Looking for a friend in the UK

World UK

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Hi,

I'm a female nursing student in America and I want to work in London when I graduate. I want some life experience and an adventure. I'm single and have no children, so I have nothing keeping me in New Orleans. I am a bit nervous about moving because I know absolutely no one in England. I am looking for someone to chat with about England, nursing and anything else. Here is some information about myself: I'm 22 years old, I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I want to work in pediatrics when I graduate (May 2006).

Thanks to anyone who responds, I really appreciate it.

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Did you pass the NCLEX when you took it and how did you find it? Did you find it very hard since you had been trained in the UK system first? :balloons:

Yes i passed it first time, I found it very very hard.

No it was hard because it was hard nothing to do with me being trained here in UK. I have a lot of nursing experience so i felt that helped some of the time and hindered some of the time. I studied very hard for the NCLEX.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
wow, very interesting. Maybe I shouldn't rely on that then when it comes time to actually take the NCLEX lol.

No but practicing did bring my score up from 62% to almost 80% after months of practicing lots of different tests, and i found the NCSBN course very helpful.

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No we do not take pharmacolgy or A&P separately the way we do in the USA nor do they pretest you to enter a nursing program. It is very hands on. after 5 weeks of classes you are then sent out on placements (aka work) to the wards. You are assigned mentors but the quality of the mentor varies with how much she wants to teach you or be brothered by students. I never thought I would say this but I miss the quizes and chapter tests we use to do back home. that way you know if you know it or not. The way it stands in the back of my mind I always worry. Furthermore we work full time during our training on the wards. So any reading/study you do is in your own time once you have finished your 2000 word assignment, protofolio, transition etc. Yes the name of cd roms would be useful. Look forward to hearing from you. What part of Texas do you live in? What is your email address? :balloons:

I don't want to give out my email address on here, but if you go to my profile, there is a place to send me an email. I would've already sent you an email, but you have that feature disabled in your profile :).

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No but practicing did bring my score up from 62% to almost 80% after months of practicing lots of different tests, and i found the NCSBN course very helpful.

What is the NCSBN course? :p

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
What is the NCSBN course? :p

have a look on the ncsbn website or go to http://www.learningext.com they have a lot of different course that you can pay for. I found it very useful and they have lots of nclex type questions and also explain a lot of stuff

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You sound just like me! I also graduate in May 2006 also. This has been my dream for about 5 years to move to England after school. So you know the legalities of it? I think it's getting down to crunch time, I need to start looking into it, b/c I think it takes a long time to process applications or whatever is needed. We can use each other as resources. I didn't think that there were any other students who wanted to do the same thing. I think I should've been born somewhere in the UK b/c I have always had a fascination with it.

I think that it's great that you want to move to England. Where in England? I want to move to London. As for the legalities of it you must work for at least a year before you can apply and you must have a bachelors degree or higher. Check out this website http://www.nmc-uk.org. the nmc is the organization that allows you to work as an RN in the UK, they must approve your application before you can work. I started to look into moving this past december because I knew it would take a long time because of all the red tape you have to go through. I have emailed the nmc and they sent me some information. I also emailed one children's hospital and they were very nice. They seemed egar to higher American nurses. Have you ever been to England because I haven't? I know your are probably thinking why does she want to move there if she's never been. I feel I need a change and this is something that I am able to do right now. I have no children or other responsibilites so I feel this is the best time to do something exciting for myself while I am able to. Is school driving you crazy? I know I can't wait to graduate. only one more year to go, woo hoo! I would like to work in peds. what area do you want to work in? I think it would be a great idea to use each other as resources. If I find out any information that would be useful to you I would be happy to send it too you.

Have a great day.

Jen :wink2:

P.S. What area of Texas are you from?

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Are you still out there? how did all your tests go? fingers crossed for you. :balloons:

Hi,

Yeah I'm still here, I just been so busy this week with papers and studying. I don't know how I did because we still haven't recieved our grades back. How's everything going with you? When are you finished with school? Are you going to stay in London after you graduate or move back to the states?

Have a great day.

Jen :wink2:

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Yes i passed it first time, I found it very very hard.

No it was hard because it was hard nothing to do with me being trained here in UK. I have a lot of nursing experience so i felt that helped some of the time and hindered some of the time. I studied very hard for the NCLEX.

I really glad for you that you passed the first time. I see that you may be an RCN rep. At the moment we are studying power and politics therefor I am very interested to here your view on what the RCN has done for nurses lately. Also my trust had an open day it was real bad. I did not feel that they want to invest in use despite what they said. Furthermore they said there were no jobs at the moment. When you started how was it and at your place of work do they invest in students more. Furtermore what is your advice on what I should look for in a furture place of work. At the moment I am on the worst placement ever and I just do not want to end up working somewhere like this in furture. Any of your views would be helpful. Thanks

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Hi,

Yeah I'm still here, I just been so busy this week with papers and studying. I don't know how I did because we still haven't recieved our grades back. How's everything going with you? When are you finished with school? Are you going to stay in London after you graduate or move back to the states?

