Thai wife is a western trained nurse - would international hospitals hire her?

[rocket2]

My Thai wife is a western trained nurse focussed on palliative care. She has around 10 years experience with perfect English (and is very easy on the eyes).

Would  international hospitals want to hire someone with her skill set for admissions,sales and management?

[gargamon]

How old is she? I believe you need to be 45 or less to be a nurse in Thailand.

[still kicking]

My wife is the same as the poster, no, it is not true about age, married a nurse 

[rocket2]

5 hours ago, gargamon said:

How old is she? I believe you need to be 45 or less to be a nurse in Thailand.

My wife successfully diagnosed my talking out of ass disease.  

[thesetat]

13 minutes ago, rocket2 said:

My wife successfully diagnosed my talking out of ass disease.  

She needs to go bacck to school then and learn more. Or perhaps you need to find another nurse. 

[kwonitoy]

Take her over to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital and talk with the admin there

[thesetat]

If your wife is Thai and she has been trained and has experience in nursing in the West. I would think that any hospital would see her as an asset to hire. As long as her credentials are valid and experience verifiable. Many doctors are sent to a western university to be trained by by the Thai government and then return to serve in government hospitals. 

[jacko45k]

41 minutes ago, thesetat said:

If your wife is Thai and she has been trained and has experience in nursing in the West. I would think that any hospital would see her as an asset to hire. As long as her credentials are valid and experience verifiable. Many doctors are sent to a western university to be trained by by the Thai government and then return to serve in government hospitals. 

But it is near impossible for foreign trained doctors, non-Thai, to get licence to work in Thailand. I might expect nursing is also a reserved occupation. Most certainly it would need a licence. I expect it would be a far better job in private hospitals than public too. 

[stupidfarang]

3 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

But it is near impossible for foreign trained doctors, non-Thai, to get licence to work in Thailand. I might expect nursing is also a reserved occupation. Most certainly it would need a licence. I expect it would be a far better job in private hospitals than public too. 

You say your wife is Thai, so not a problem as she is not foreign in Thailand. Instead of asking on here if she can get a job, just go to a hospital of her choice and ask/apply easy and then you will have the answer to your question.

[ExpatOilWorker]

She could apply here:

 

https://www.koonhospital.com

 

[ChipButty]

6 hours ago, gargamon said:

How old is she? I believe you need to be 45 or less to be a nurse in Thailand.

Sorry, it's not true, half my wifes family are nurses, and one has just reached retirement age, although it does seem that way when in the hospitals here in Phuket they all seem like young girls, 

[thesetat]

20 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

But it is near impossible for foreign trained doctors, non-Thai, to get licence to work in Thailand. I might expect nursing is also a reserved occupation. Most certainly it would need a licence. I expect it would be a far better job in private hospitals than public too. 

He said his Thai wife. So maybe not so hard to do

[jacko45k]

44 minutes ago, stupidfarang said:

You say your wife is Thai, so not a problem as she is not foreign in Thailand. Instead of asking on here if she can get a job, just go to a hospital of her choice and ask/apply easy and then you will have the answer to your question.

I did not!

[jacko45k]

33 minutes ago, thesetat said:

He said his Thai wife. So maybe not so hard to do

Yes apologies, likely easier in that case. 

[Letseng]

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

But it is near impossible for foreign trained doctors, non-Thai, to get licence to work in Thailand. I might expect nursing is also a reserved occupation. Most certainly it would need a licence. I expect it would be a far better job in private hospitals than public too. 

The lady is Thai & foreign trained. Not a foreigner & foreign trained.

There is a difference.

[Dogmatix]

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

But it is near impossible for foreign trained doctors, non-Thai, to get licence to work in Thailand. I might expect nursing is also a reserved occupation. Most certainly it would need a licence. I expect it would be a far better job in private hospitals than public too. 

 

Doctor and nurse have never been reserved occupation.  My understanding is that foreign doctors and nurses can work in Thailand, if they have graduated from a medical school recognized by the Thai Medical Council but they have to pass Thai licensing exams with no exemptions  which means that very few foreigners attempt this.  Most of the medical professionals who go this route are in fact Thais who did their professional education and training overseas.  That being the case, I think the way is open for the OP's missus to work as a nurse, if she is willing to sit the Thai licensing exam.  Otherwise she could work in another capacity.  English skills are much in demand at private hospitals.  I frequently encounter nurses and technicians at Samitivej who can hardly speak English and ask if I can speak Thai instead.

 

Bangkok Nursing Home used to have farang doctors and the matron was always a farang but most of them started work in Thailand before the Thai language requirement was introduced and were grandfathered in.  I met one of the last doctors or this era, Dr Patrick, who died recently.  I also knew the last farang matron, a formidable Scottish lady, who died several years ago.  I came across a younger English doctor in the modern BNH hospital about 20 years ago, who must have passed the Thai licensing exam but I didn't ask him.

