magicsprout

any scrubmonkeys out there already working in oz? i would love to hear about any differences to the uk. im just starting to get paperwork together for sa registration before i apply for visa, as its gonna be a prob getting a transcript with my nursing school closed years ago.

Mrs JFW

Hi magic,

welcome to BE. I don't work in theatres so can't help you I'm afraid. just wanted to let you know that if you school of nursing closed down you can contact the NMC and they should be able to find a syllabus or one thats simelar to the course you did when you trained. You can send that instead. I had that problem too that my school of nursing was no longer in existance!

Good luck with your application I hope some more 'scrubbers' come along soon! (only joking! )

jackie x

magicsprout

thanks for the welcome, im looking at going this time next year so ive got plenty time, my partner is still finishing his degree so we are waiting for his graduation before we send off for the visa. ive also lost my original entry statement so ive got to get a copy of that as well, lol the ukcc are gonna do well out of me

Mrs JFW

Well its about time they started earning their keep!

Jackie x

janrox

Hi Iworked for a year in theatre as an anaesthetic nurse in Melbourne and there doesn,t seem to be much difference to working in the uk. When I applied for registration my school of nursing had closed so I approached the college it had transferred to and they were really helpfull and sent a transcript to the relevant places. Good luck

Margaret3

Hello am a very old scrubber heading to mellie in the next couple months

magicsprout

lol you cant be that much older than me if ur going out on a skills visa. (36)

Mrs JFW

Margaret3

42 , and have been scrubbing on and off since i was 21 (and am still crap at it, will get the hang of it one day, lol)

hedgehog-girl

Hi, I'm a scrub nurse in Sydney and on the whole not much difference between here and the UK. Some of the instruments are called different things and from my perspective they are a little bit more advanced here than the UK in the terms of willing to do more lap stuff and use more innovations, I came from a major hospital in the north of the UK which had about 16 theatres and I am now in a much smaller hospital.

Where I was in the UK we didn't have that much paperwork but we do at my health trust here. We have different forms for different classification of procedures and an official count is always documented as well as forms for tracing and using consumables etc...

In my health trust here we don't use Ains/hca's/etc within theatres at all, its either RN's, CNC/CNE/ or EN's and there is always 3 qualified staff in theatre at any time. They are quite strict with regards to sticking to ACORN standards which is the regulatory body here by which all standards are made.

There are a lot of perioperative courses available here which is great although ACORN is a bit poor in its resources for members.

We use a lot more single use only items here and disposable items than what I used in the UK and for my hospital there is a lot more negotiation with theatre staff and management about what we trial and use.

If you have agency staff here they are more "friendly" to those agency people which I didn't find in the UK.

Here I get extra payment for wearing lead gowns in theatre as well as extra time off. I get more study time and in general get more support educationally than what I did in the UK with time off and paid courses. I am encouraged to find courses and increase my knowledge.

Thats all I can think of for now, and obviously these are only my observations from my neck of the woods. It could be totally different where you are, although I think I am right that its more or less the same for Sydney and and the central coast.

Hope this helps!

magicsprout

sounds quite similar then i like the lead gown enhancement its about time, my major is ortho trauma in a large hospital.
not sure about the lap surgery though, i hope those guys are better than ours. open dixie 10mins lap dixie 2hrs lol we try not to encourage lap work

Margaret3

that bloody lead gown , had one on yesterday for 4 hrs

We now also use lots of single use items, due to 'mad cow', ha, ha, or cjd, for the smart people, we also do quite alot of paperwork, concerning traceability and counts, and nursing care, in our theatre we have our own care plans for the peri-op period, once they are filled in , we then have to put the SAME info into the computer in the theatre, drives me bloody mad

Hedghog girl, thanx for that, sounds encouraging.

We do quite alot of lap work, especially on the gyn side now, got used to it and the surgeons are certainly quicker than they used to be

Thing that worries me though, we are spoilt for staff, we usually have at least 4 trained (not uncommon for 5), and two auxillaries, think its coz of our hosp location, we are generally well staffed throughout the hospital.

magicsprout

they got around to putting computers in theatres last year but never got round to the care plan bit so they exist for blood results and the anaesthetists to check the cricket scores.
weve got a computer form to fill out that goes to the seceretaries, implant tracking sheets for reordering, and two big booklet care plans one for checking in and anaesthetic notes and one for nursing radiographer and surgical notes, so after descrubbing there is this mad scramble to get to it first.

hedgehog-girl

he hehe sounds the same as here, the forms that we have aren't so much as care plans but more of what we actually did so the info on them is who was in the theatre, who positioned the pt, what you used to position then, medications, any discrenacies in the count, if things were left in (packs) etc...There is a lot of extra forms for different things and I know people from all over the world are a little overwhelmed when they see what we have but I guess its because Australia follows the USA for litigation.

I totally agree with some of the lap work stuff, they are quick here but to be honest there was a reg in the UK where I worked who could do an appendix, start to finish in 10 minutes where it takes on on average about 35 mins here but then its all good, I don't mind.

Also, in my wage package I get the following extra:-

hosiery
laundry
shoes
uniform (even though I don't pay for mine)
lead apron money (about and extra $1.53)
On call allowance (when I work a late I am also on call for the next 10 hours and I do get called out about once a week) $2.63

If you work over a certain time i.e. 10 hours you get a $19 bonus for the meal break you missed

Salary packing which is worth the equivalent of about $17000 and is a godsend

Salary sacrificing which you can put more money into your superannuation before tax

If I am in charge of the theatre (which I am on average once a week) I get an extra $20 for the privilege

All in all I get good money for working here, but then on average I work a damn sight more than what I did in the UK. I am expected to keep skills and knowledge up and expected to be a bit more professional which I like. In the UK I felt like I came in did my bit and left, here I am expected to give a valuable input to work and to improving the system that we have which is great. You feel that you are a little bit special here, whereas in the UK nursing doesn't have the specialness any more.

meljor

Hi scrubbies,
I am off back to the UK but want to get into theatre work and I know jobs are scarce and that UK scrubbies compete with ODP's and everything but what is the best way to get into it in the UK cos I never saw any jobs going for people who wanted to come off the wards and work in theatre when I was there.