Shelley Bean

Hi everyone! I've been researching lots on this board and elsewhere about the process of moving to Canada from the UK as a Nurse (my husband's occupation).

I know this subject is discussed extensively on these forums and that many people have struggled to get their qualifications recognized, and reading those threads is enough to put anyone off the idea! But they all seem to relate to general nursing. My husband is a Mental Health nurse and we want to move to BC where it is a different registration group and - I think -matches the equivalent UK training more closely.

I just wondered if there were any UK trained Psychiatric Nurses out there who could tell us anything about their experience getting registered in a Western province?

I have done exhaustive research and I think we're going to be OK. I can see from my own analysis of his transcripts that he meets the standards in everything except general nursing hours. I've heard that there is an online course that bridges this common deficit via John Collins Consulting, and the course is still active on their website.

My lingering concern is that I don't know what I might be missing. Other nurses on the forums talk about having to do 5 day interviews, 12 month bridging courses, OSCEs, etc, but I don't know if this is just for General nurses. The official channels are vague with their advice, they want us to submit his application before they will comment. A lot of my information comes from old forum posts. It just makes me nervous.

The obvious next step is to go for it, and submit the application with NNAS, but it costs $650 USD! So we are just trying to be as confident as possible before parting with that much cash.

Thanks

Jackandvictor

Hi
My hubbie is a UK trained psych nurse who is now working in BC. Had his transcripts sent directly to CRNPBC in Port Moody (I think?) and had them assessed. Invited to write the exam but was given a three month interim permit to work before needing to take the exam. Passed and has been registered since. A few UK trained nurses here so it can be done! UK training well respected.
Good luck!

Shelley Bean

Oh that sounds super simple, the ideal scenario! So he did not have to do the online bridging course for to make up Medical-Surgical hours? Do you know if he did any general medical placements in his initial training?

Jackandvictor

Hi Shelley
He did some common foundation medical /surgical placements at the start of his nurse training, but once he branched off into psychiatry, there were no more placements of that nature. Because mental health nursing is a recognised field of nursing in BC, my hubby did not have to do any additional bridging course in medical / surgical to make up hours.
When my hubby was going through the process, he just got his transcripts sent to CRPNBC, which gave validation to work in Vancouver Island for a period of three months. During this time he wrote the CRPNBC exam whilst in Canada. The exam, although is for Psych nursing, did contain questions which were medical / surgical in nature.
We have a friend, also from the UK who came out and again did not have to do any additional hours for medical /surgical. Originally my hubby did not need to have his qualifications verified through IQAS but our friend did.

Despite the process of having qualifications checked out etc, my hubby definitely thinks the work her is better and less pressure here.

Shelley Bean

Ah, that's the difference then! My husband did the general foundation theory but only psychiatric placements. The NMC don't require Psych nurses to do any other sort of placements so it's just down to individual unis to decide whether to give students that broader experience. Whereas Canadian Psych nurses all have to do 225 hours in general med/surg placements - so that is likely to be an issue for him. Still, this is where the bridging course comes in, so it should still be OK.

Very encouraging to hear that your hubby is enjoying the working environment!