Finding my feet
 

Hi Folks

Just in from work and wanted a moan really to people who understand in this forum. I qualified in Sept in Scotland and started work on a medical ward last week. I seem to have forgotten how to nurse,it's been 6 months since I qualified and havent worked on a ward since then. There's so much to remember!

Am I struggling because it is a different system of nursing or am I struggling because I have just qualified and the responsibility of the job has finally caught up with me?

Suppose I just wanted to know how others felt when they just qualified. We have only been in Perth for 3 months and am still struggling with peoplesickness.

Don't want to go to work tomorrow!! Is this normal??

Thanks for listening.



Carol

Re: Finding my feet
 

More normal than you think, I dont want to go to work tomorrow and I'm niether a nurse or in Aus yet !:D

Re: Finding my feet
 

I think it's normal to feel out of you're depth a bit, even talking to the newly qualified nurses who have managed to get jobs here will say it's a real shock to the system and I've known plenty of them dread going to work.
I've been reading your posts with interest as I'm off to cairns as a graduate soon as the visa is sorted so in a few months it might be me dreading going to work!! I don't have a job since qualifying I'm just having to do HCA bank work so deskilling is abit of a worry.
Don't expect too much of yourself at first, I'm sure the staff in your area must realise how hard it is for you being newly qualified AND trying to get used to new ways of doing things in a different country.
take care and I hope you feel more settled soon

Re: Finding my feet
 

Just wanted to say that I agree with WBAN, your colleagues know that you are recently qualified and therefore learning your trade AND in a different country than you trained in. Things are bound to be different/strange and there will undoubtedly be new ways of working that you have to get used to.

Don't be too hard on yourself - you've taken on a lot and I think you may have had nerves about the transition from student to staff nurse if you were in this country let alone elsewhere.

Remember all the reasons that made you decide to go to Oz in the first place and take one day at a time.

I bet you're actually doing better than you think!! Without realising it I'm sure it won't be too long before you feel like you've been there forever.

Good luck & keep your chin up!

Re: Finding my feet
 

Just wanted to give you reassurance.
I qualified in Scotland in September but unfortunately for me I'm working as a Staff nurse in Scotland. I can say that honestly for the first 2-3 months I felt completely out of my depth every day and it's only been in the last few weeks that I'm beginning to find my feet. (And I'm working in the hospital where I trained). So keep your chin up. At least you've got sunshine to go home to.(Lucky you)
It's raining here and we've got gail force winds (again).

Re: Finding my feet
 

Hi Carol,

Sorry to hear you're going through a bit of a rough patch, but its perfectly normal to feel this way.

Not only have you just qualified, not worked for a little while, emigrated, in a new job, not got any friends.....I would not expect you to feel any different at all.

I think what you need to do is not expect so much of yourself. You are have done more in 3 months than what most people do in 5 years and your stress levels and coping levels are going to be pushed to the limit.

Now, in work is there anyone that you get one with particularly well or is your boss the type to have a little chat with about how you're feeling right now? Also, in a lot of australian hospitals there are peers that you can phone to just let off steam (phone your HR for this number).

Make sure that you and your partner are getting out of an evening, even if it is just a walk around, just to get out, and see if there are any expats in the area so that can arrange a meet up.

When I first moved over here, I was only 11 months qualified and had been working but it all seemed very very different when I got here, and even 2 years on I can still feel a bit off sometimes. Its taken me a good 2 years to settle in and stop feeling homesickness. Don't treat it as a jail sentence but as an experience, but try and speak to someone in work for defo.

Good luck

Re: Finding my feet
 

Thanks to everyone who replied, think I just needed some reassurance after having had a particularly bad day when nothing I did seemed to be the way the Ozzie's did it!

I will keep plugging away but think that medical nursing may not be for me.

Thanks folks.




Carol

Re: Finding my feet
 

Hi Carol,

Hope today went a bit better for you - even as a qual with years of experience you will always get your bad days so don't be put off and as others have said, don't set yourself unreachable goals.

I just noticed you're in Secret Harbour. I'm planning on looking at that area and Port Kennedy when I come over. Can I ask where you're working? I have a grad nurse position at Fremantle due to start in Aug and wanted to know if the commute would be horrendous? My kids are tentatively enrolled in a school near Rockingham and am trying to fathom out the best place to base ourselves.

We have loads of ex-pat mates who live further down so trying to be somewhere between them, work and the kids schools!! I'd really appreciate an unbiased view cos our mates tend to say nothing is as good as the area where they live (obviously want us to be living in the house next door to them if possible!!).

Re: Finding my feet
 

Hi Carol, you will get used to it all soon, it's always hard the transition from student nurse to staff nurse, and then going to a different country. I worked in Edinburgh for a few years then went to Wishaw for a year and even the difference of 40 miles was huge, they did everything differently to what I was used to, it just takes time to adjust. Just remember you are in it for the long haul and this is the way you have to do things, just another learning curve of many you will have over your career. Good luck hun it will get better.

Sending big higs:)
Clairex