advice please
 

Hey all you lucky people in the lovely Aotearoa. I'm an ex-pats virgin so stick with me please! I'm looking for some advice on when to move to NZ. My partner and I originally planned to move over when I finished uni (iv got just over a year left of my nursing course), but are now wondering if it would make more sense to stay in Scotland for a wee while to make some extra cash. We have family over there and have been a few times so sort of know what we're getting into but just dont know about the money thing. we've worked hard over the last few years building a modest home and dont want to go over there and have to take a step back. Although we're moving for the lifestyle change, the finance thing does unfortunately come into it. Any advice of any sort would be welcomed.

Re: advice please
 

Welcome...non-virgin..the first time is alwys the hardest..... :D
The issue of money/ taking a step back is always a consideration, on the one hand th equicker you make the move the quicker you get to move up in NZ, but conversely if you have some capital it makes your landing softer.

Cant really tell you what to do, find out if you need some experience to be able to register as a nurse in NZ, there are a few nuses posting on here so they may be able to give you more advise on salaries and such...

Good luck...

Re: advice please
 

Thanks newkiwi for your advice, I feel like a fully fledged hussy now that I've lost my virgin status!! :D you're right on the sooner you get there the sooner you start to climb thing. Actually since we decided to consider holding off on coming over the more desperate we are to get there :confused: . As for capital, think we'll land with a very large bump! On the plus side tho we've had a few of them so it shouldn't hurt too much! Lol.

Any nurses out there feel free to fill me in on any good/bad points ie conditions, staff levels, attitude etc. Wages wise....well it's no secret is it that nurses get paid a pants wage in the UK so I dont expect to be suddenly living it up and spending in the NZ sun. But hey, who gives a damn I'll be able to go to some paradise beach for free when I'm a bit skint :)

Thanks again for your response newkiwi.

Re: advice please
 

Im an RN,(currently home with a small child).15 years post grad experience
. you will find it alot easier to get a job as an RN in New Zealand if you get at least 2 years post graduation working experience first..most hospitals only employ a limited quota of new graduates and community employers also prefer Nurses with experience..Ss you are coming from another country, that experience will be even more important to compete with NZ nurses..

Shazza

Re: advice please
 

Thanks Shazza for your reply,

What you say makes sense, and to be honest I think I would feel better going into a job with some experience. It is quite a daunting prospect going into a job as a RN in this country so you can imagine how nervous I am about doing it in NZ! However, we are just so desperate to get over there and have been planning it for so long that to have to wait another two years on top of the four that I will have been studying will be torture!! :(

I see you are located in Whangarei which is the area we hope to go to. I was wondering, do you know if there are likely to be nursing jobs available in that area and if not which areas would be best to look into? At the moment I'm not sure what type of nursing I'll do but am thinking of health promotion/sexual health.

Hope you're enjoying your time off with your wee one :)

Thanks, Claire

Re: advice please
 

Hi Claire
Thanks,I am enjoying the time off as this is my last child and they grow so fast..she has just turned three and I will have to get some part time work within the next few mths in order to keep my practicing certificate current.

The family planning clinic here would be the place to look for any jobs re sexual health.
There is work available in Whangarei, but like I say it is harder if you are a new grad. One area that is keen to employ new grads is Care of the elderly..there are a number of Private hospitals and rest homes in whangarei that are always advertising for RNs.They dont mind employing new grads because they cant afford to pay the rates for experienced nurses..this is due to the pitiful amount of govt subsidy they get funded for the elderly.They often dont pay good rates for the weekend (often no weekend rate at all) and you end up doing at least every 2nd weekend but it could be a foot in the door .
Shazza

Re: advice please
 

Hi Shazza
just when you thought you could get used to life without work reality bites eh...! :(

I dont know if I could work in care of the elderly after my experiences here in the UK. Like you say the govt subsidy is appalling and the standards are even worse!! (cant speak for NZ though) I've had a couple of placements in this setting and to be honest it made my blood boil watching some of the 'care' being delivered. So much so that I complained to the uni and am about to complain to the govt care regulators. The only thing i learned while there was the kind of nurse i dont want to be :mad: On reflection though, i would be in a position to actually make a difference in the patients life because of my experience but sadly the reality is that any interest I may have had just isn't there. Also the stress that goes along with working in an environment I'm not happy in just isn't worth it, after all I want to go to NZ because the way of life is relatively stress free compared to the over-populated, stupidly expensive and un-environmentally friendly UK :D .


