ozzieclare2b

are there great differences between practices here in the uk and in oz?? i was told they dont have hcas and the ratio of staff to patients is alot smaller.

Also how feasable would it be to only work a certain shift pattern say nights??

Would love to hear peoples experiences xx clare

chrisdnurse

Id love to hear about this too!! We're all planning on moving so I suppose it'd be nice to hear what work is like there.

I read a post about a ladys first day not so long ago...didn't sound too good...

eddie007

I haven't nursed out there yet.... but the message I am getting apaking to a wide range of nurses in a variety of states/settings is "same sh*it, shinier bucket"... Nursing is nursing is nursing... some aspects are better, some just different and some are hard to adjust to...

Don't forget you will have to take a step back/down as you are entering a different health service in a new culture... you are after all an immigrant... I expect to find differences, feel frustrated and take a while to adapt.. but I will adapt...

as to whether you can demand a set shift pattern.... I suppose that depends on who you work for, where and what it is you are asking for.. same as here really. If you are working agency then you simply turn down anything you don't want, but otherwise you will have to find out what individual hospitals/companies require... at the end of the day, it's service needs not nurses needs which are paramount... I wouldn'rt get excited if one nurse here says yes I just work nights as there will be another who says no, it's full internal rotation..

If you know whwere you are going and who you are working for then you might get more specific information...

They ENs still ... which I think is great... bring back the EN I say...

jonest

You are dead right about the shinier bucket, it made me chuckle. As I am sure you aware things are rather backward here & what you have done previously in nursing does not really count cos you are in a different country now! On a positive note there is flexibility with shift patterns depending where you work. Like the UK not many people want to work nihts & so if you offer to work them they will bite your hand off. At the end of the day it pays the bills! Good luck.

OzzieNurse

I am a little nervous about this too...heard people say that it is like UK nursing but 10-15 years ago with doctors treating nurses as slaves and everything being completely different.
I guess it depends on your expectations. I am looking forward to a new culture and learning new things but I fear I may not get such flexible working as I do here at the moment!
Will be following this thread thanks

daisylilymum

I nursed in Sydney and Townsville way back in 1997 and found it was a doddle compared to here.
I worked in theatres and on the wards in both a permanent job and on an agency. I never had more than 4 or 5 patients, everyone was friendly, Dr's weren't a problem - no different from here - they did as they were told LOL
Things may have changed in the last 10 years, but a couple of colleagues have recently returned and found it better working conditions than NHS.
I'm sure you'll all be fine. After all, if you can cope with NHS nursing, then I reckon you're prepared for ANYTHING!!

Des

Hi

I nursed in melbourne in a psychiatric hospital i thought it was way better than the nhs .drs and fellow nurses were very good i did not see anything backward only that its a different system. agency work can be different so i guess it just depends who you work for.

im going back in august and will take up fulltime employment with that hospital . another good thing was the staff patient ratio as the maximum number of patients i got on shift was 3, here in london that will be a bonus to get 3 on a shift.

hope this helps

des

shonalouise

I am currently an Emergency Department Nurse in a small hospital on the Central Coast. Moved out here in August, started work in September on the New Grad Nurse programme as only qualified March 06. Have found work practices very similar, only thing I had to really get used to was the different drug names as they prescribe in trade names rather than generic. With regard to HCA'a, I miss them every time I do a shower or answer a buzzer! You have a smaller nurse patient ratio, 5 on an early and six on a late but you provide all their care so you are just as busy! I have also noticed that all the patients are expected to shower every other day and every four bedded room and single rooms have showers. In the UK there were two showers for the entire ward and mostly people had bedside washes unless they were independent. In my experience I have found the doctors much more approachable than UK and more open to listening to your opinion and letting you participate in decision making but i'm sure this varies greatly. Ward rounds are painful as there is no nurse goes with them and so you rarely find out in any changes in patient care until near the end of your shift when you are writing their notes and find out they were changed from NBM to full diet and you starved them for the duration of your shift! If anybody has any other questions I will be happy to answer them but I have been thus far incredibly happy with my decision to nurse here. In the news there are 127 redundancies looming in the trust I trained for and no jobs for newly qualified nurses, no idea where I would be if I had stayed!

eddie007

It's lovely to hear such a positive post about nursing in Australia.. recognises the downs but also the ups... good on ya.