[howerde]

To work in Thailand as a nurse she will need to pass the Thai nursing exams which are written/spoken and all done in Thai, age wise can be a problem for all jobs in Thailand while there are plenty of older nurses they very likely started when they were much younger. Palliative care is not very advanced in Thailand, so her skill here could be very useful, my limited knowledge of palliative care here  is most of the 'nursing' is done by Myanmar staff with Thais as supervisors( i am talking about care homes here) and Thai doctors who visit when required, so this might be an avenue to explore, private care homes are growing in Thailand, with her experience i am sure she would find work. The pay for nurses is not very good and there are plenty of  nurse, shortages which can benefit her, best see what hospitals want with her english skills start at the top international hospitals

[Dogmatix]

A general comment is that prices at Thai private hospitals have risen exponentially in recent years, so there is no longer the rational for medical tourism.  Meanwhile the quality of healthcare and the skills of the medical workers, including knowledge of English, have not risen in line with prices, although you still get lots more nurses taking care of you than in the West which presumably means that nursing salaries are still much lower than in the West despite the sharp uptick in prices. 

 

I have had 3 moderately serious conditions, one of which caused severe pain, that were totally misdiagnosed by Thai doctors in top tier private hospitals, even after exhaustive and expensive tests with state of the art equipment.  In each case the problem was correctly diagnosed by private consultant level guys in London using lower level equipment.  Two issues needed surgery and were fixed in London at a private hospital promptly and efficiently.  

[howerde]

There was a post from an English trained nurse who had retired moved to Thailand and worked in Hospitals as a kind of meet and greeter showing the patients around hospitals( no nursing done), she loved it this was just before covid, then she was made redundant. the pay was around 30 000 baht a month but added to her pension made a happy retirement 

[ignore it]

If she's a RN  better money working as a travel nurse doing assignments in western countries. 

[newbee2022]

I suppose YES.

Why not ask the hospital ???😳

[Quentin Zen]

Luckily for you, I am a doctor and also play one online.  I'm a brain and heart surgeon, but I know nothing about the hiring process.  I have also designed rockets and submarines, but I don't want to flex too hard.  You have come to the right place!!!!!   

[couchpotato]

4 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

 

Doctor and nurse have never been reserved occupation.  My understanding is that foreign doctors and nurses can work in Thailand, if they have graduated from a medical school recognized by the Thai Medical Council but they have to pass Thai licensing exams with no exemptions  which means that very few foreigners attempt this.  Most of the medical professionals who go this route are in fact Thais who did their professional education and training overseas.  That being the case, I think the way is open for the OP's missus to work as a nurse, if she is willing to sit the Thai licensing exam.  Otherwise she could work in another capacity.  English skills are much in demand at private hospitals.  I frequently encounter nurses and technicians at Samitivej who can hardly speak English and ask if I can speak Thai instead.

 

Bangkok Nursing Home used to have farang doctors and the matron was always a farang but most of them started work in Thailand before the Thai language requirement was introduced and were grandfathered in.  I met one of the last doctors or this era, Dr Patrick, who died recently.  I also knew the last farang matron, a formidable Scottish lady, who died several years ago.  I came across a younger English doctor in the modern BNH hospital about 20 years ago, who must have passed the Thai licensing exam but I didn't ask him.

Good advice, but she is a Thai person trained overseas...she is NOT a foreigner.

[xtrnuno41]

What papers she has and from which country. Registration number.

Here there are doctors as wel nurses from other countries and they could have to go back to school and are limited in their actions, but working.

They could be a full doctor in their country (like Iran, Irak, Ukraine) but their papers are valued on where they come from and if standard is according to working countries value. No problem. Same with nurses and all other medical people.

No clue what they do, as in many countries is a shortage of medical people. Due to retirements and not enough follow ups. Chances are big.

So very possible to find a job, just ask an HR of hospital for job opportunities. Go for that job interview. Bring papers, registration number,  references, show history.

[Magictoad]

Apply!

[it is what it is]

23 hours ago, rocket2 said:

My Thai wife is a western trained nurse focussed on palliative care. She has around 10 years experience with perfect English (and is very easy on the eyes).

Would  international hospitals want to hire someone with her skill set for admissions,sales and management?

 

Would  international hospitals want to hire someone with her skill set for admissions,sales and management?

 

surely, she's better off contacting such hospitals and asking them, rather than you asking random strangers here. her lack of initiative in not doing this already doesn't fill one with confidence...

[ChipButty]

10 hours ago, couchpotato said:

Good advice, but she is a Thai person trained overseas...she is NOT a foreigner.

Can she speak Thai? 

[stupidfarang]

On 5/14/2025 at 7:41 AM, jacko45k said:

I did not!

sorry posted to you instead of the original person who asked the question.

[Celsius]

Why would she be willing to take a massive payout?

 

Why would she be willing to be scorned by other nurses and doctors for doing the job p̶r̶o̶p̶e̶r̶l̶y̶ differently?