Thai Nurse Equivalent And Acceptance In Usa

[gk10002000]

I am wondering how easy it is for a Thailand nurse to get work in the USA? I know the usual immigration paperwork mess, but my question is geared more towards what is accepted or transferred to the USA? How much more work would they have to do to get a USA nursing license? My latest experience in Florida showed me a lot of filipinas and Creoles doing the routine low level nurse stuff. I guess these days they still have RNs, but now they have a lower qualification level called PNs that do a lot of the routine care.

I am just thinking ahead.

Thanks

[midasthailand]

I am wondering how easy it is for a Thailand nurse to get work in the USA? I know the usual immigration paperwork mess, but my question is geared more towards what is accepted or transferred to the USA? How much more work would they have to do to get a USA nursing license? My latest experience in Florida showed me a lot of filipinas and Creoles doing the routine low level nurse stuff. I guess these days they still have RNs, but now they have a lower qualification level called PNs that do a lot of the routine care.

I am just thinking ahead.

Thanks

The USA, England and Australia have huge shortages of nurse,s with the USA having a shortfall in excess of 500,000. A Thai/Australian partnership is about to open a school in Bangkok with a view to providing nurses, commercial cooks, IT graduates and front line managers with accredited gap training and then assisting them with work Visas. There are minimum standards of English language required so the school will also provide IELTS preparation courses. Salary for graduate nurse in Thailand - 9,000 Baht / month, salary in Australia - 100,000 baht / month, I believe the salary in UK/USA is equivalent to Australia. Any interest PM me.

[cathyy]

It's quite difficult for a foreign-trained nurse to pass the necessary examinations in the US to work as a registered nurse, so many end up working as nurse's aides instead. There are many sites online that address the process; one of the difficulties is that each state issues a nursing license good only in that state. So you have to know in which state you want to work so you can take the test (NCLEX) in that state. And, of course, there is the language exam, and a separate exam (CGFNS Qualifying Exam) that is used to predict whether a nurse might pass the NCLEX. For those who can pass he tests, demand is very high.

[pgrin]

It's quite difficult for a foreign-trained nurse to pass the necessary examinations in the US to work as a registered nurse, so many end up working as nurse's aides instead. There are many sites online that address the process; one of the difficulties is that each state issues a nursing license good only in that state. So you have to know in which state you want to work so you can take the test (NCLEX) in that state. And, of course, there is the language exam, and a separate exam (CGFNS Qualifying Exam) that is used to predict whether a nurse might pass the NCLEX. For those who can pass he tests, demand is very high.

The main difficulty for Thai nurses is the language barrier. Nurses in the Philippines are taught in English and they still have difficulty passing the tests. In order to get a visa to work as a nurse in the US the prospect needs to apply for an H1B visa that is sponsored by a perspective employer. The process is long and in 25 years of working in hospitals in the US I have met hundreds for nurses from Phils and exactly 1 nurse from Thailand who trained in Thailand.

P

[garro]

I trained as a nurse, and I also attempted to recruit nurses from Thailand to work in Ireland. The hurdles were immense, and I gave up quickly. Most western countries are short of nurses, but countries such as the Philippines and India are providing an almost endless supply. The recruitment and licensing procedures are familiar to the recruiting country so it is fairly straight forward. As far as I know other western countries have no experience with recruitment from Thailand so they do not understand the licensing procedures. I don't know about the States but Ireland does not currently recognize the Thailand qualification - because as they are not recruiting from there they do not need to. As already mentioned another problem is language. The language requirement for nurses is extremely high. I have met very few Thais who would pass. Good luck.

[midasthailand]

I trained as a nurse, and I also attempted to recruit nurses from Thailand to work in Ireland. The hurdles were immense, and I gave up quickly. Most western countries are short of nurses, but countries such as the Philippines and India are providing an almost endless supply. The recruitment and licensing procedures are familiar to the recruiting country so it is fairly straight forward. As far as I know other western countries have no experience with recruitment from Thailand so they do not understand the licensing procedures. I don't know about the States but Ireland does not currently recognize the Thailand qualification - because as they are not recruiting from there they do not need to. As already mentioned another problem is language. The language requirement for nurses is extremely high. I have met very few Thais who would pass. Good luck.

Quite right Garro, nurses that want to work in Australia, for example, need to achieve IELTS band seven. As you say, this is a high level. Apart from requiring English, a nurse aspiring to work in Australia would be required to undertake gap training to bring themselves to the required standard. There is no doubt that the process requires a major effort on the part of the Thai......the carrot at the end of the stick is significantly higher salary and possible residency status after a qualifying period.

[mrtoad]

There will certainly be difficulties. I spent 3 years recruiting staff on behalf of a number healthcare groups in the UK. I mainly recruited nurses from S'pore, but of Philippine nationality as it was easier in respect of standards, qualifications, language, , experience, and of course reliablity(home sickness can be a real problem at times). Even so, there were a number of occassions when quality candidates were turned down positions for no real clear reason.

I would certainly say that it would could prove problematic, although there are certainly other countries which may be easier to move into for Thai nurses. I doubt that the UK or the USA would be easy options at present.

[zzdocxx]

The exam used here in California, I don't know if it is a national exam or what.

Anyway, I know a couple of young women who trained as nurses in Thailand. One passed the exam here, and it was very easy for her to get a job. (Pays pretty well too.) The other girl has taken it and not passed, a couple of times. Very difficult for her.

Yes part of it is language issues. We have tons of Philipino nurses here BTW and many of them are excellent nurses. It makes me wonder if we are getting the cream of the crop, they are so good. But yes they already know English from learning it back in the Philipines.

So if the exam is passed, easy to get a job as there is a shortage of RNs here (registered nurses).

Good luck!

[gk10002000]

Thank you all very much for the intimate responses. Those were the details and actual experiences I was hoping to hear about. As I suspected and pretty much knew, coming from Thailand to the USA would be a problem. Siiiiiigh. It just is not a perfect world.

Thanks

PS. This Thaivisa.com is a great forum.