Foreign nurse keen on practicing in US

[imeldaa]

Hey y'all! I'm Mel, from far away Singapore. I'll be graduating next Feb as a diploma-holding RN and have a 3 year employment bond to fulfil, afterwhich I'd love to head over to US for a degree and work. Some reasons I figured so

1) My starting wage is pretty much like USD1300 after all the ward and meal allowances

2) Since the docts are quite the nasty hobbits over here and in US (I read some posts) aint it more worthy to take their nonsense with a higher wage?

3) Medical/tech advances

Well just some questions I need to clarify:

I understand that in US certain specialities enable better career prospects and higher wages. I'm currently looking at Burns unit, Neurosurg or Cardio when I graduate and would progress into critical/emergency care in my degree. What do you think of these areas? Good prospects in US? Do foreign nurses get paid less or same wages?

Also, being Asian, I'm pretty concerned if I'd be discriminated esp at work... Is the racism between staff or the patients and I gonna be a big issue? (kinda worried about going a thousand miles away to be a nurse and end up hating my job)

Could someone explain to me the ranks of the nursing system in US? I know a lil about CNA, RN, LPN etc but who's the lowest and who calls the shots?

Sorry for the long post!

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Just want to point out that currently the US is under retrogression and no visas so currently processing time you are looking at anything from 4 years upwards due to the high demand. I would suggest you check out the International forum under the region tab in the yellow toolbar above.

Getting experience will help but hard to say whether it will make it any easier.

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

In regards to the racism issue, I'd recommend living in/working in an area with a large mixed concentration of immigrants...I live and work in an ethnically diverse area and I think that with the younger generation at least, having so many people of so many nationalities living in the area significantly cuts down on that issue. I'm not gonna speak for those in my grandparent's generation...but maybe I've been traumatized by my grandparent's blantant racism.

Just on my floor, I've worked with nurses from the Philippines, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Jerusalem, the Czech republic, Thailand, Bosnia, and more. Additionally, many of our patients are from Vietnam and Mexico. Hard to be racist with all those different nationalities floating around!

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

I don't see racism as issue, many doctors are Asian.

SilverDragon has given you good advice, there are no visas in the USA at this time. Foreign nurses who are employed get paid the same, if they don't get paid equal pay the employer has to pay heavy fines.

The charge nurse is the one who runs the floor, a nurse manager oversees all the care 24 hours, for advanced positions you need a BSN or higher.