank you!!

[app22]

12 minutes ago, yamilet said:

Hi Alaina!

Hope you're enjoying Glasgow:) I know it has been a while for you, but do you remember needing forms filled out by your employer/manager in the US (if you were working as a nurse in hospital)? I'm silly and am torn because I love my job here, I really like my manager and I've signed a 1 year contract (6 months left), but I am afraid of telling them about my plan to leave the country fearing it ruins relationships/disappoints her/them.

Yamilet

I am not Alaina but I can answer your question:) Your manager will not need to know anything and will not need to fill our any paperwork. The NMC will need to verify your character with your state's board of nursing. The only way your employer will need to get involved is whenever you find a UK job and accept it, then your most recent employer will need to fill out a reference for you. I also broke contract in order to move to the UK (I'm not there yet...corona sabotaged my plans), and my employer had no issue with it as long as you give 2 weeks notice then they shouldn't give you any attitude..your personal life/reasons to leave the US is none of their business:) I was very careful of who I told in regards to my coworkers as well since you never know who will say something! Best of luck

[heyred823, BSN, RN]

Hey all,

I just wanted to give an update, especially in case others who find this thread are in the same boat...

An accelerated BSN (mine was a year/3 terms in length) is eligible for application to the register...I submitted my license and qualification info for the first check, the Eligibility and Qualification Evaluation. I got an email today saying I'm eligible and I can now take the CBT, OSCE, then complete my registration application!

Thanks again to everyone contributing on this thread, it's so helpful! Now to study for the CBT and find a job. ?

[Sweetbeth]

Does anyone have an idea how long it takes board of nursing to respond to NMC for license verification? I am in NY so the qualification regulator I wrote on the online application is NY BON.

[heyred823, BSN, RN]

22 minutes ago, Sweetbeth said:

Does anyone have an idea how long it takes board of nursing to respond to NMC for license verification? I am in NY so the qualification regulator I wrote on the online application is NY BON.

If you haven’t already, I’d give your BON a call. I say this because my BON was super kind and helpful and searched everywhere for an email from NMC, but couldn’t find one, so they gave me another email address to put in, then they responded the same day. I think also sometimes BONs want authorization from you and/or a fee for verification to be paid first.

[Sweetbeth]

38 minutes ago, heyred823 said:

If you haven’t already, I’d give your BON a call. I say this because my BON was super kind and helpful and searched everywhere for an email from NMC, but couldn’t find one, so they gave me another email address to put in, then they responded the same day. I think also sometimes BONs want authorization from you and/or a fee for verification to be paid first.

Thank you, I will do just that next week.

[onemoreday, BSN, RN]

On 9/12/2019 at 8:42 PM, KDRN1212 said:

One of my issues was not having a license card from the state I live in (Missouri) as they don’t issue actual cards, but verification reports instead. I’ve explained this to my assessment officer, who I have yet to hear from, which started making me nervous!

I'll be coming from Missouri too! thanks for sharing your info and your timeline.. I already have a visa and work visa through my spouse's job in the UK but on the other hand I'm worried about chasing down US paperwork when I'm already in the UK.

[Ladyify, BSN, RN]

Good morning all,

Can someone help me on how I can get the police clearance certificate. I want to submit my request to FBI electronically but the location they indicated for fingerprints are far away from me. Will getting my finger prints from the police state department nearby instead of the listed location on the NMC website work?

Please I need your guidance......

[invalidcharacters]

On 6/27/2020 at 7:37 AM, Sweetbeth said:

How do you survive on 1800 per month? My take home RN biweekly check in the U.S is 2800, so in a month I earn 5600 after tax. How much would you pay for rent, gas, food, restaurant at least 2-4 times per month, minimal shopping etc.... plus have some money left for saving on 1800 per month?

I created an account just to engage in this conversation. I have multiple questions. My first question is: what is your education, specialty, and title and also where specifically in the US do you work that you bring home $2800 biweekly? I work in Phoenix, AZ, which is considered one of the best places for nurses to earn. I earned my BSN in May 2012 and now have over eight years experience. My first two years were as a floor nurse and then a charge nurse on a progressive care at a level-one trauma center. My last six years have been as charge nurse and now nursing house supervisor at the best paying private psychiatric hospital in my area. Not only do psychiatric nurses generally earn more than most other specialties of nursing, but I am a supervisor with eight years experience and I still only bring home around $2000 biweekly on average. And I used to be proud of that until I read your post! I am single and I only pay for the lowest premium health insurance. I do not contribute to any retirement through my employer. Please tell me you work in California or New York or somewhere else with a much higher cost of living. Or you work an extra shift each week or something. Otherwise, I am being seriously underpaid.

Also what on earth are people talking about $1800 per month? Are you insane? Is no one else completely dumbfounded by this? I cannot fathom how any of your are surviving on that income. Is anyone on this forum actually living on $1800 a month in the UK? I would love to hear about your experience if you are. I have several friends who work in various sectors in various locations across the UK and the consensus is that life is actually more expensive in the UK than in the US. Even the ones who work in business and finance live check-to-check in the UK. Only groceries and rent are generally cheaper in the UK than in the US. For someone like me, who only needs the essentials, that is great. Rent and groceries are pretty much all I purchase now, anyway. But part of the reward of restricting yourself to the essentials is planning for an early retirement. You can forget about that if you are getting paid $1800 per month. You can forget about owning property. Do a quick search for real estate in the UK. It will blow your mind. You can forget about owning or driving a vehicle. Look up automobile and gasoline (petrol) prices in the UK. You can forget about building a life and a future. I am sure we could all figure out how to go back to living on $1800 per month if we had to, but do we want to? I feel the amount I bring home now ($4000 per month) is barely worth the misery of being a nurse. Have you ever noticed how very few, if any, of the people in your life hate their jobs as much as you do? If you are telling me I have to do this miserable job and make $1800 per month I am going to have to pass. The whole reason I am on this forum is that I have been seriously considering moving to the UK. Like most of you, it has always been a dream of mine. Unfortunately, I am a nurse, so it is a dream I will have to put on hold until I am willing to go back to school and build a career in a field which is rewarded at least fairly in the UK. My girlfriend is the clinical registered dietician (RD) for the entire transplant program of the second biggest hospital system here in AZ. She makes $39000 per year salary and works probably 60 hour weeks. She doesn't hate her job, but that is beside the point I am making now. An RD is UK earns £38000- £46000, while RN salary is listed as £22000-30000. How does her salary nearly double and mine is cut in more than half? Essentially every career I searched is paid much lower in the UK than the US, with the exception of dieticians and architects. Nursing is by far the worst though. And pay for NPs is even worse than for RNs.

I am starting my last didactic courses for my psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) and was supposed to start clinicals pretty soon, but the pandemic brought that to a grinding halt. I cannot find a single placement anymore. All of the ones I had scheduled cancelled on me. That is also besides the point as I wanted to ask is anybody on this forum an NP in the UK? The pay for an NP in the UK appears to be either marginally lower, similar, or very marginally higher for an NP than for an RN, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I spent all day reviewing the UK banding system, credentialing, and whatnot and I cannot find any explanation for why a PMHNP makes £30,195 per year. If that is true, that may be the worst paying job in the UK, when compared to the US. Most NPs here in AZ start around $100K. Once they have some experience and make professional connections, they make $110-130K. I Know PMHNPs who work three jobs and make $300K per year. They have an private outpatient clinic job 0800-1400, then they round at a couple substance treatment centers and are home by 1800. If I ever graduate (which seems less and less likely as I have four more semesters of clinicals and no prospects), I will probably make much closer to the $100K or $110K as I work just enough to survive and save for retirement. I value my private time much more than money or entertainment. All that being said, I was excited about becoming an NP because I thought it would mean more opportunity, especially more opportunity as a professional living in the UK. When my sister went to UK and Ireland last year, she inquired about what it would take for her, a hospitalist internal medicine physician, to move there and practice. They were bending over backwards trying to recruit her and basically told her the NHS would not only bribe her to come there, but that her path to citizenship would be short and linear. Hospitalist salary in UK is around £100-130K for a basic NHS job but private facilities (which hire more physicians than nurses in UK) pay up to £240K per year. Locums tenens are said to pay £150-200 per hour. That is much more than she is making working as a nocturnist at a major medical center in Florida. She sees minimum 27 admissions per night, holds the pager, and is responsible for every patient in the hospital for 12 hours. Her base salary is $160K I believe, but she brings home maybe $200-220 depending on RVUs and extra shifts and whatnot. Everything I read today has led me to believe that, in the UK, an NP is just a glorified RN. I am not going to school for three more years and paying $60K just to make £30K and continue working as an RN.

This turned out to be a pretty bad rant, sorry. To try to clarify my point: I want to know if anybody on this forum is actually thriving as a nurse in the UK? I understand many of you say it can be done, but it seems like you are meaning that it can barely be done, so long as your priorities are enjoying the experience of traveling and working in a foreign land. Actually building a life as nurse in the UK seems to be another story. I am interested in raising a family, building wealth, comfortably retiring at a reasonable age. From the perspective I have at this point, those things seems not only unlikely, but nearly impossible.

Any responses will be appreciated, thanks.

[Sweetbeth]

15 minutes ago, invalidcharacters said:

I created an account just to engage in this conversation. I have multiple questions. My first question is: what is your education, specialty, and title and also where specifically in the US do you work that you bring home $2800 biweekly? I work in Phoenix, AZ, which is considered one of the best places for nurses to earn. I earned my BSN in May 2012 and now have over eight years experience. My first two years were as a floor nurse and then a charge nurse on a progressive care at a level-one trauma center. My last six years have been as charge nurse and now nursing house supervisor at the best paying private psychiatric hospital in my area. Not only do psychiatric nurses generally earn more than most other specialties of nursing, but I am a supervisor with eight years experience and I still only bring home around $2000 biweekly on average. And I used to be proud of that until I read your post! I am single and I only pay for the lowest premium health insurance. I do not contribute to any retirement through my employer. Please tell me you work in California or New York or somewhere else with a much higher cost of living. Or you work an extra shift each week or something. Otherwise, I am being seriously underpaid.

Also what on earth are people talking about $1800 per month? Are you insane? Is no one else completely dumbfounded by this? I cannot fathom how any of your are surviving on that income. Is anyone on this forum actually living on $1800 a month in the UK? I would love to hear about your experience if you are. I have several friends who work in various sectors in various locations across the UK and the consensus is that life is actually more expensive in the UK than in the US. Even the ones who work in business and finance live check-to-check in the UK. Only groceries and rent are generally cheaper in the UK than in the US. For someone like me, who only needs the essentials, that is great. Rent and groceries are pretty much all I purchase now, anyway. But part of the reward of restricting yourself to the essentials is planning for an early retirement. You can forget about that if you are getting paid $1800 per month. You can forget about owning property. Do a quick search for real estate in the UK. It will blow your mind. You can forget about owning or driving a vehicle. Look up automobile and gasoline (petrol) prices in the UK. You can forget about building a life and a future. I am sure we could all figure out how to go back to living on $1800 per month if we had to, but do we want to? I feel the amount I bring home now ($4000 per month) is barely worth the misery of being a nurse. Have you ever noticed how very few, if any, of the people in your life hate their jobs as much as you do? If you are telling me I have to do this miserable job and make $1800 per month I am going to have to pass. The whole reason I am on this forum is that I have been seriously considering moving to the UK. Like most of you, it has always been a dream of mine. Unfortunately, I am a nurse, so it is a dream I will have to put on hold until I am willing to go back to school and build a career in a field which is rewarded at least fairly in the UK. My girlfriend is the clinical registered dietician (RD) for the entire transplant program of the second biggest hospital system here in AZ. She makes $39000 per year salary and works probably 60 hour weeks. She doesn't hate her job, but that is beside the point I am making now. An RD is UK earns £38000- £46000, while RN salary is listed as £22000-30000. How does her salary nearly double and mine is cut in more than half? Essentially every career I searched is paid much lower in the UK than the US, with the exception of dieticians and architects. Nursing is by far the worst though. And pay for NPs is even worse than for RNs.

I am starting my last didactic courses for my psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) and was supposed to start clinicals pretty soon, but the pandemic brought that to a grinding halt. I cannot find a single placement anymore. All of the ones I had scheduled cancelled on me. That is also besides the point as I wanted to ask is anybody on this forum an NP in the UK? The pay for an NP in the UK appears to be either marginally lower, similar, or very marginally higher for an NP than for an RN, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I spent all day reviewing the UK banding system, credentialing, and whatnot and I cannot find any explanation for why a PMHNP makes £30,195 per year. If that is true, that may be the worst paying job in the UK, when compared to the US. Most NPs here in AZ start around $100K. Once they have some experience and make professional connections, they make $110-130K. I Know PMHNPs who work three jobs and make $300K per year. They have an private outpatient clinic job 0800-1400, then they round at a couple substance treatment centers and are home by 1800. If I ever graduate (which seems less and less likely as I have four more semesters of clinicals and no prospects), I will probably make much closer to the $100K or $110K as I work just enough to survive and save for retirement. I value my private time much more than money or entertainment. All that being said, I was excited about becoming an NP because I thought it would mean more opportunity, especially more opportunity as a professional living in the UK. When my sister went to UK and Ireland last year, she inquired about what it would take for her, a hospitalist internal medicine physician, to move there and practice. They were bending over backwards trying to recruit her and basically told her the NHS would not only bribe her to come there, but that her path to citizenship would be short and linear. Hospitalist salary in UK is around £100-130K for a basic NHS job but private facilities (which hire more physicians than nurses in UK) pay up to £240K per year. Locums tenens are said to pay £150-200 per hour. That is much more than she is making working as a nocturnist at a major medical center in Florida. She sees minimum 27 admissions per night, holds the pager, and is responsible for every patient in the hospital for 12 hours. Her base salary is $160K I believe, but she brings home maybe $200-220 depending on RVUs and extra shifts and whatnot. Everything I read today has led me to believe that, in the UK, an NP is just a glorified RN. I am not going to school for three more years and paying $60K just to make £30K and continue working as an RN.

This turned out to be a pretty bad rant, sorry. To try to clarify my point: I want to know if anybody on this forum is actually thriving as a nurse in the UK? I understand many of you say it can be done, but it seems like you are meaning that it can barely be done, so long as your priorities are enjoying the experience of traveling and working in a foreign land. Actually building a life as nurse in the UK seems to be another story. I am interested in raising a family, building wealth, comfortably retiring at a reasonable age. From the perspective I have at this point, those things seems not only unlikely, but nearly impossible.

Any responses will be appreciated, thanks.

I live in NY and my take home is not even among the highest for nurses in this area. New grad RN working night shift in Northwell hospital or NYP earns close to 110k per year before tax. I am a RN care manager and I work with some new grad RNs whose salary is just 5k less than mine in the same position. You earn high in NY but you also spend alot on cost of living

[invalidcharacters]

1 hour ago, Sweetbeth said:

I live in NY and my take home is not even among the highest for nurses in this area. New grad RN working night shift in Northwell hospital or NYP earns close to 110k per year before tax. I am a RN care manager and I work with some new grad RNs whose salary is just 5k less than mine in the same position. You earn high in NY but you also spend alot on cost of living

Ah, that was one of the two states I named as I know nurses in NY and CA make much more than the average, and much more than AZ even. Cost of living probably evens it out and then some. A few friends have moved to the Bay Area and make $70/hr and can only barely afford a studio apartment an hour outside of the city center itself.

[invalidcharacters]

1 hour ago, Sweetbeth said:

I live in NY and my take home is not even among the highest for nurses in this area. New grad RN working night shift in Northwell hospital or NYP earns close to 110k per year before tax. I am a RN care manager and I work with some new grad RNs whose salary is just 5k less than mine in the same position. You earn high in NY but you also spend alot on cost of living

And thanks for responding btw