My name is Aleksandra and I am 27 years old. I was born and raised in Germany. In 2004 I graduated from nursing school specialization in pediatric. In 2006 I got married to my Husband who is in the military. SO now my story begins. Fresh from school, with a OK English knowledge moving from Germany to Missouri. I don't know what I was thinking, but then I thought that everything is sooooo easy, pink, and just sooo perfect and of course I will have work. I will be a nurse because I went to school for it .... EEEE .... WRONG....
When I showed the nursing school my degree, the lady told " what you want me to do with this" ... I was crushed..... So there I am!!!! New country, no family, husband deployed, and NO JOB!!!! The lady at the college told me the only thing I can do is to go to college and start over again!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!??? I just finished school.
I didn't think that my language would be enough to go thru school again. I was scared to death. I don't know if any of you also familiar with German RN's but we really worked like slaves. ( at least in my hospital)
- We worked 11 days in a row.... 2 days off and then another 5 or 8 days... DIFFERENT SHIFTS Eving,morning etc.
- We also DO the CNA, LPN, RN job all in one ( there is no support beside 2 nursing students.... Ratio was 8- 10 patient per nurse) .... We was responsible for everything!! Changing diapers, prepare food, give a bath... We also had to change the Bed sheets and sanitize the Beds....pass the meds, go for visitation with the Doc, do charts, feed the infants AND OF COURSE all bandage change, IV change etc. Just in one shift I FELT LIKE I was a MAID there NOT A NURSE.... The result was ALL of my nursing friends are STILL single because there is NOOOOOOOOOOO private time at all, or many just quiet the JOB and work way something different. Plus the pay was horrible.... We might get 900$ every 2 weeks....
SO I thought to my self I am done with nursing and If I have to start all over I will go for Business.... ( kind a be a Business women hahaha)
Now I am done with my Associate in Business Management I was thinking to go for International Business...
Now I spoke with few people and tehy all told me the same thing .... Nursing IS WAY DIFFERENT in the USA THEN my story I told them. There is a CNA a LPN and a RN on one shift. There is also a person the make the beds and feed the patient?!
All my friends and especially my Husband telling me to go and try to pass the board or go for nursing again.
That is where my JUNIOR midlife crises begins!!!
WHAT TO DO??? We are in the military moving around, right now we in Hawaii for the next 2 years and then what??? Again no job, no money, I will be soon 30 .... And what did I accomplish in my life??? Bunch of schooling and that's it. I can not get a JOB... If I apply somewhere in Business ... As soon as they read nursing they asking me what I want in business. When I apply in nursing they asking me what do I want with a business school, and a German nursing licenses!! I can not even work as a nurse aid ....
Now soon we have 2011 and I decided that I am done with crying around!!! But I still don't know what do to. Do I go for business and work in a job I never worked before or do I work the DREAM job that I always want it. ( since the 3rd grade a knew I want to be nurse... I just love the hospital) as a child I always watched the ER with Dr. Carter and Dr. Benton or Dr. Mark green! LOL
SO my husband was so generous and he offered me his GI BILL to go for my bachelor. But I don't know what to do next. Business or Nursing??
Do I just try to take the nursing state board? When yes, How I am going to do that? We are also military what happen to me when we move again to a difrent sate, and I also feel like I don't think I be able to pass the board.
DO I go to college AGAIN to become a RN!!!! With worries if I be able to finish in time before we have to leave again...
Is there any Prep classes that can prepare me for the state board.... Question over Question!!!:confused:
I am sooooooo thankful for any comment, help, recommendation, links, maybe someone here is a nurse from Germany and can tell me their experience.:redbeathe
Thank you for reading this thread better called "BOOK"
It's the norm over here too. Is it right, no, but that's just how it is. A friend of mine who is Filipina (DON) openly stated that's how she got her job. But at least she's a good nurse and has a lot of knowledge to back up her credentials. Some of the people that she works with are constantly messing up. There's this one VERY QUESTIONABLE RN there that she ended up letting go because of her lack of skill and probably lack of qualifications. But what ended up happening was the nurse was hired back because her sister in laws brothers wife (or how ever it goes) is the DSD and she cleaned out her file because it was a novel. The administrator who is non-Filipino ok'd the hire back because of the clean file. Go figure.
See you know of this too. I have Filipina/o friends (that came here the right way). They openly acknowlege this stuff that happens, much to their dismay.
Silverdragon, there are rules, but I am sure there is a very easy way to get around them. I remember back when I was in clinicals, the older nurses who dared, told me to look around and not waste my time trying to get in that network. Even giving me tips as to "who hires white nurses" because they knew this hospital network did not, favoring new nurses imported sight unseen (with token "other race" hires -nurse managers-to satisfy EEOC). The BSN, yes the imports come preconfigured with BSN of course.
