Does Australia have a registration exam?

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Sep 15, 2011

if you have a degree, and you have 12 months experience or more, you wouldn't have to sit for a registration exam.

when u say u don't want to go to the cities, do you mean rural and remote? cos u have to know a lot to do remote nursing with aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples, it's very different nursing in the outback compared to city nursing. however melbource & sydney etc has many outlying suburbs and these would have smaller hospitals/health care facilities. smaller towns may have small hospitals, but some don't. you also should have 2 years ed/er experience as well for remote nursing.

check re registration with www.ahpra.gov.au

i had to laugh at your post, cos it's like you were saying you had a million people in the hospital you worked at!

also try for vic/nsw: www.yourworldmedical.com.au nursing agency

here are some others:

nursing agencies, australia

hendercare - http://www.hendercare.com.au/

mediserve – http://mediserve.com.au/

drake, australia - http://www.drakeintl.com/au/home.aspx

ramsay health care – http://www.ramsayhealth.com.au/default.aspx. they operate many hospitals all around australia, employment info is on their website.

st john of god (for perth, wa) - http://www.sjog.org.au/. sjog also has hospitals in other states and territories as well.

** ** ** ** ** **

hmns (health management - www.hmns.net.au/[color=#0e774a] (for south australia and country regions). now called your nursing agency, yna.

nursewest (control all the public hospitals and recruitment through nursing agencies for all of western australia) - www.nursing.health.wa.gov.au/nursewest/index.cfm

[color=#0e774a]nasa, nursing agency of south australia - http://nasansb.com.au/[color=#0e774a]. on this site, there is a site for international nurses to visit. also down the bottom, it lists all the other main nursing agencies for other states and territories. you can click on them for more info.

[color=#0e774a]hope this helps.

[color=#0e774a]

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Sep 15, 2011

Same answer posted twice, for some strange reason.

talaxandra · Sep 16, 2011

You could certainly look at working in smaller cities than the capitals (in Melbourne Geelong and Frankston come to mind first) - they're about an hour by train from Melbourne but still pretty urban. If you want to go more rural places like Shepparton still have a strong infrastructure and support but service a smaller population. (Of course there are non-Victorian equivalents, I just don't know them!).

I suppose it depends a lot on what you're wanting out of your experience - if you want to also travel and see more of the country you'll really only be able to do that from there if you also get a car. I'm sure you already know this, but Aus is big and thinly populated once you ge out of the capitals and away from the coast, so public transport's generally scarce and expensive. Don't let that put you off, though - welcome :)

madascanbeRNtobe · Sep 17, 2011

Thanks so much Carol, and Talaxandra.

You have certainly helped. So the kinda place I am looking at is not very rural, and remote, because I don't think I have the correct set of skills for that. But Im also not looking the suburbs. I was thinking one of the smaller towns in Queensland.

And if my travel plans involve needing a car, I am assuming I can rent one for the few days I need it. Im pretty sure, I won't need one every day. If I can find a place to live within 4-5 km of my workplace, I can bicycle it.

I have to work 5 12 hour shifts in a row, but ill get back to researching it once my crazy week is over. I was thinking of e-mailing a few hospitals directly, to get some idea of their hiring process.

One thing I am worried about is spending the money, to my get license and visa, and then nobody hiring me

Mad.

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2011

Hey madascanbe, I don't think you will have problems getting hired. Just find out the emails of some of the hiring nurse managers (usually available on hospital websites), and ask them if they think u would get work.

Also if you hire a car, make sure you ask for one with UNLIMITED KILOMETRES. I hired one years ago for work when my car got damaged & ended up paying heaps for the extra kms

Don't 4get most cities here have good transport systems - apparently Perth has the best and I think it is great - but yes, you will need a car in smaller towns as the public transport is not the best. U can catch local trains that link to the city main trains thru Souther Rail, like the Ghan, Indian Pacific, but yes I think car is the best way to go. Also ensure you get insurance for the car - you pay more in your hiring policy, but it's worthwhile if u have a MVA.

Let us know how u get on anyway!

MartyAustralia · Sep 22, 2011

There is very high demand for nurses in regional and rural Australia. So I don't think you'll have much trouble. This article gives a good summary of the entry requirements for nurses looking to work in Australia: http://www.ncah.com.au/news-events/nursing-in-australia-in-three-steps/325/

Good luck!

madascanbeRNtobe · Sep 25, 2011

Thanks Marty, that's a great website.

Mad

madascanbeRNtobe · Sep 26, 2011

Peace all.

I also have another question. We don't have nursing agencies in Canada to find part-time or full-time jobs. So its not something I really know how to deal with. I prefer to deal with hospitals directly, and if unsuccessful go the agency route. Am I putting myself at a disadvantage this way?

Also, I am not familiar with a 2-tiered system of health-care (public and private). I am assuming, there are both private and public hospitals. I am not sure I could work in a private hospital, goes against what I ethically believe in. Again, am I putting myself at a big disadvantage?

Thanks

Mad

madascanbeRNtobe · Sep 26, 2011

Sorry, two more questions.

I have been looking at the website for Queensland Health. Each job listed has a name and phone number with it. Would this be the manger, or a contact in human resources? Also, i prefer to go the e-mail route, as I tend to sound a bit stupid on the phone, is there any way to obtain an e-mail address if its not listed in the job posting? Because it would also be good for me to have an e-mail in reply too, as I can reread it later to see what I need to do, rather than rely on memory from a phone conversation.

Third, im seeing jobs for nurses with grade 1,2,4,5,6 etc. Again not a system we use here. I have read into it, and I think, I am at least a grade 5, but I can't quite understand what makes you a grade 6.

As I said earlier, all my experience is in general medicine, but I have some extra training, like ventilated patients (they come up from the ICU once stable, but will remain on the ventilator long-term), we have patients on telemetry, so im used to that, and in January, Ill be doing a 1 week course at work, so I can take care of patients that need to be on cardiac monitors.

Also, as long as I pass the exam in April, I will have a certificate in medical/surgical nursing.

My reason for asking is, if i do qualify for grade 6, I don't want to limit myself to grade 5 positions. I don't even know if I can apply to both.

Or, am I jumping the gun here, and they will tell me which grade I am, when and if I get my nursing license.

Thanks so much,

Mad.

madascanbeRNtobe · Sep 26, 2011

peace all

found something.

staff contact:

some queensland health employees have access to email for work-related correspondence. the correct address is required to ensure delivery. you will need to establish the correct email address before you send your message. personal email is generally written as:

[color=#0000cc][email protected]

we cannot provide contact details for queensland health staff. please telephone the switchboard on 07 3234 0111 during office hours

i will try this with the names i find in the job posting, and give it a week or so, to see if i get any replies

peace

mad

talaxandra · Sep 26, 2011

This is so annoying - I wrote a really long post and then my internet went down! Abbreviated recap:

I'd be inclined to contact them the way they've asked. Most likely your first point of contact will be HR, who screen the applicants, but it'll usually be the unit manager or similar who conducts an interview, by phone if need be.

The grading system, confusingly, differs between states. This is Queensland's,the best I could find for NSW, and the levels in Victoria.