Liza Brimfield

Hi I have just joined this site. My name is Liza and I am a British nurse looking to emigrate to the USA with my family. Is there anyone out there who can advise me, or give any hints about agengies and so forth. I have a sister who lives in Charlotte North Carolina. Is there anyone who has emigrated to a charlotte hospital and can give me any info. I currently work in Critical care and am 39 with 4 children.
waiting to hear lizaxxxx

Rockgurl

Hello and welcome. I'm a British nurse working in ICU in Connecticut USA. I've been here a year. What would you like to know? I can tell you which agency brought me over if you like, so PM me. Dunno if I can shower them with praise exactly, but I'm here so it can't be too bad!

Lion in Winter

Welcome to the site. Don't know anything about nursing I'm afraid, but Rockgurl can help you there.

NC Penguin

Welcome to BE Lisa!

You may want to check out the "Nursing" forum in the Working Abroad section of the forums listing. Members who post there may be in a better position to give you advice, etc.

I live in Durham to the east of Charlotte. I don't know much about Charlotte hospitals or nursing but I have lived in NC for 2.5 years now so if you've got general questions about NC, feel free to send me a Private Message (PM).




NC Penguin

tony126

Welcome to BE. With regards to your question I am as useful as a chocolate teapot but there are plenty who will point you in the right direction.

Ray

Take a look here as well ..its Florida info ..but plenty of basic info that may help http://www.xsorbit1.com/users/florid...cgi?board=Nurs

Bob

Yup, welcome to the site
And as other people suggested, post in the nursing section would probably get more help, there's plenty of nurses out here, honeymommy is another that could help, she was out in the west coast.

AdobePinon

Hehe! Being a coffee drinker, I'll gladly eat your chocolate teapot and relieve you of that burden!

Liza, welcome. All I can tell you is that Albuquerque has a huge shortage of nurses and are recruiting out of country. But ABQ would probably be a bit much for most Brits coming to the States. My impression is that nurses have pretty good odds of getting through the immigration thing, so best of luck!

Ray

I thought she was back in the UK ..or am I getting name confusion..

Sarah

welcome welcome welcome. What do you want to come over here for?

sibsie

She is back now after the immigration saga.

Liza Brimfield

Well it seems a whole lot better over ther than it is here. I work long hours for shit money and weather is crap!! What do you do and how long you been over ther? liza

emmals

hi liza...i'm still in the uk.....but hoping to be in florida early next year....don't know anything about nursing i'm afraid....but welcome to the site....and if your ever in the lounge foram...pop into the expats pub for a drink and chat

Rockgurl

There are always compensatory factors. The hours are still long, the weather is better...granted, and the pay is proportionally better although not when you convert it back to pounds. However, it's not like the NHS. There is mountains of paperwork and the American healthcare system is extremely anal about that and also about doing compentencies. It's not like the UKCC (NMC) where you may or may not have to show a few bits of paper to show you've kept up your practise every few years. Over here you have to fulfil contact hours and criteria every year which means you have to partake in extra hours meetings, comittees, conferences, courses and god knows what else. You don't get paid for that time. You have to have an evaluation evry 6 months or a year, and if you're not up to scratch...out you go. In the UK if you didn't have everything you need you'd get extra help or classes. Not oever here...it's a blaming society. Keep up or get out. You can lose your license by just sniffing in the wrong direction. Everything is protocol and policy driven and if you fail to follow protocol to the letter you don't have a leg to stand on, even if you can back yourself up. As a nurse you have zero autonomy, and can't even give a Paracaetomol (Tylenol) without an order. Christ...you can't even do an MRSA screen or urinalysis without a doctors order...frustrating and annoying compared to what I was doing in the UK. There are few holidays and everything is so strict you have a heart attack almost every day trying to keep up. If you make one mistake you can be sacked with no questions. Don't mean to scare you but it's a culture shock, and it takes a brave person to work in healthcare over here.

On the plus side, you get paid proportionally well compared to other hospitals, and you get subsidised health insurance. I only pay $20 a month for full coverage which I think is quite good. You get a better standard of living i.e. houses are bigger, cars are newer etc. I get excellent training and further education opportunities (mainly because I work for the state) and I'm a better nurse than I was in the UK simply because I've been forced to up my performance and knowledge. If you do work over here, I strongly suggest you work for a University Hospital preferably run by the state. The comparison between that kind of facility and a small community for-profit hospital is enormous and your experience will be very different. The buzz of actually making it here is an amazing one, and I definitely think it's worth doing. Just keep your eyes open, that's all, and be prepared to practise in a totally different way.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you lots of luck!

Franklin

Welcome to British Embassy Liza.