Best cardiac hospital in Melbourne

[livv]

I recently got my residency to melbourne and will be moving there soon from the united states. My background is cardiology mainly chest pain, cardiac cath with stents and sheath pulls, chf, icd/ppm, cardiac drips and telemetry monitoring. Which hospital is best in melbourne and by that i mean nurse friendly and diverse. I take care of 4 patients and if very sick 3. I am not in icu i am on a cardiac step down so we dont do balloon pumps. I have narrowed down to the alfred, cabrini, monash and st vincent. I am also torn between moving to prahran or clayton. Which suburb is better and are they close to these hospitals. Please help. Any input will be appreciated. Which hospitals have a mixture of australians, african and asian nurses. The culture shock scares me. I need alot of advice so feel free to throw pointers at me. Has anyone moved from the states to melbourne. Is the scope of practice the same. Do u have respiratory therapists and phlebotomist like we do in the states. Is moving a good idea?. Thanks

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Cardiac - Alfred (public), Monash (public) or Epworth (private). My preference: Alfred, because they have the cardiac transplant service in the state.

I can't think of any particular hospital that has more "diversity" in staff members.. in general Melbourne is pretty multicultural, although I can't say I have worked with many African nurses. Certainly many Asian nurses given the close proximity to many Asian countries here.

What culture shock are you worried about? Have you been to Australia before? Where are you coming from? Why did you choose Melbourne?

We do not have RTs. We have physiotherapists in hospital who do chest physio etc but the nurses are generally responsible for setting up resp equipment. Depends on your ward as to whether you take your own bloods or have someone come in.

I can't imagine one reason anyone would move to Clayton over Prahran. Unless you're buying a house and want a cheaper one. Seriously - not sure where you're coming from, but Prahran is busy, shopping, close to city, transport, shopping, nightlife, shopping... heh. Clayton.. yeah, nothing much, out in the burbs. At least when you first get here, before working out what areas you like, try Prahran.

[livv]

I have never been to australia. The culture shock am talking about is that am so used to the american way of things and it might take time to learn what australians like. Am also worried about the accents. Will they understand me. It took me a while before i could get a hang of the american slung and their different accents. I chose melbourne because it was easier to get my nursing licence and from reading this forum sidney sounded too expensive.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Well if you have an American accent, I can assure you that people will understand you just fine.