Introduction from a new member!

I would like to introduce myself to you all, I`m a new member at this forum (which by the way seems to be a very nice place... ). My name is Josefin and I`m a 24 years old nurse-student from Sweden. I will graduate to become a RN in june 2002. At the moment am I working at a psychiatric unit, nightshifts. When I have graduated I would love to work at the ER.

I hope I will have the pleasure to take part of some interesting discussions here, and maybe to make some new friends...:)

[mustangsheba]

Welcome, Josefin. Yes, this is a nice place to come. You will find a lot of support here. It's also a good place for information.

[Jenny P]

Welcome aboard, Josefin! What is nursing like in Sweden? Is there a shortage there? It is interesting to find out about nursing around the world, and we do have some members from Australia, U.K., and a few other countries (oops, I guess I think of Canada as a neighbor, not always another country-- hope that won't offend anyone!). :)

[Josefin, BSN, PhD, RN]

Jenny, what do you mean by shortage? If the education is shorter? In Sweden the education to become a RN is 3 years at the university. After that you can specialize, 1- 1 1/2 year, in anesthesia, prehospital care, surgery, midwifery etc. I think this education is standard for the whole EC, since our licence is valid for all the countries within the community.

Other comments about nursing in Sweden... In these days we are struggeling hard to get payed better! (Not a phenomenon specific for Sweden though, as we all know...:) ) I think that the average salary here for a hospital RN is a bit less than 2000 $/month +benefits. I have heard that swedish nurses are pretty independent compared to for ex. nurses in the US. In Sweden we also have a pretty strict "work-taskcode" about what tasks registerd nurses and assistant nurses should preform. Not many RN here are for example making beds etc. Well, that`s a bit about nursing in Sweden, aske me more and I`ll answer!:)

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Welcome Josefin.

Over here in the USA we are having a shortage of nurses who work in hospitals. The average age of a nurse here is in their 40s.

Staffing is quite low and nurse patient ratio is getting very bad. It seems there are too many patients and not enough nurses.

P

[Josefin, BSN, PhD, RN]

Oh, now I understand what you mean by shortage... Well, we DON`T have shortage here in Sweden. It does`nt matter if you even have worked 20 years in the hospital, you still have to do the 3-year education (which by the way is discussed to become 4 years) to become a RN.