Oz2010

I am hoping to emigrtae to melbourne in 2010. currently i am a scrub nurse in cardio thoracic. i love theatres sadly and hope to begin the visa process at the end of the year. just wanted some views on theatre nursing over there. do you have the same problems no staff? low morale? lack of equipment? and any good hospitals you can suggest around melbourne- mordialloc, parkdale, mentone area?
plus what is the approximate wage of a theatre nurse i will be almost 4 years experienced in this field by the time i arrive?
thank you

Margaret3

hello there i am a theatre nurse and work 2 days public and 2 days agency, would strongly, strongly , recommend public as opposed to private, public is much, much, better staffed than private.
lack of equipment is a big issue and i find the equipment is stuff we were usuing 10 ago (i have been a theatre nurse for around 20 years), also i find the nursing in theatre old fashioned , very segregated and task orientated (i know this unavoidable in theatre, but i just find it worse here)

just now i get $29 per hr, public, which is grade 2, year9 and $45 per hr agency

augigi

Depends if you want public or private. If you want cardiothoracics, Alfred Hospital may be worth investigating - does a lot of cardiac surgery, not too far (18km) from Mentone. I live in Mentone and work there, but not in theatre.

Otherwise, there is a small private hospital in Parkdale (Como Private), or public and private hospitals down at Frankston.