CGFNS stands for "The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools". It is a non-profit, internationally recognized leader in the education, registration and licensure of healthcare professionals worldwide.
Providing proper healthcare is the single most important objective for the nurse. With this in mind, governments around the world regulate the nursing profession to prevent and reduce any risk risk. For this reason CGFNS was created by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the National League for Nursing (NLN). It was established in 1977 to protect the public by ensuring that nurses educated in countries other than the United States are eligible and qualified to meet licensure and other practice requirements in the US.

The CGFNS examination tests the nurse's knowledge in the areas of Medical, Surgical, Obstetric, Pediatric and Psychiatric Nursing. The five areas of the nursing processes that are covered are: Assessing, Analyzing, Planning, Implementing and Evaluating.

The nurse must be a first-level and a general-nurse, as defined by the International Council of Nurses and have a valid registration to practice as a general nurse in the country, province or state where they obtained their general nursing education. They must have a Graduate degree (BSc) or 3 years Diploma from a Government approved nursing school whose two or more general nursing program included both theory and clinical practice in each of the five areas of nursing - Medical Surgical, Obstetric, Pediatric, and Psychiatric.
They should also possess at least two years of verifiable nursing experience in a hospital setting. Beyond this, the nurse will be required to take a series of tests to validate thier clinical knowledge, and English proficiency to function as nurse in the United States.

The CGFNS Qualifying Exam is offered three times per year in more than 40 locations throughout the world. For a complete list of CGFNS' Qualifying Exam sites, please visit www.cgfns.org

Examination Date Application Deadline

November 12, 2003 August 13, 2003

The exam is divided into two parts with a total of 260 questions. The applicants are given two hours and 30 minutes for Part 1, which includes 150 questions. After a break, applicants are given one hour and 50 minutes to complete Part 2, consisting of 110 questions.
The examination measures the nursing knowledge of the applicant. It is based on what nurses must know and do when they practice nursing in the United States. The foundations of the exam are based on patient needs. The traditional clinical areas of nursing practice - nursing care of the adult, nursing care of children, maternal/infant nursing, psychiatric/mental health nursing and community health nursing as mentioned above.
The exam ensures that an applicant has the same level of understanding of nursing as recent graduates of nursing schools in the US. Both the CGFNS Qualifying Exam and the NCLEX-RN® examination are based on the same framework of patient needs because it provides a universal structure for defining nursing actions and competencies across all settings for all clients.