New grad Filipino nurse wanting to work in Australia/New Zealand

NewMac · May 27, 2010

i haven't received any response yet from my case manager with regards to my request (maybe the letter isn't even signed yet):rotfl: :idea: i hope i didn't jeopardize anything. i'll keep u posted.

@reiken: have inquired to etea? they have received everything from me including the bank draft which i have sent thru courier.

@girlash, hence the name "snail" mail.

reiken830 · May 27, 2010

:) Thank's a bunch Reiken830, It was really helpful.... Anyway, congratz for your recommendation letter :) hopefully i can catch up sooner than soon, hehehhe.. So, in which univ are you going to take your BP? are you gonna take it in WA or Vic?.
Ya, i think i'm going to apply for NMBWA soon, i mean it's worth trying, to fasten my way and that's the only way i can think of now. Reiken, do you have any idea for overseas nurses who don't have hospital working experience, do NMBWA accept them?, i mean do they only want an experienced overseas nurse?. I'm afraid that if the same case of my NBV application happens again for my application in NMBWA which is related to my official working statement, so i was thinking to just consider myself as no-working experience to NMBWA. Please help me filling my knowledge about application process in NMBWA... So, if you have any information related to this, i would kindly ask your help, please share it with me :)
Nice to know you, my name is Uci anyway, from Indonesia
Really looking forward to read your reply and hear your good news soon
God bless you

Hi, Uci. It's nice to know you, too. I'm glad to be of help. I intend to take the bridging course in Victoria, hopefully this September. :)

With regards to NMBWA, I think the Board still requires clinical experience. This is what distinguishes NBV from other state boards of nursing as NBV would only require you to provide them a Statutory Declaration if you have not yet acquired any nursing experience. So, as an overseas-educated nurse applying for registration to NMBWA, it's still ideal to provide them a work statement and faithfully adhering to their format in their website so as to prevent any untoward delay in your application.

And once you are given an eligibility letter, as of this time, the only education facility offering a 3-month bridging course under NMBWA's list is Victorian College of Health & Nursing (VCHN). I think they still have October as their last intake for 2010. I am open for correction to this though or better yet confirm this with VCHN. The other bridging program providers like HPH and DOH-RPH have already ceased offering the program, at least for the remainder of 2010 and may even extend 'til 2011 (depending on WA's economic stability) as seats for the intakes were quite limited and applicants have been overflowing to their facilities due to minimal costs in their tuition, a stark contrast to VCHN's astronomical fees. So, those who are intending to seek NMBWA's eligibility letter are left with no other choice but to avail of VCHN's program as their last resort if their budget permits them so.

By the way, VCHN requires its candidates to have at least 1 year nursing practice as a registered nurse, of which at least 3 months is in an acute care medical-surgical ward of a hospital. Best of luck on your endeavor! :cool:

reiken830 · May 27, 2010

i haven't received any response yet from my case manager with regards to my request (maybe the letter isn't even signed yet):rotfl: i hope i didn't jeopardize anything. i'll keep u posted.
@reiken: have inquired to etea? they have received everything from me including the bank draft which i have sent thru courier.
@girlash, hence the name "snail" mail.

Yes, I already lodged my application to ETEA via courier but included a credit card authorization letter to debit my card for the assessment fee. They should get it by tomorrow or by Monday, the latest.

I'm not sure if I understood this correctly, did you mean to say that you have applied to ETEA already without including the actual NBV letter? Well, if that's the case, I hope they'd consider processing it because I corresponded with them numerous times about this but they replied that they would only start processing the application once they have a certified copy of the NBV eligibility letter at hand. That's why I waited for a week for the NBV letter to arrive before I was able to start my application to ETEA. Well, let's just hope that there'll be no hitches with that, bro.

NewMac · May 27, 2010

i won't be surprise if there will be:rotfl:. I will completely understand. And I was totally honest from the very beginning -I explained my situation and attached a copy of the courtesy email my case manager sent me. I have no problem if they wish to wait for the NBV letter first before they entertain me -I'm fine knowing that I only have one requirement to fulfill (hopefully):rotfl:.

reiken830 · May 27, 2010

i won't be surprise if there will be:rotfl:. I will completely understand. And I was totally honest from the very beginning -I explained my situation and attached a copy of the courtesy email my case manager sent me. I have no problem if they wish to wait for the NBV letter first before they entertain me -I'm fine knowing that I only have one requirement to fulfill (hopefully):rotfl:.

I see. Well, goodluck to us, bro! Let's hope we'd be able to get seats for their next intake! :up:

forumjunkie · May 27, 2010

How many nurses are on each class? (in a bridging program) im just curious.

lor_rainew · May 27, 2010

After the BP you will be registered as RN so you will work as RN. There are no CNAs or LVNs in Australia, instead it has ENs which is similar but not necessarily equivalent to LPN/LVN. The practise of RNs and ENs are currently regulated by each state's board of nursing. In July there will be only one national regulatory board, the NMBA. Under the new board, there will only be three practise categories: RN, EN, and RM. The nursing board of Victoria, currently has more than three practise categories, i.e. Nurse Div1, Nurse Div2, Nurse Div3 etc.. Div1 is Registered Nurse and Div2 is Enrolled Nurse. PCAs, AINs, PCWs, are not regulated by the board, however to gain employment as one you would need specific certificates from TAFE or similar institutions. Depending on the facility, an RN from overseas who has not yet gained registration as nurse in Australia, may be employed as PCA or AIN or PCW provided that the person already has a valid visa that allows him or her to work . If you are already an RN in Australia, you don't have to work as PCA or AIN, and i can't think of any good reason why you would. Now that you know what a Nurse Div 1 is, i believe there's no point in telling what the job responsibilities are. Good luck on your upcoming BP! Cheers.:)

thanks for the info!

ryan09 · May 27, 2010

again pardon me about my typing: it should be "the more knowledgeable you have to be" and not "you have to have"...ty

keep the insights coming @ryan09! they are indeed helpful! thanks! btw, d'ya have a job already? (oooh,,, wait, think i read somewhere, ur stil checkin out the job market, right?)

although i have the registration now, i still can't work even if someone will hire me, i'm still waiting for my Working with Children Check, its a new requirement here in victoria ( i dont know in some states)..all professionals who might work with children (teachers,nurses, doctors etc.) should have this check...not to mention the police check as well...

