Nursing In Spain? - Page 3

Hello butchoy,
I am actualy a Spanish nurse. I was born in Spain and grew up there, and did my nursing degree there, therefore, I consider myself pretty qualified to give you some information regarding my country of origin.
If after my information, you still have unanswered questions, please, feel free to ask. I might not answer straight away but I'll do my best to be as quick as possible.
Now, it so happens that my asawa comes from the Philippines as well. We stayed in Spain for a while last year, and I went to my nursing school to talk to the nursing director and find out if she knew what the requirements for obtaining a spanish education equivalency were.
Spain seems to be in the stone ages when it comes to legal paperwork, and are not very welcoming to anything foreign, hence the information that I obtained from the nursing director didn't surprise me a bit. To obtain an equivalency and despite the fact that you guys hold a bsn in nursing as opposed to the Spanish diploma in nursing, I was told you would have to study a couple of subjects before you were given the all clear. On top of that, you would have to translate all your documents into Spanish, very few people speak english in there...
Once you get that sorted, luckily for you, you wouldn't have to take any state exams, they do not exist. It is however recommended to join the school of nursing of whichever county you are at.
I am sorry to put a damp on things, but even after doing all this, you won't have a permanent job waiting for you. Nursing jobs in Spain are few and infrequent. THe problem comes from the fact that patient to nursing ratio is ridiculously high, and, therefore, do not require that many nurses. Most nurses are burnt out and tired despite the fact that the pay is great and that nurses are very well considered socially..Every two years or so, there are statewide exams for job openings in the county of residence. Everybody takes those exams and it is necessary to take them so that your name appears on the employment list in the hospitals. Here is a picture for you: they offer approximately 300 jobs but you get 4000 people applying for them, therefore, only those with the highest grade on the exam, plus working experience,plus language knowledge end up high enough on the list to get a permanent job. Once you get the job, you do not have to take the exam ever again and will have that job for as long as you want, which normally means until you retire. People hold on to those jobs as if their lives depended on it. If, however, you do not get any of the 300 jobs, you are in trouble, my friend, because you will have to take the exam again and again and again until you succeed, and sometimes, that is never. Which means that most nurses in Spain have to study every 2 years...at least it keeps your mind fresh, right? But, even if you don't get the job, if you are lucky enough to fall on a relatively good position within the list, you will be working all the time, because you will be taking the jobs of those who go on maternity leave, sick leave, etc... you will be changing jobs and specialties, but at least you will be working.
Now, take into account the fact that some counties within spain work as an autonomy.One of them my county, the beautiful basque country. That means that some counties like mine not only have spanish as their official language but another one. In my case that's the basque language, in others, you have catalan, gallego... what that means is that if you were to work in any of those places, learning spanish wouldn't be enough. You would have to learn spanish plus their other official language and take an exam to proof knowledge ( Like ielts).
So, to put it simply, I left Spain because i knew i wouldn't have the luxury of a permanent and secure job, and I have never regretted my decision. If I were you, I would look for another alternative, Spain sounds way too complicated for the time being. Who knows, if things change in the future, I would definitely reccommend it. It is a beautiful country to live in after all, but not unless things start changing.
I apologize for my ramblings, but I find our system differs from the rest of the countries, and it is very difficult to explain it unless you've experienced it yourself. I do however hope that my explanation is clear enough for you to get a picture into spanish nursing.
Good luck in whatever decision you take.