ER Nursing HELP!

[localhost8]

I really need someone to help me here.

My wife is a fantastic ER nurse, and she loves being an ER Nurse.

If she were to die today, "ER Nurse" would be on her headstone.

But there is a problem. She is married to an Australian (me!)

For a long, long, long time we looked at moving back to Australia from the US and everything fine to do so and we were both happy to. Mainly so we could start a family here. We have spent some time in both of each other's countries to know that we both prefer Australia for the people and lifestyle.

However she has put the brakes on this as she had read somewhere that Australian Nursing is like America in the 1950's. On her last visit here she spoke to "some guy" who's wife was an ER Nurse and because of the conditions she ended up being a sales rep.

Now I am an IT guy, I the only think I know about medicine is from what I have seen watching B grade horror movies. To me this doesn't feel right, I would love to try to work this out, but I am none the wiser.

Now she has not worked in Australia, but she was worked in the US for 4 years.

She has her 4 year degree, she finished from a Top University, Top of her Class and Class President.

She is chairman of the nurses board at her hospital, and she is certified like mad (she does a new course every 2 weeks it feels like) but out of the mass of acronyms I remember her recently renewing her PALS, and ACLS courses.

She also volunteers for on the ambulance as well as the helicopters in the US. So she is basically a diehard-ER-Nurse. And I love her so much for it.

But she has it somehow gotten into it, that if we came back to Australia, that she will have to basically, "wipe butt" and will not be allow to do even anything remotely like her old job. And it will be 1950's get-me-a-coffee-woman kind of job. Now I don't know any nurses in Australia. I have never seen anything that would indicate this at all. But I can't find anything that shows what nursing in Australia Vs USA

I am trying to figure this out and I am hoping that a US nurse that has worked in the US in the ER and is now living in Aust could assist on what the experience is like.

I am hearing things like:

Australian nurses don't use stethoscopes

Australian nurses don't give IV's

And to me it just doesn't feel right. I have been trying to contact some groups on the phone with little success, and looking on line and search a lot through these forums these last few days, I see a lot of people asking what are the differences are, and yet it all somehow comes back to money and lifestyle.

I am just trying to see what someone who has worked in the US as a 4 year nurse, who made the move to Australia and what are the differences. I know there is a difference with the med names but that's all I know.

Is there an ER Nurse here has done a Tour of Duty in Aust? or is currently?

This is my last chance to try to see if I can make it back home. And she has it in her mind so she has stopped looking to work in Australia.

Please, anyone, a little help here?

/sits in thread with a giant beer, clicking refresh

[localhost8]

Also I am fully aware that this should be in the international thread but I want to know what other US Nurses think / know about this.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Yup, we got Aussies. Don't know if they'll find your thread. I'll see if I can send them your way.:)

[Cheesecakelady]

It sounds like she loves her job. Maybe she's just not ready to "settle down" and start a family.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

You might need to wait a while as they are in the middle of their day...

[kcochrane]

http://www.impactednurse.com/

Here is a blog from an Australian ER nurse...maybe that will help.

This is info about him and where he works:

http://www.impactednurse.com/?page_id=2

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

o good Lord where are you getting your information? Nurses in EDs and wards of COURSE use stethoscopes and start IVs, take bloods etc we can also initiate a few OTC medications (on a once or twice off bases) if not contra indicated without need for a prescription from a doctor. clinical assessment is an essential part of our role as the interns on the wards are very junior doctors the nurse must be vigilant in her care in order to ensure the best care for their patients.

In the public health system which is where she will more than likely end up if she wants to continue working in the ED she will have support of clinical educators and or have the opportunity to develop into that role as well as the clinical management ladder. Also the CNS role is expanding greatly as well as the clinical nurse consultant role.

The role of the nurse is expected to be more holistic here however as there are less "techs" or "aides" the nurse is expected to clean their pt up and do their own vital signs etc as well as the other duties.

In the public health system in VIC for example on the wards there is ratios where a nurse can only have 4 pt. However in ICU it is usually 1:1 but ED obviously cannot control this :)

Good luck in your decission!

[talaxandra]

hi,

i work at a tertiary trauma hospital in melbourne; i don't work in cas but a number of friends do, so i know a little of what i'm talking about. one thing i know for sure is that, like in icu, ed nurses have a little more autonomy than the ward nurses - they cannulated patients well before we did, for example. and we all use stethescopes and give ivs :) my hospital has a number of nurse practitioners working in cas (i've even been treated by them a couple of times myself), if that will reassure her at all. and one of the advantages of a more recent increase in the scope of practice (np programs have only been around for a decade or so here) is that there's more opportunity for role expansion and development without having to wait for someone else to step down.

there are certainly differences between the systems - your wife may find this article useful for a basic overview about nursing in australia, though it doesn't address specific scopes of practice; the wikipedia summary is here. another couple of discussions, focusing more on emergency nursing are think nursing and here. you might also like to post in the australia/nz forum, where you're more likely to catch aussie ed nurses.

victorian-based nurse tv has several episodes about accident & emergency nursing: this episode is about the ed co-ordinator at box hill hospital, this episode is about the ed num at royal melbourne (a large tertiary hsopital), and this episode is about a nurse practitioner in a rural town in nsw. the site says episodes are available for sale but that mostly seems to be to institutions rather than individuals; they may be available through youtube though (blocked at work, where i'm posting from) - this link, for example, looks promising.

given the significance of the move, have you considered a short trip to australia so your wife can get a feel for the place? maybe she could arrange to shadow a nurse in one of the metropolitan eds for a few hours and get a more direct sense of what the similarities and differences are. at least that way she'd be making a decision based on facts rather than frightening rumours.

if you do decide to go ahead with a move, you might find these sites helpful. check here for information on starting the australian registration process. for information on moving try aussiemove, a site that also has australian costs of living you can see a uk-to-aus real life example; for more generic information see the government site, here or here, use the calculator, or just google :"cost of living" and "australia" which is where i got these sites.

good luck :)

[localhost8]

Thank you all for giving up so much for the information!!

/kudos all round.

Is there any key differences?

I know some hospitals have differences in the US based on the kinds of equipment / money they have.

But for example.

Is there some sort of procedure that a US ER Nurse can do as a part of her everyday job that a Aust ED Nurse can not do?

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

But for example.

Is there some sort of procedure that a US ER Nurse can do as a part of her everyday job that a Aust ED Nurse can not do?

like what?? I don't understand exactly what you are asking. What kind of everyday procedures are you talking about?