The hospitals take advantage of being able to demand anything from these very young desperate girls, who, much to my friends dismay, get married and pregnant as soon as leave is covered by benefits. Even with this, the financial advantage is great, as you know, if it were not profitable to continue this practice Corporate certainly would not. Pretty bold of them I think, still. Oh, this network went Magnet in record time, all hospitals within it. It was a record for Magnet. You see, you can make things happen artificially... to get what you want exactly when you want it these days.
Well what I should said is that my self confidence was lacking!!!!
I DO SPEAK ENGLISH, and you also will have a decent conversation with me. I just finished my Associate Degree in Business Management ( and it is not a community college) with a 3.65 GPA. I Got a B in English and Speech. I am good. Everyone that get to know me says that my English is very good.
So for those who engorged me and left some tips or advise in thread I want to Thank YOU and for those who had to speak without thinking how it going to effect others.... Well the only thing I have to say is Keep the negativity and your Judgment to your self! It really is not necessary!
To the post Where few wrote how people get their Job.... It is everywhere in THIS world ..... Is not what you know but WHO YOU KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now a question .... If you were a supervisor and you sister or mother would ask you for help and support ... Wouldn't you help? Or If you were looking for a Job and your mother is a Supervisor wouldn't you use your connection? Just a thought. I am a person who would help my family and friends in a heartbeat. So in this today" JOB-Market-World" it is what it is. You are lucky or not.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Silverdragon, there are rules, but I am sure there is a very easy way to get around them. I remember back when I was in clinicals, the older nurses who dared, told me to look around and not waste my time trying to get in that network. Even giving me tips as to "who hires white nurses" because they knew this hospital network did not, favoring new nurses imported sight unseen (with token "other race" hires -nurse managers-to satisfy EEOC). The BSN, yes the imports come preconfigured with BSN of course.
The hospitals take advantage of being able to demand anything from these very young desperate girls, who, much to my friends dismay, get married and pregnant as soon as leave is covered by benefits. Even with this, the financial advantage is great, as you know, if it were not profitable to continue this practice Corporate certainly would not. Pretty bold of them I think, still. Oh, this network went Magnet in record time, all hospitals within it. It was a record for Magnet. You see, you can make things happen artificially... to get what you want exactly when you want it these days.
There may be rules but the establishment still has to prove that they can not employ someone locally or already in the US. Some BON's are now stepping up and require a SSN before a license will be issued which will make it harder as well
Well I sure hope so Silverdragon. Its bad where I am.
I even think there must be some kind of "arrangement" with government/immigration and corporate big buisness to keep this false idea of a desperate nursing shortage that necessitates importing, to pave the way for big time profit.
well what i should said is that my self confidence was lacking!!!!
i do speak english, and you also will have a decent conversation with me. i just finished my associate degree in business management ( and it is not a community college) with a 3.65 gpa. i got a b in english and speech. i am good. everyone that get to know me says that my english is very good.
your english is very good. it's definately 100 times better than the written i've seen in the health care field. you still have a few areas that you can polish up. we all have minor areas to work on. now your spoken english i can't comment on as i've never heard you speak. since you stated that others say it's good then i'm assuming they don't have any issues understanding you when you speak. that's very important in the work force because when you have a nurse you can't understand it makes a hospital stay very difficult. so if you thought i was attacking your english i definately wasn't. i was making a general statement, and nowhere did i state your english was aweful.
so for those who engorged me and left some tips or advise in thread i want to thank you and for those who had to speak without thinking how it going to effect others.... well the only thing i have to say is keep the negativity and your judgment to your self! it really is not necessary!
i don't think anybody said anything negative towards you. i'm sorry you feel this way. if i said anything negative towards you then i apologize. it wasn't meant to be.
to the post where few wrote how people get their job.... it is everywhere in this world ..... is not what you know but who you know!!!!!!!!!!!!
now a question .... if you were a supervisor and you sister or mother would ask you for help and support ... wouldn't you help? or if you were looking for a job and your mother is a supervisor wouldn't you use your connection? just a thought. i am a person who would help my family and friends in a heartbeat. so in this today" job-market-world" it is what it is. you are lucky or not.
now that's the million dollar question, and i have the million dollar answer. i've had friends and family who tried to use me like that to get into the work force. you have to remember that it's your reputation that's on the line when doing this. if you have a friend or family member that wants into your place of employment and they don't work out, how does that make you look? i know of several nursing homes that were hiring, and i didn't send some people that way because i knew their work ethics, and i was well known in these places. i knew they were hiring, and i knew these people were looking for employment. i had a friend who had connections in 5 bay area major hospitals. she was a new grad rn and she could have landed a job like that. she hates the whole using your connections aspect so she ended up getting a job on her own, and found a nice reputable hospital that hired her on her own merit. so the answer to the million dollar question is no because it's not always a good idea.
