American Nursing student

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 23, 2006

Heya,
I am a nursing student in the US. I am wondering a bit about the pay for UK nurses and what all they do. I have a "little friend" over there and he said its alot different here. I am thinking about traveling that way after I get some experience. I just got hired into a neuro trauma unit so that should do the trick. Any info about UK nursing would be helpful

nurses does differ from countr to country. We to a certain degree do not do the same assessments which you do ie lung, cardiac and bowels but we do other stuff that you wouldn't. we can can have local policies which would allow nurses to do things without having to see a doctor first. most hospials are NHS but there are private hospitals also. To assist consultants in the hospitals there are nurse specialists who work along side or independantly with the consultant.

To work in the UK as a foreign nrse is at the moment hard as NMC have put a few blocks down. You have to do 20 days protected study but unfortunately there are not enough accredited places for everyone and this has to be done before you get NMC number which enables you to work in the UK. The process can take 12 months or more. http://www.nmc-uk.org

http://www.nursingtimes.net is a nursing magazine which is free to subscribe which will give you an idea on pay and job descriptions in the job section. Again ufortunately a lot of trusts are cutting back and even letting nurses go which may have an impact on getting work permits for the UK

hope this helps

sweetpealoubylou · Mar 23, 2006

thanks for the links silver i been wondering where i get the nurfrsing times as APU recommended it wohhohooo thanks again

sweetpea lou

amandahqtpie · Mar 23, 2006

I think nurse consultant is the same as nurse practitioner here, I am hoping to finish school for that sometime in the near future. One of the employees from here went somewhere over there for a while. He said that nurses dont start IVs or do stuff like that over there. Thought that was kind of odd. He also said the pay was barely enough to live on. Even so I think it would be a fun experience.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2006

I think nurse consultant is the same as nurse practitioner here, I am hoping to finish school for that sometime in the near future. One of the employees from here went somewhere over there for a while. He said that nurses dont start IVs or do stuff like that over there. Thought that was kind of odd. He also said the pay was barely enough to live on. Even so I think it would be a fun experience.

I agree the diference in nursing US and Uk is huge, things Uk nurses do US nurses dont and visa versa. Nurses in Uk tend not to insert IV cannules but there are nurses that do. They do commence IV antibiotics/fluids though.

The pay is not that bad you have to take into condsideration the paid vacation time which is 7 weeks full pay. Plus sick time you can get up to 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay.

Nurse practioners are not the same as Nurse consultants, but I agree there are similarities.

The pay in both countries could be better. I get paid a lot less here in US than I did in the Uk and get no benefits at the moment.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 24, 2006

I think nurse consultant is the same as nurse practitioner here, I am hoping to finish school for that sometime in the near future. One of the employees from here went somewhere over there for a while. He said that nurses dont start IVs or do stuff like that over there. Thought that was kind of odd. He also said the pay was barely enough to live on. Even so I think it would be a fun experience.

Although at present I work in a doctors surgery I used to work on a busy medical admission unit and it was very normal for nurses to do take blood samples, insert cannulas and commence IV fluids. This is getting more and more common as doctor's roles are changing, hours reduced and more allocated towards the nurses who have jobs added for job description but not always paid.

Nurse practitioners and nurse specialists are totally different. Here is a link to my local university and what there requirements are for nurse practitioner http://www.hud.ac.uk/courses/part_time/ipp_pages00000788.htm

I think starting pay for newly qualified is approx £18000 which is approx $31000 yes living tends to be higher than the US and it is hard as a single person managing but I did ok buying a house as well as living but prices do vary depending where you live to what you can afford. Living in the southern part of the country is more expensive than northern.