Ah well looks like I'm just gonna have to grin and bear it for a couple more years. Iv lasted this long so a few extra wont hurt (i hope) :eek: What makes this sad realization all the worse is that it pouring with rain and freezing cold outside at the mo (and this is supposed to be summer!!!!).

cheers, claire

Re: advice please
 

Hi Claire
I sympathize with your experience of Care of The Elderly entirely..I worked in that area for 8 mths about 7 yrs ago..it was a hospital for the highest care pts.I left in frustration eventually after writing a concern letter to the management and getting no reply..just ignored.
I was in Charge on the Pm. (54 patients)I would notice problems with pts and put notice in the Careplans and communiacation book, that they needed to be seen by the Dr in the morning ( when i was off) only to come in and find that they hadnt been seen. In one case a woman was having difficulty swallowing and her husband had started feeding her which i thought was strange..they kept ignoring me.for mths.eventually she was seen and was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died 6 mths later,,another Guy wasnt seen and I came on duty only to have to send him to hospital by ambulance because he started vomiting "coffee grounds" ie bleeding stomach ulcer..after a few episodes like this I had had enough of the incompetence of some of the other am nurses and the Charge nurse who was a washed up Enrolled Nurse.
There were so many issues due to poor training,lack of knowledge,lack of accountability etc.
The nurses who were on the morning shifts were nurses who had trained 20 yrs prior ..been stay at home Mums for 15-20 yrs and then come back into this place with no upskilling..they were still carrying out antiquated practices and one had absolutely no idea how to set up an Iv or a catheter.
She would give an enema to anyone who had not had a BM for 3 days regardless of other factors like..that the person had not eaten for three days as they were unwell.
Anyway thats enough of my rave..things may be better over here but maybe not..the are some very good places but they are private,well run and nurses do not leave them.Its the cheap and nasty places that are govt subsidised that concern me..Im saving now so that I can pay for my care if I need it!!!
As they say if you pay peanuts you get monkeys and that is the case for most undervalued occupations..I feel really sad for the poor people at the mercy of these situations

Im sure if you eventually come over here with a couple of years experience in your chosen area you would do much better.
Best wishes
Shazza

Re: advice please
 

Hi Shazza

Sadly you're 'rave' was very reminiscent of the type of practice and situations I have come across. Like you say some of the more expensive homes do provide higher standards of care but the others leave a lot to be desired. Worryingly however the most recent place I experienced was one of the (if not the) biggest private Healthcare providers in the world. The building was literally falling apart with ants crawling all over the place, including the kitchens and patients beds!!! :scared: Communication was also a huge problem there, largely due to language barriers...almost all the nurses were from overseas and although they speak English, their vocabulary and use of language was very limited. They also speak to each other in their mother tongue, which from a students perspective is very frustrating (not to mention offensive) :mad: because you count on listening in on what the nurses are saying to learn about the environment and how the MDT (multi-disciplinary team, soz dont know if thats what you call it in NZ) works together.

Slight change of subject here.....I've read that many Kiwi nurses move to Oz for work as the cost of living in NZ is high relative to wages, would you say this is accurate. It will only be my partner and myself who will be moving and he wont be in a highly paid job, just average probably. Do you think financially we would be comfortable? we're not extravagant spenders....no designer gear for us!

Cheers, claire

Re: advice please
 

Hi Claire.

Whether the cost of living is high relative to wages ,I cant really comment on as I have been here most of my life..it probably is compared to other places..but it is also reasonably easy to live cheaply here if you wish to..just keep out of the big cities..the good thing about being a nurse is it just as easy to get a job in a smaller city than a large one and your cost of living is lower..you probably need to pick somewhere with a regional hospital and a population of a least 45,000 though so that there are enough jobs going for both of you.

When you are immigrating there are other factors to consider too though..as Im sure you want to immigrate to do better ,not worse.

I think with two average wages coming in you would be financially ok if you lived in a smaller provincial city,such as Whangarei,Hastings ,Palmerston North, (thinking of places where there are hosptals still) where there is still work but the rents and costs to buy a home are not so high..you would find it more of a struggle in Auckland,Wellington,Christchurch and probably even Hamilton and could find it tight even in a smaller city area if you went down to one wage (ie to have a child).

I dont really know what New nurses are doing now but,when I graduated I didnt come across that many nurses that went to Australia. (some went to America and Saudi Arabia).plenty of other people did go to Aussie but they were in other occupations or were unskilled.
Alot of NZ nurses have left nursing completely because the pay was not that great, relative to the years spent in the profession and the element of responsibility required,not to mention severe stress caused by short staffing and top heavy management with not enough nurses and Drs..the stress wasnt worth it..
Nurses employed by District Heath Boards.such as hospital and Public heath nurses have recently had a pay rise which was hard fought for and still not enough but it has definitely improved things.
Im a bit out of touch with hospital nursing as I have most recently worked in Private practice with a GP and as an accident and Medical nurse in a private walk in clinic.Also as a care coordinator (for the Elderly receiving care in their own homes)
best wishes
Shazza.

