Good luck to all its a long road!!

Published

Specializes in ICU RENAL ER.

good luck to everyone who is trying to get here by whatever means they can.

i am a survived the trials and tribulations of getting to the usa and have gone from exacerbation to adulation at times.

now i am working here and making decent money it has all been worth it.

please be aware that nursing agencies are not a nursing advice agency who help you get here out of the goodness of their hearts.

they are multi-million dollar businesses who make money from you and from the hospitals who employ you.

if you come here with an agency the maximum they will pay you for up to 2 years, depending on hours worked, will be around $25 per hour in la and as little as $16 per hour in florida thats 12 pounds and 8 pounds in uk speak.

these companies are paid $100 per hour in la and $70 per hour elsewhere for you skills.

it doesn't take a genius to realise that over 3000 hour contract thats thats up to $225,000 profit for one nurse.

but it dosen't mean you are poverty stricken just don't expect to be much better of right away.

saying that i live in a lovely house which i could never have afforded in the uk and spend my weekends in las vegas or venice beach or haiwai.

my wife drives a convertible and i have a large suv.

my nursing has changed and my skills are far different to what i required in the uk.

i am a now a charge nurse in what is the second busiest trauma centre in california having worked before in a busy city er i saw 3 gsw in 4 years i now see 70 gsw in a year.

but do i have any regrets not on you life.

life is good and work is good i hope that you all enjoy it half as much as i have.

please don't hesitate to contact if you have any worries

Up Vote Up Vote ×

good work for surviving it all. it is a long road. we are now in our third year away from the uk, but we have done quite a bit of travelling. we started our contract with 18 months in the virgin islands where i made a large amount of money, even although i was with the evil empire. i charged on nights and worked overtime as well as my 40 hours a week. i have been doing travel nursing since but have now decided to settle in arizona. until oct 6th everything was going well, but then we were rear-ended and have had a few problems since then. i was still able to work until january when i had to have shoulder surgery and dont see me getting back to work until at least april. so no wages since then and lots of medical insurance problems. but life over here is still what we want, luckily enough we have had some money that we are able to live on until i return to work but can see medical bills which will have to be paid, because our insurance doesnt pay for everything. so life over here does have its highs and lows. but usually more highs than anything else, we have just been unlucky to have been involved in an accident, and not have good insurance coverage. the hospital where i hope to go on staff with pay for 100% of medical stuff so long as you are treated by them.

so things should be more stabilised for us eventually.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, Haemodialysis, acute medicine and s.

Thanks for your thread and I'm pleased it is going really well for you. Not so sure about thepay you are quoting for the agencies though, I am being offered a minimum of $22 per hour. I'm sure there is a law saying you cannot be paid less than the going rate.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med/surg.

Not sure about your pay thing either, my offer for Florida, from an agency is $26 p hr. May not be a fortune but with no mortgage it will be enough to live on & that's not taking DH into consideration.

However, that said it's truly great to hear how things have worked out for you because for us stuck back here with retrogression etc it's nice to read nice things about the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in renal,peritoneal dialysis, medicine.

one thing i have learnt about employment law in the usa is that it doesnt appear to exist, unlike the UK, especially as we have unions to protect us at work, for some reason they dont seem to have unions as much as we do and the ones they do have dont have the power that ours do

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

I think most of you know my story and how badly I have been treated by an agency so I wont go into anymore details. I strongly urge you all to realise that as long as you are working life is heaven but if for some reason you cant work for ill health, then be prepared for no help and being very poor. Try and put a little nest egg behind you.

Also the lack of holidays is a killer and really gets you down, I dont care what anybody says we are spoilt by our holiday allowance in the NHS. Here you get paid time off and that is for your holidays and your sick time.

You work 3 days a week 48 weeks a year if your lucky. You can request days off and like the UK you may or may not get them.

I am happy now we are settled here but that took us a year.

Would I do it different if I knew what I know now??????? Maybe! because once you get here and once you earn in $'s you can never go home because the $ is so weak against the pound.

You wont regret it but it wont be all cool runnings

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion