Moving from California

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Specializes in ICU, ED, PICC.

Hello everyone,

I'd like to get some international travel nursing experience under my belt and what a better place to consider than Aus/NZ, right? So besides that, I am wondering the practicality of all of this. I'll have 3 years of ICU and 1 year of ED experience under my belt before I make my big move. I will be leaving my home state of California with a Bachelor's degree in Nursing. I know i need to get a work visa but I also need a sponsor. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it hard to find a job as a US nurse coming into another country? Hows the job competition in big cities like Melbourne and Sydney? I've also read that there's private and public hospitals... does that effect pay/nurse: patient ratios/ect? Where are the great places to work? Sorry for the bombardment of questions.

Any advice would be helpful!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

I suggest asking your questions about finding employer willing to sponsor you for Australia in the Advice on Immigration forum as many Australian nurses will not know the process for IEN. Here is a good place to ask questions about nursing in Australia

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Hi

First thing before anyone will look at sponsorship is get your registration in order. Im irish so had plenty of academic hours as well as clinical so no issue for me, you may have a problem with hours.

Currently some Melbourne metro hospitals are recruiting critical care nurses for expansion. However you may also have some luck in secondary cities such as Newcastle or Geelong. Google hospitals in xxxx city. Then contact them individually.

All public hospitals are bound by the same EBA, however the ratios depend on location and type of hospital major trauma hospital 4:1 on general wards during the day, 1:7 overnight. 1:1 in ICU 1:2 HDU. regional hospitals may have slightly higher ratios.

Private hospitals are bound by different EBAs so they are usually slightly higher ratios. However if your sick you will get sent to a public hospital as private ICU cannot do what a public metro ICU can, also my wardvhad pts on the ward that would be in ICU in the private.

Let me know if you have more questions.

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Specializes in Mental Health.
Hi

First thing before anyone will look at sponsorship is get your registration in order. Im irish so had plenty of academic hours as well as clinical so no issue for me, you may have a problem with hours.

Currently some Melbourne metro hospitals are recruiting critical care nurses for expansion. However you may also have some luck in secondary cities such as Newcastle or Geelong. Google hospitals in xxxx city. Then contact them individually.

All public hospitals are bound by the same EBA, however the ratios depend on location and type of hospital major trauma hospital 4:1 on general wards during the day, 1:7 overnight. 1:1 in ICU 1:2 HDU. regional hospitals may have slightly higher ratios.

Private hospitals are bound by different EBAs so they are usually slightly higher ratios. However if your sick you will get sent to a public hospital as private ICU cannot do what a public metro ICU can, also my wardvhad pts on the ward that would be in ICU in the private.

Let me know if you have more questions.

EBA's are Enterprise Bargaining Agreements, which are your terms and conditions of employment, if you were unsure what they were! I would always encourage people to do a lot of research and maybe look at seek.com.au in Australia to identify job opportunities. You can find out about the EBA's (terms and conditions) by doing a bit of research by googling each states award (contract). I'm sure lots of places would be interested in you, due to the amount of experience you possess. Good Luck, Nick.

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