tillysmum

I'll second that, nice to hear a balanced view of things in OZ

debbiemc

i work on kids ward and scbu at nambour hosp on the sunshine coast and am not happy. of course, nursing is nursing is nursing although the work is a lot cushier!! i was really thrown in the deep end given a work load 1st day without orientation, drug names, abbreviations, equipment different but you get used to it. money crap,i earn half of what i got in the uk, no permenent jobs all casual so until you get a temp line, expect phonecalls for your availability every day! hasnt been a perm job in scbu for 2 years!! and i dont know about anyione else, but you just dont have a laugh at work,and i really miss avin a laugh, they just dont get our sense of humour, but of course thats where i work and it could be different somewhere else, but a lot of english nurses say the same.

i'm looking to get out of the hospital soon, just not happy there, want to get back into the community working with kids with special needs, so if anyone out htere hears about anything on the horizon give us a whistle please

good luck to you all coming out.

tracey.d

There are some permanent contracts in scbu. I was offered a job 2 years ago but didnt get there for different reasons. They've kept my job open for me and so I am going over in August to a full time permanent contract. Saying that thats the ICU side not special care so it depends on what you like I suppose.

I have asked about doing all nights initially while the kids get settled in so I'm always around during th eday if the kids need me for anything, but was told I have to do full rotation. They did say once I'd been there a while I could probably get mainly nights.

I think they kind of missed the point. I don't want to do all nights just when I first arrive

fiona021

I've worked with a few ozzie nurses and doctors and they seem to like their working practice back home and have some complaints about the way we do stuff here. Horses for courses or something like that. Saying that, I am expecting to go over there and earn less and find it difficult to adapt to drug's names and procedures etc. I think if I go and not expect too much, I may be pleasantly surprised. Hoping to work less anyhow and have a wee bit more of a life though (until the bills pile up).

breezeboylan

I keep hearing how nurses are paid less over here, some people saying they are earning less then half what they did at home. I haven't found that at all. At home I always worked long day Sundays to top up my wages. I've been here 6 months and have never worked a Sunday and have found no difference in my wages. In fact I would say I am taking home more over here then I was at home although that depends on what exchange rate you use. But I definitely am no worse of. I dont particulary think nursing is any different then at home but have found that a lot of the meds, equipment that we have at home are unheard of here. Nurse seem very confidant over here and dont admit to not knowing something the way we all did (or maybe we were all a bit thick were I worked )I have found the Dr's to be a lot less on the ball then ours though ,
Tracie

rumbletum

Hi Clare

I work in paediatrics in a large teaching hospital in Sydney and I love it. Have been working there for two years. I did find it a little daunting at first but soon settled into it, to be honest, the difference for me was that I came from a neonatal unit (Birmingham Childrens Hosp) to a general paeds ward and therefore my knowledge base was very specific. I have found all my colleagues fantastic to work with, many of them are English girls anyway, and we have a great working environment.
Everyone has coffee and lunch breaks.. regardless of how busy we are, it is considered a very important part of the day! I used to work 11hr nightshifts and sometimes didnt get a break!
Many of the drugs we use are just the same although as someone else said a lot of them are supplied in brand name form as opposed to generic eg, we get Panadol instead of Paractemol and Losec instead of omperazole, that sort of thing... i have found it easy to fit in, the medical staff are fine, there are no slaves, we work as a team, although maybe some of the consultant paediatricians are a bit high and mighty but then I think you find that everywhere with some doctors, but generally the ones on the shop floor ie the registrars and residents etc are great and we work together for the wellbeing of all the children.
I work in a large 24 bedded unit with an HDU and 10 single rooms where all the children have ensuite facilities and tvs in the room, in fact every bed has a tv and the children do not pay for these facitlities. The ward is very spacious, air conditioned, has teenagers day room, a play room for the younger ones and even a fairy garden, recently built with real trees and piped music ! And to top it all, each room on one side of the ward has views of the Harbour Bridge...
With regard to salary, I am a CNS (of which there are many on the ward), once you are RN8 you can apply for clinical nurse specialist and each year you must re-submit research etc to be awarded points in order to keep the grading. I have not found much difference in my salary and find that because the standard of living is much cheaper here, that my wages actually go further anyway..... it doesnt cost much to keep the kids entertained .. an ice cream on the beach, loads of coastal walks, parks etc... i think we spent a lot more in an weekend in England than we tend to do here.
I started work by joining the casual pool at the hospital and ssaid that i would work in the NICU or paeds... i had so much work that I asked if they had anything permanent. They actually didnt at the time but put me on a temporary contract for three months which they then made permanent without me even knowing !
I think like others have said, nursing is pretty much the same the world over... go into it with your eyes open, take the bad with the good and try to keep positive. You will have days where you will want to compare and think its better back home.. but hey if you think it is, then you could always do some research and make changes!
I love my work here, I loved my work in Birmingham, good luck in whatever you decide to do Clare, I really hope it all works out for you!
Heather