Ryan how is the relationship of rn with en, pca and doctors? Also,how common is delegation and telephone orders? Is charting computerized? Are rn's trained to insert and administer iv?

as a RN you are in charge of everything specially if you are working in a nursing home, you will assume the role of a manager...mostly its like 1 RN is to 24 patients and a lot of PCAs and some ENs or Div 2s in victoria (this is common in a nursing home)..working as a RN in a nursing home, your duties and responsibilities are the documentation and medications, let the PCAs and Div 2s do the personal care and most of the care that involves one on one interaction.

RN to EN relationship? not much difference, its only the title that has a differrence because when youre already in the clinical setting, you are all carrying the tittle of a Nurse wether you are EN or RN, you are still called a Nurse, and nobody cares about the title,nobody cares if you are a doctor, nurse, physio, kitchen hand, cleaner as long as you are doing your job properly..the only difference is that ENs can't administer medications and should work under the supervision/direction of a RN but based on my experience RNs will only ask the help of an EN if really needed to. if the EN noticed something about the patient that needs to be dealt with he/she will then call the assistance of a RN if needed so like meds administration or some invasive procedure. take note that some ENs can administer meds if they are medication endorsed.mind you, ENs taught us a lot of things when we had our clinical placements PCAs, they have their own world (so to speak lol) they are busy doing the personal care and doing the bedside care (in nursing homes cos you cant see pcas in the hospitals), but then they work under the supervision of a RN..Doctors, they have too much expectations, they expect nurses to know everything,its like a car wont run if the engine is malfunctional, the doctor is the car and the nurse is the engine so in order for the car to run smoothly, the engine should be well conditioned we nurses are the doctors' baseline data they depend on us, we spend more time with the patients than them so in every step the doctors make it is based on the nurse's clinical judgement, in every phone orders the we make its is based on our clinical decision. telephone orders are very common..we also have nurse initiated medications, i think 7 medications that we can administer without doctors prescription or permission...delegation is common, at the end of the hand over the Charge nurse will delegate the assignments, charting is not computerized (i dont know with some hospitals though) but some of the documents should be done in the computer most commonly the incident report which they call them here as Riskman...only trained RNs are allowed to do IV Cannulation, however withdrawing blood from the patients cannula is the job of a nurse and send it to the laboratory (they call it here pathology).

here, no matter what educational attainment you have no matter what tittle you have everyone is equal, you have to be nice with every person you are working with...

and by the way, bullying is not permitted in the workplace, each hospital has its own policy about it. so if you suspect someobody who is a bully talk to your nurse unit manager and for sure it will be dealt with properly..:)

PS: we also have Nurse Practitioners(NP) here, this is a new role and title for Div 1 nurses (RN)only, these nurses have finished a Masters Degree and are endorsed as nurse practitioners in the nursing board...their duties include medication prescription, ordering laboratory/pathology tests, referral, treating & admitting the patients among others, so its like somehow the same as the physician's job...and some of these nurse practitioners have their own consulting clinics...:)

terdjay · May 27, 2010

Thanks Ryan. This gives us a great understanding of nursing roles

in aus.

Working with children is based from WA. It has long been used here. It is a preemployment requirement for jobs that involves direct contact with babies and children.

How do I apply for the humanitarian scholarship of deakin? Do I sign a form and that's it? Or they choose who to give it to? Or all PRs are just simply offered it?

I found out that there are plenty of purposely built and fully furnished student accomodation (200-300 per week) that are walking distance from deakin which will make my life easier and convenient. I'm now seriously considering this uni. The prob is it is still by Jan. It's a long long wait. Maybe the work work work life of the rural will help speed things up. Hehe

Thanks mate. Hope to meet you in Melbourne.

carl1984RN · May 28, 2010

ei ryan. i hope its ok if i can ask for your email ad in here.Thank you

cioman94 · May 28, 2010

correction: drug names not drugs names.. (my typing is bad recently, pardon me)...ty
PS: patients here in australia are educated.they are knowledgeable about their condition (well most of them)...they expect you to know everything however if you are unsure about your answers to their questions you can always say youre not sure and you will look for the answers on their behalf..sometimes they will ask you what the drugs are for(which is really normal) and they know about the drugs they are taking if they saw new drugs administered to them, the more they ask questions which means the more knowledge you have to have before giving it..the patients and patients' family just really know whats happening, but there are some also who just dont care hehe...

Thanks Ryan09 for the background you gave on nursing practice there.. it greatly helps.. it gave us a glimpse of australian nursing practice before our actual endeavour there..

as i understand the function of an aged care nurse is that you're like a charge nurse and a medicating rolled in one.. i assume aged care nurse must really have a strong assessment skills??

what charting system do they used there? FDAR? SOAPIE? Narrative?

Thank you in advance..

NewMac · May 30, 2010

on an unexpected day, i received the letter. im grateful.