Have a great day.

Jen :wink2:

I think I have to have experience first before I can go back to the states. Also I must be able to take the NCLEX. Then who knows. How long does it take for ya'll to get your results back? Over here it takes 4 months. Hope its going well. I am on the placement from HELL. I have 11 weeks left. God help me. Hope its going better for you.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
I really glad for you that you passed the first time. I see that you may be an RCN rep. At the moment we are studying power and politics therefor I am very interested to here your view on what the RCN has done for nurses lately. Also my trust had an open day it was real bad. I did not feel that they want to invest in use despite what they said. Furthermore they said there were no jobs at the moment. When you started how was it and at your place of work do they invest in students more. Furtermore what is your advice on what I should look for in a furture place of work. At the moment I am on the worst placement ever and I just do not want to end up working somewhere like this in furture. Any of your views would be helpful. Thanks

Hi,

No I am not RCN rep I am just well infromed and have been doing the job for a long time. Trusts have no money to invest.

When I qualified as a RN in 1992 there were no jobs and if you went for an interview and you would be up against at least 10 others, I went for one job and they had over 200 applicants, it was horrendous.

There are jobs and there is a nursing shortage but the easiest way to save/cut money in the NHS is to go slow on advertising jobs or put a block on recruitment. It is the begining of a new financial year yet most trusts are almost bankrupt and with the new AFC trusts are unsure of whether they have been financially compensated from the government for the increase in money AFC may bring. It is a political minefield out there, and with the general election on the horizon we will be pawns in the big game of chess we will see unfolding.

Where do you work at the moment?

I would advise any newly qualified nurse to try and get a job even if it is only for 6 months to work either on general surgical/medical ward whilst you build up you new skills. You will be thrown in at the deep end unfortunatly. they changed the way we trained student nurses in the 90's because they felt that student nurses were used and abused so now instead of being used and abused as students you will be used and abused as newly qualified nurses.

At least when you qualified years ago it was easier to manage, because you had been trained to think like Rn's from day one with it all leading up to being newly qualified. Now I feel for the the new RN's.

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I think I have to have experience first before I can go back to the states. Also I must be able to take the NCLEX. Then who knows. How long does it take for ya'll to get your results back? Over here it takes 4 months. Hope its going well. I am on the placement from HELL. I have 11 weeks left. God help me. Hope its going better for you.

Hey,

How are you doing? To answer your question, I asked a nurse who took the NCLEX in January and her results were posted on the NCLEX website within a week. I'm starting to look at hospitals to work at once I move. I want to work in peds, I love children! Have you worked in peds yet? Which is the best children's hospital in London for nurses to work at? I hope your placement will get better, just keep a positive attidue. I'll keep you in my prayers.

Have a Great Day. :)

Jen

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I think that it's great that you want to move to England. Where in England? I want to move to London. As for the legalities of it you must work for at least a year before you can apply and you must have a bachelors degree or higher. Check out this website http://www.nmc-uk.org. the nmc is the organization that allows you to work as an RN in the UK, they must approve your application before you can work. I started to look into moving this past december because I knew it would take a long time because of all the red tape you have to go through. I have emailed the nmc and they sent me some information. I also emailed one children's hospital and they were very nice. They seemed egar to higher American nurses. Have you ever been to England because I haven't? I know your are probably thinking why does she want to move there if she's never been. I feel I need a change and this is something that I am able to do right now. I have no children or other responsibilites so I feel this is the best time to do something exciting for myself while I am able to. Is school driving you crazy? I know I can't wait to graduate. only one more year to go, woo hoo! I would like to work in peds. what area do you want to work in? I think it would be a great idea to use each other as resources. If I find out any information that would be useful to you I would be happy to send it too you.

Have a great day.

Jen :wink2:

Is school driving me crazy?! yes!!!! that's why I haven't been able to get on for about a week now, it doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day. Today I have finally gotten a break . And if you're crazy for moving to London b/c you have never visited there, then count me in as one of the crazies, b/c I've never been there either. Like you, it's a perfect opportunity to go b/c I don't have any kids, no man to tie me down :). I think I just want to live there for a year or so, just for the experience. I did visit the NMC website, but it hasn't occured to me to think about contacting hospitals there, is that something I should be doing? I'm glad to hear that they sound eager to hire American nurses. I'm thinking the Winsdor, Ascot area sounds kind of cool. But then again I have no idea where to go, maybe I should take a trip there just to see the different areas so I know where would fit me best. Was the information the NMC sent you anything different than what was on the website? Should I send for an info. packet too?

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