dannes

Hi There

I am new to contributing to the forum but have been scanning it frequently over the last few weeks!!

We are just starting the long journey of applying for PR, using my nursing qualifications. Got my ielts booked for march and busy getting all the cert. copies for ANC assessment [what a job that is!]

My concern is what type of job i may be able to get. I am a practice nurse with 5 years experience but its something i rarely see advertised, and if it is, then seems the role is vastly reduced to what i am used to here.

I am family planning trained + lead respiratory nurse [+ all other PN tasks]. I am also a midwife though only practised on the bank for the last 5 years, but have done none for the last year. It worries me that the wards would not find my experince relevant.

Any thoughts are appreciated as to what options i may have. We need to live somewhere where our 2 kids [10 and 11] will benefit as well. Reassurance would be a good start!!!

Thanks

Dannes

vivi

Hi Dannes, I advertised for a practice nurse for our practice -zippo replies!!! Depends where you are heading but it seems like here on the sunshine coast there are always jobs.
Good luck

dannes

Thanks for your reply Vivi.

Feel more reassured. I put practice nurse jobs and sunshine coast into australian google and came up with a couple and the job description looked pretty good.

No mention of pay - what is the average rate for practice nurses?

Dannes

vivi

Hi Dannes - rates anything from $25 per hour depending on what practice you are at. Also the work type varies place to place. Where and when are you coming?

carolinejones3

Hi
If you look on seek au (job serach) there are a few PN jobs in there.

I am a Pratice Nurse and hope to be doing the same in Brisbane. I also want to look at hospital work so may combine the two?

Viv we spoke a long time ago. Glad to see your still a round.

Caroline

dannes

Hi Vivi

$25 is about what i am on now so seems reasonable. We are hoping for end of this year at latest but obviously reliant on how quick i get through the system. Now looking to do 176 to Queensland, got IELTS this saturday so fingers crossed, then if pass have all paperwork ready for ANMS........ and so on and so on.....
Thanks Caroline for your link. i have found that if i use google australia, rather than uk, i found some practice nurse jobs.

Dannes

vivi

Hey Caroline Long time no speak! Seems like only yesterday and now we have just hit the 5 year mark!! So where are you living now? Shame not on the Sunny Coast, I am in need of a practice nurse, posted a request on this forum and zipp replies! Where the bloody hell are they!!!!!
Stay happy
Vi

carolinejones3

Hi Lovely,
Still in the UK. House crash blah blah. We have an offer on the table at the moment in negotiation, so this year maybe our year!!

Heading to Brissy.

I am dreading leaving my wage behind. 30K as a lead PN (Full time) Don't thnk I will get that as a PN in OZ ?

Have to sit the IELTS end of next month, Happy days

C x

vivi

Hi Caroline, Thought you were out here already! Why Brissy, no beaches and its the city!!! Come to the Sunny coast and I will give you a job tomorrow! As for you earning 30k well that is about 49k in $ easily manageable for full time I think! Anyway good luck with the house! No chance of renting it is there then cashing in when the market picks up!!
Vi

kitty4

Hi Vivi

I came and looked around the practice you work at a couple of years ago and it is great. Glad to see you are still there and that says a lot about a place. It's just great when you have a job you love in a place you are valued.
I'd really love to be back in practice nursing but the pay in QLD is prohibitive to me (and really unfair I might add - why are practice nurses and many community nurses valued less than hospital nurses in respect of their pay 'awards'? Aged care nurses get the same raw deal in QLD)
Must say that I just couldn't take the pay drop for practice nursing in QLD which for me would be $10 hour drop if I was a permanent contract hospital employee but I'm casual so would be getting near $20 hour drop in pay and I get heaps of work that suits. Exchange rate as terrible as it is now, I was earning more than $25 hour equivalent as a practice nurse in the UK before I came to Australia in 2006.

If money were no issue and it was purely for a love of the job decision, I would do it in a flash - but the mortgage etc make hospital work more feasible as I then get some disposable income. Practice nursing does have much less autonomy in QLD too.

Sorry if this seems negative but it's a fact here - anything primary care/community nursing does get a poor deal with state agreed wages.

I wonder Vivi if that's the reason you can't get a nurse to fill the position. Of course there are far less Australian trained nurses who have experience in practice nursing compared to the UK so maybe it's a bit of a combination. YOu would think where you are positioned that someone would be interested though.

I worked with an enrolled nurse last year who had left her job as a practice nurse in a hinterland practice due to internal politics and she had been paid $35 hour. I have a friend from Uk who also got the same in a hinterland practice although these were privately owned practices and up to the partners what they are willing to pay. Occassionally there is a job that pays its worth but many go by the state ''award'' - I've never understood that term for pay reasons

carolinejones3

House sale going through!
Will be coming around end of July beg of Aug.
Not fixed on an area just yet. Liam has contacts in Brissy, and we know a few peeps out that way. We are looking at Redlands area Bayside.

I love my job so much, I would be gutted to find I couldn't practice in Oz as PN. Have looked at some wages and job discriptions and they are dire to be honest.
PM me with job details and wage, I maybe convinced
Caroline

dannes

Hi Vivi

Would you PM me with job details and wage as well. I would be interested to see more details and if full time could be $49, that dosent sound half bad!!

Did my IELTS yesterday. know i passed the speaking and i hate to say it as it may be tempting fate, but it didnt seem too awful!!!

Annie

vivi

Hi Kitty, Thanks for you input, however you do seem quite negative about the practice nurse role and wage. Yes we could earn more in a hospital enviroment but surely this is based on penalty rates etc. Also not everyone wants to do shift work etc. Personally I have been nursing for 33 yrs and Practice Nursing is the tops. The range of work, the skills aquired plus and I would list this a s a number one is the job satisfaction. Also I must inform you that the role of the practice nurse is changing drastically and nurse input is on the increase- I think you must judge each centre individually. It would be interesting to find out what other practice nurses think, and write about their pay and conditions to give a fair view for all practice nurses yet to hit our sunny climate!
Vi

kitty4

Sorry to appear on the scene again!! I agree Vivi the practice nurse role has other benefits vs hospital nursing, as in not doing shift work, being part of a smaller cohesive team and the range and diversity of the work. I also agree money isn't everything and sometimes lower pay or different conditions pay off for quality of life reasons, including juggling childcare or other interests. I'm not intending to be totally negative and apologise if my post has annoyed you. I have been nursing a long time too and have been a practice nurse, although not in Australia. It was the best job I ever had. Yes, I also agree that the role is and will continue to develop in Australia and obviously, some medical centres are better than others - same in any country. I was just responding to questions about pay etc, from my perspective. No, the hospital earning capacity isn't more due to penalty rates. The base rate is invariably a lot higher than many centres offer - a fact not my negativity. I did give examples of nurses I know who had good agreements and conditions in practice nursing. I know there are some centres out there who offer not just better pay, but great working conditions.
I will reiterate my argument with regard to national pay agreements or ''awards'' as they are known here, that I feel it is unfair to ''award'' nurses in community and primary care roles less than hospital based nurses. These nurses are just as skilled if not more in some cases, with more diverse roles and autonomy. I hope to see this situation change for the benefit and fairness of all non hospital nurses - maybe the new nationalisation of the register will be a start.
Sincerely hope you find someone suitable to fill your vacancy soon vivi - the position would undoubtedly be attrative to some new migrants and offer a great chance to settle into a job without the pitfalls of hospital nursing (which are many).

vivi

Thank you, your points noted and accepted!