Re: advice please
 

Hi shazza
sorry I didn't reply earlier but things have been a bit hectic here recently. I'm back at uni after a couple of weeks or so trying to get back into the swing of getting up early has been a bit of a shock, not to mention the two essays, video presentation and usual coursework :scared:

Judging by what you have said I think we will manage without too many problems financially. We wont be moving to the city, we are country folk at heart although we are living in a town at the moment for work and uni.

I was planning on doing some reading-up on all things nursey when we come over for a holiday in september, do you have any suggestions of good reading material? Also, do you know if there is a big difference with regard to drug names? That ones scaring me a bit cause it's hard enough trying to learn them all here without having to re-learn then when we move over there!!
Sorry for all the questions :o

Cheers, Claire

Re: advice please
 

Hiya Nearly nurse

we are both nurses about to head out to Tauranga. We both have experience and have secured jobs before we go. The starting salary is $54 000 each without any unsocial hours (I'm not sure how much this will up our wage) we have both been assessed for our experience, so start at a higher level of $58 000.

I hope this information is helpful. I can't yet tell you about conditions/attitudes etc because we aren't there yet, but I will watch this thread with interest. So far I have spoken to only one working nurse on this expat site. She was very helpful to us when we were about to have a telephone interview.

Nicola

Re: advice please
 

Hi Claire
The NZ Nurses Organisation (NZNO) magazine called "Kai Te Ake " could be a good one to get hold of for issues pertinent to Nursing in NZ. you get them free as part of your membership. but our local library has them and possibly other public libraries would too in NZ.
I think that the hospitals mostly dispense drugs according to their generic names now, to avooid confusion with all the brand names.(someone who is currently working in the hospital please correct me if im wrong), but a good way to work out the commonly used drugs over here is to ask a Pharmacy or a GP in NZ if you can have one of their old "New Ethicals" books..These are drug dispensing books and they get a new one every 6 mths.They have all the drugs with their generic and brand names in them plus everything you need to know about them..eg,effects,contraindications,method, route of adminstration,recommended doses etc.

I went on a course yesterday at the local hospital about wound management and the latest dressings available etc it was very interesting.

Best wishes
Shazza

Re: advice please
 

Hello

Starting salary for a new graduate nurse {as of 1st July 2006} is $40,000, this rises to $54,000 with 5 years experience. This is for working for a District Health Board, in general ward/theatre/ out patients type environments. There is no grading and you automatically move up a step each year. This is the pay scale for those members of the NZNO union. Other unions e.g. PSA have different rates. There are penal rates for evenings, nights and week ends. Three weeks holiday is the usual, however this is going up to 4 weeks in 2007 as a minimum for all NZ workers. You can also get increments for completeing PDRP {Professional Development and Recognition Programmes,} level 3 and 4 however you will need a few years experience. Think the rate is an extra $4000 for level 4, expert.

Clinical Training Agency {CTA}, will also fund you to take a Post Graduate Certificate {the first steps to a Masters}, if you work for a DHB.

The union journal is Kai Tiaki.

There is a new graduate nurse programme being introduced called Nurse Entry To Practice, however one of the stipulations is that you need to be NZ trained. Many hospitals however will still be running New Graduate programmes, of 1 year duration.

NZ medical staff use a lot of brand names when they write up medication charts, however it doesn't take long to get used to the differences. Not all UK drugs are available here either.

There is still a lot of stress in the work place within nursing. However, you will find you always get you morning tea break and you lunch. NZ busy is not UK busy :)


There is also some differences with patients covered by an accident {ACC} and those who have illness.

UK nurses are well respected with in NZ, however some practices do seem a little antiquated to UK trained staff and it is easy to quote " in the uk we did this and that", that can rub people up the wrong way !! The majority of staff what to learn and are really interested in what you bring to the work environment. Remember too, that NZ is used to overseas nurses, some of the wards at the hospital I work at are a kin to the United Nations !!

Any further questions just ask.
Cheers
Gill

Re: advice please
 

Hi shazza

Thanks for info on reading material, particularly the 'New Ethicals' book. I'm so glad you mentioned that one, think that must be your equivalent to our BNF (British National Formulary), sounds exactly the same and is a student nurses bible!!! cheers ;)

Hope my friends in NZ dont think I'm being a bore when i say I want to go check out the local libraries for nursing mags while I'm on holiday in september! :zzz:

Did the course you went on renew your motivation for getting back to work?Or did it fill you with dread and send you running to the nearest pub for a large :beer: .

cheers, Claire