american anaesthetists in Oz

Specialties Operating Room

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Hi,

Have been a member here for a long time, but never thought to start a post!

we have just had 2 anaesthetists arrive from the states (not sure where yet) and they tell me that they do not have an anaesthetic nurse in America?? I am amazed, I have always thought that Australia follows the American standards. I was told that in theatre you only have a scrub nurse and a circulating nurse (who also cares for the anaesthetist a little), while we in Australia have at least (per Australian standards) a scrubber, circulator and an anaesthetic nurse preferably 2 circulators for large cases. Just wondering if this is the case generally all over the States or is it only in certain areas?

also they carry a little black bag of intubating equipment with them, is this normal practice? Here we have a difficult intubation trolley with all the emergency equipment on it to share!

Cheers Squeek

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I am a Nurse manager in the OR in Tennessee. We do have Nurse Anesthesists (known as CRNA's ) in my facility. Actually, we have 38. They typically give 95% of all anesthesia. Our Anesthesiologists supervise the CRNA's and during traumas, difficult intubations, and pediatric cases, actually stay in the room with the CRNA's and help during the case. We have 1 RN and 1 tech/LPN in the room also. We use LPN (licensed practical nurses) to scrub also. I have been in a facility which did not have CRNA's and found the Anesthesiologist to be more needy and moody than the surgeon. I prefer working with CRNA's. They typically do not have inflated egos. Hope this clears up a little.

Actually, I have a question. What is the going rate for a Rn in the operating theater in Australia. I have been told it is 22.00 (australian dollars). I have considered traveling to the land of OZ for 1 year, but there was too many questions and no one seemed to have any answers.

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thanks for your reply, I live and work in South Australia, we do not have nurse anaestheologists in SA, Anaesthetic nurses can be RNs or ENs who assist the anaesthetist and look after the patient. we do not have tech's yet although they do in some states, NSW at least.

as to working here, each state of oz is different, there is a nurses board in each state and to work in that state you must register with that nurses board. Not hard to do after your initial registration.

Our pay rates (and everything else) are different too state to state. In SA the ANF (australian nurses union) just won us a lovely payrise, currently a level 1 Registered Nurse, year 9 earns $26.00 per hour in a public hospital.

I am not sure how that equates to your nursing levels. An RN, has a 3 year hospital training certificate or (for the last 11 or so years) a Bachelor of nursing, 3 years from university.

Level 1 means a worker :rolleyes: , level 2 are our clinical nurses (still work but are the experts :rotfl: ), 3 are our clinical nurse managers (in charge of the experts), 4 our executive managers, 5 our directors of nursing etc. etc.

year 9 is the years of experience post registration, starts at 1 up to 9.

although I would love to earn more money and probably deserve it, our pay rates are reasonable in comparison to our economy. Medical officers earn a lot more but they are welcome to it. Australia has a shortage of nurses and I think every state would love to have you (or any experienced nurse). please feel free to pm me if you would like any more details.

cheers Squeek

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