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
When will posters quit talking smack about Filipino nurses coming to the US in droves, speaking in their native languages, and outnumbering local nurses? It amazes me how these discusssions end up mentioning nurses from the Philippines when it has no relevance whatsoever with what the OP's concerns are. She is not even Filipino and does not even have visa issues as she is married to a member of the US armed forces.
The perception that Filipino nurses coming to the US in droves, speaking their own language, and outnumbering nurses is typical anti-immigration sentiment that increases during recessions. I dislike it and think it needs to stop before the recession ends.
It does concern the OP as she very well might come up against this in her attempts to find employment. To the OP, it's not a "family helping family" thing I describe in my posts, that kind of thing is normal. The situation I describe has nothing to do with kindness, it describes an injustice - corporations using people in a way that the U.S should not in this day and age. juan de la cruz, If you do not experience this problem in your area, then like all other Allnurses threads that talk about issues you do not experience, you can read and become aware, or not, agree/disagree. Your lacking exposure to this type of problem certainly does not negate it's existence, the world still revolves. Just count yourself lucky. And yes, as Silverdragon has stated, hopefully the loopholes will be closed to create a better environment.
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
It does concern the OP as she very well might come up against this in her attempts to find employment. To the OP, it's not a "family helping family" thing I describe in my posts, that kind of thing is normal. The situation I describe has nothing to do with kindness, it describes an injustice - corporations using people in a way that the U.S should not in this day and age. juan de la cruz, If you do not experience this problem in your area, then like all other Allnurses threads that talk about issues you do not experience, you can read and become aware, or not, agree/disagree. Your lacking exposure to this type of problem certainly does not negate it's existence, the world still revolves. Just count yourself lucky. And yes, as Silverdragon has stated, hopefully the loopholes will be closed to create a better environment.
Where are you getting your information from? are you even aware of the status of US immigration for foreign nurses that has been going on since 2006? There has been very few foreign nurses coming to the US due to retrogressed visas on the EB3 category - the one visa that nurses typically qualify for (and I mean foreign nurses, not just Filipino nurses which you seem to be zeroing in on). The H1B Visa option has not been that accesible to all foreign nurses as it has requirements that many nurses from other countries do not meet.
If you are seeing a lot of Filipino nurses in one particular facility, they most likely have been in the US before retrogression started. Until you can prove to me that they were "imported" under illegal conditions, I am going to assume that your story is hearsay and not based on facts. I am a nurse from the Philippines who started working in the US in 1995 under a working visa. I transitioned to an immigrant visa in 1999 and have been a US citizen since 2004. My story is not any different from the rest of the other Filipino nurses you see working in US facilities across the US. I am offended that you question the presence of Filipino nurses in the US now. Many of us are now citizens of this country even though we still speak our languages, maintain our thick accents, and keep our Filipino traditions alive. We are law abiding citizens who are invloved in our local communities and have a voice in US elections. We can not change our Filipino appearance but we have made leaps in adapting to the American way of life. Many of our kids do not even speak native languages anymore and are very "Americanized".
It is very unprofessional of you to question the hiring practices of a certain facility or corporation by bringing it up in an internet forum like this. You are spreading gossip as far as I'm concerned. If it really concerns you and you feel that this facility is doing something illegal, you need to bring it up to the appropriate government agency or initiate action as a whistleblower if you want to maintain your privacy. You are not doing anyone a favor by defaming the integrity of a people coming from my country of birth. And I'm saying this to you as an American.
oneclearday, I don't know if you can tell how your post comes across, but from my point of view, since you did not show proof of your allegations and your response to juan was dismissive, it appears as if you made it in malice. Is that the impression you are going for?
Bunch of schooling and that's it. I can not get a JOB... If I apply somewhere in Business ... As soon as they read nursing they asking me what I want in business. When I apply in nursing they asking me what do I want with a business school, and a German nursing licenses!! I can not even work as a nurse aid 
:confused:
NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN
2,487 Posts
It's the norm over here too. Is it right, no, but that's just how it is. A friend of mine who is Filipina (DON) openly stated that's how she got her job. But at least she's a good nurse and has a lot of knowledge to back up her credentials. Some of the people that she works with are constantly messing up. There's this one VERY QUESTIONABLE RN there that she ended up letting go because of her lack of skill and probably lack of qualifications. But what ended up happening was the nurse was hired back because her sister in laws brothers wife (or how ever it goes) is the DSD and she cleaned out her file because it was a novel. The administrator who is non-Filipino ok'd the hire back because of the clean file. Go figure.