Registration for NZNC...confused =/

dreamyjean · May 14, 2011

Let me know how you get on. Good luck:)

Silverdragon102, BSN · May 15, 2011

Moved to the International forum as per the red banner

osbourne · May 16, 2011

hi dreamyjean :) I really want to thank you for the email add. The council replied saying:"It is recommended that you have at least 2 years work experience working as a registered nurse before applying for New Zealand registration as this will help with employment prospects. Also if you are required to complete a competence assessment programme, many of the competence assessment programme providers will not enrol anyone who does not have 2 years work experience. It is also getting harder to get into the programmes because the demand is high. It is preferable that you are in paid employment as a registered nurse working in a clinical setting"

I guess...I really need to think deeply on what will be my decision :) I need to weigh the circumstances as well as the consequences. After all...the nurses in our country are having a hard time in landing a job most especially if one's target is a hospital work experience. Hospitals are in freeze hiring state. They can only offer trainings in which we are the ones who are paying for it and after such there is no guarantee that we can be hired thus we end up looking for another one.

dreamyjean · May 16, 2011

Sounds like you are stuck in a hard place with no experience and hard to get it! I wonder if the USA or Australia is easier. It is no surprise to me that NZNC has made it harder for international nurses to come to NZ as they have really toughened up on NZ trained nurses maintaining their practice and professional development. Good luck

osbourne · May 16, 2011

Indeed surveys say that we are about 200K unemployed nurses plus the fact that most may just work in a call center after graduation just to support the daily financial needs. And the nursing schools now are having a sharp decline as to the number of students enrolling for the nursing degree. Sad to say...it is harder when it comes to USA and Australia. As for USA, we need to take the NCLEX which costs us around 1500NZD and strictly needs 2 years working experience ( most claim that it should be 200 or more bed capacity hospital ) Plus, 2 states are just being offered here . For Australia, we need 3 years working experience. NZ and UK may offer the least requirement as to the years of experience.

dreamyjean · May 16, 2011

If there is anything else you want to know about NZ or nursing here, I will try and answer. I have lived in the UK had and short working trips to USA before I was an RN, but NZ is the only country I worked as an RN in. The health system is getting harder to get jobs in NZ. I have heard recently of nursing schools being over-subscribed for applications for RN degrees. For example the local uni I heard had 300 applications for 100 places for the last intake. Then for a new grad to get a job is an even harder task. A different story to when I became an RN 10+ years ago when I had the pick of jobs!.

Now I have 2 small kids so i cannot be so flexible, so I have found it difficult to secure a job allowing me flexibility...it is always in the employers favour. So these days I just temp/agency nurse to give me the flexibility I need. But I hate the lack of job security.