philian4

Hi All,

Both my hubbie and I are nurses but only he applied for the PR visa as he satisfied the working hours criteria. He does Occ Health/health and safety.

We have 4 young children and for the past 4 years on and off I have done bank shifts in A&E/MIU. I've been qualified for 15 years and my last permenant post was F grade.

Basically I intend to return to work, just sent registration off but I'm starting to worry that I might not be up to it clinically I know my limitations and have glowing references but I am concerned that I may find it all a bit too different. Anybody care to share their experiences with me????? Are the natives friendly in the work place. I've a choice of a little local hospital 2 minutes away or a larger DG hospital 15 mins away and I know there's work. (Only want casual nights)

Anyone help me out?

Cheers,

Phil x

SuzeM

hiya
I'm a nurse working in A&E. We've been here 2 yrs now and don't worry the patients are the same, the equipment is basically the same, just a few adjustments re drug names eg Kapake here is called Panadeine forte but you soon get used to it. I initially worked in A&E at Westmead, huge place lots of trauma, but it wasn't really me, just felt like a number not part of a team. I now work in a small local private A&E and its so friendly i'm much more settled there. I'm sure wherever you decide to work they'll help you settle in, its in there interests, us nurses are like goldust.
Sue

hedgehog-girl

Hello...

I don't work in A&E but I do work in theatres which is just as stressful and I can fully understand your question, but can also advise you not to worry.

I came from a very large hospital to a smaller one and have found it to be totally different in a positive way. They are so much more friendlier here, their culture wants people to get together, meet up and do things with their colleagues out of work and as such my working life is great. We go out, get to know eachother, are just so much more easy to work with. They seem to want to teach you all they know whereas in the UK I felt that there was always a negative approach to telling people all you know in case we ended up being better than them! Here there is no such thing.

Yes, drugs will be named differently, but then isn't the BNF always bringing out newly named medications?

You will be fine, they will be so pleased to have you that you will not have to worry at all.

Take care and good luck

philian4

Thanks, you've put my mind at rest......daft I know, but I feel rusty anyway and it's a lot more daunting than I thought returning to work in a strange country. Off to visit the hospital tomorrow

philian4

Thanks Sue,

The patients are the same??? AAARRRRGGGHH! :scared: I was hoping they'd be nice and sober here!!!!

hedgehog-girl

If its any consolation I was only a year qualified when I came to Sydney so I didn't have the basic confidence of just having some experience behind me, but regardless of only being qualified for one year I have been offered plenty of work and am being given lots of opportunities...

One thing I can say for the aussies is that they like you to be positive and I think you have to just realise that its a different grading system here to the UK and they don't necessarily think that 20 years experience makes you a better nurse....(not putting any 20+ nurses down here)....I felt that even though I am only a year that I was being told that they would treat me with equal respect as someone with more experience...if you get what I am meaning?

philian4

thanks-I think I get your drift! I know it'll be like riding a bike just a bit jittery and as someone said the patients are all the same And probably a lot of it has something to do with the fact I like chilling by the beach etc etc!!

Tass

Hey Phil !
Have just seen this. My work experience would appear to be very similar to yours. I will let you know on Monday after my induction training , what I find out in a few hours . As you know , we're both nurses too and I'm only joining the "casual pool" for night shift in A&E. Do you want to come on the "pool" with me ?
Take care and I'll speak to you soon,
Tass.

tiredwithtwins

do most hospitals have a casual pool? are you contracted for so many hours a week or is it similar to bank work and only doing when you are able?

good luck for monday!
i went back to clinical nursing after being out of it for about 5 years.....its like riding a bike - you soon remember how to avoid the crap!!!!

Tass

Hey , long time no chat !
Yes , from what I've found , the majority of hospitals ,if not all have a "BANK" or "casual pool" as they call it here.
Was going to go down the agency road again but in the area we are in just now , they are not employing agency nurses UNLESS they are on the hospital payroll , so no big benifit for me. Also wage difference wasn't any better , I'm getting a "there after" rate because I've been RGN for 11 years.Also being on the pool , you get payed enhancments like holiday pay in your hourly rate so it is slightly more than your nurse on the ward.
Also with regard to hours , a few of the agencies I spoke to couldn't get their heads around the " I'll phone you when I can work thing and constantly asked me about how many hours I can put in a week, whereas , at interview at the hospital I told the panel the hours I wanted to work (start times etc)and also that I would contact them when I was available and they asked me if that meant some weeks I wouldn't work at all and when I said "Yes" they were totally unphased by the fact that I would be off more than working !
Have only been out of the clinical side for 6 months whilst I got the family settled so not really too worried about it , just the whole new environment thing, should be fun !!!
Will be good to get back out there , I miss the banter !
Speak soon and I will post about how I got on , if anyone intereseted.
All the best,
Tass.

tiredwithtwins

hiya tass,
of course we are interested!! We are all hungry for information!!!!!
this is the route i want to go when we eventually get out there - but i will have to initially get a substantive post to get the extra points to pass the points test! (but we wont tell dimia about what im going to do once i get the visa...sshh!)
i worked agency for many years - even before having kids as it meant i could work as hard as i wanted and take time off to go travelling! Glad to hear most have a bank though - much easier in my opinion, than being offered a shift somewhere the other side of the county like agencies do!!

let us know how you get on!

sue

philian4

Hehehe only if it's crystal clear, 27 degrees and has a hunky lifeguard in every corner!!!

Let me know what it's like and you never....might just dip my toe in the water!!!

LaraandBryn

hi everyone
i don't post often as i am living over here in sunny brisbane.been raining alot lately.
I am a rgn and midwife trained in the 80,s and have worked throughout all my working life,children and all,you know the usual nights and staying up all day going to work like death and leaking breast milk,just so i could keep 'my hand in'
well we arrived here last june PR visa took about 6 weeks beginning to end which was not frontloaded.
on arrival i worked with a brilliant agency called acclaim recruitment based on the logan road brisbane.the staff were great.i worked short night shifts ie finishing at 630am so i could get home for the kids before over half went to work.no trouble at all.
I then decided i had come here for less stress and i found agency unsettling,you are not always with the same staff etc and i wanted to settle down.i saw a job in a local practice and went for it and was offered it that day.i love it there now.the money is crap but its 5 mins up the road,they let me take school hols off if i need them.when i cover the over nurse i only work till 230 so i can get my boys from school.the work is not dynamic,but with 3 kids and having nursed for nearly 20 years i am not so fired up .it fits in with my life so well.the health service if you can call it that is very different here but you know that you have the skills to nurse whereever you go.so don't worry.just learn the lingo :scared:
phil,btw my parner bryn is a health & safety manager,he worked for a london teaching hospital in the uk,he is now teaching h&s at a local college.at first he worked for mayne group here but left that for his current job.
good luck to you all,any questions fire away.

Lara
(boys are 13,10,7)

kitty4

Hi
I've only just found this nurses forum, despite spending too much time trawling the main Australia forum!!! I am an RMN of 15 years and RGN (did my training in Brisbane for that) and have work experience out there of approx three years. It is different in many ways but just the same as well. All your skills are transferrable (if you have some of them in the first place!). As their nurse training is not branched into specialities as ours is, I felt that nurses were nurses and you were expected to be able to do anything that comes under their remit of nurses, despite speciality. Eg when I first worked there, my only experience was in psychiatry and I did agency in nursing homes/hospitals, specifying my expertise was for the mentally ill and I was not general trained. However, the nursing homes seem to be mixed patients and on my first day in one for a local agency I was handed the keys, received a goodbye after a very breif handover that everything was fine and was then quite in the deep end when a patient buzzed to tell me her peritoneal dialysis was due to be set up then. I had never seen it before!!! Then had all sorts of tech equipment to scare me off. Could deal with it now after appropriate training & experience of course, but if your experience has never included it, it is difficult. After that I went on to the 'casual pool' of a private hospital. The hospital experience was excellent. Can't fault it. I suppose because you are placed according to your experience and any speciality and get any required training as well. Hospitals tend not to have care assistants, just registered nurses, so you have a case load for the day and you are it for those patients. Just waiting not very patiently for a decision on my PR visa. Just over 2 months since application now. Good luck everyone who relocates there. I can't wait to get back. Hoping for a community job as I am a practice nurse at present.