New grad Filipino nurse wanting to work in Australia/New Zealand Part 2

ceridwyn · Mar 11, 2012

I was in the assumption that 'wilde' is already an RN from the Philippines asking whether a conversion programme is an option for him/her instead of doing the BP.
Your co-worker's conversion involves an unfinished RN course which she completed in Australia hence will not require a LOE from AHPRA (you only get that if you are already an RN applying for BP).
A Graduate Nurse Program is designed for fresh Aussie RN graduates who applies for a year's contract in hospital (at least here in SA) and gets a rotation in several wards so he can get exposure and hopefully employment.
I'm not familiar with the RN Graduate Program you mentioned.
In Australia when you finish the RN course, you become an RN. If you want to be a Bsc in Nursing you need to take another year which not a lot of RNs take. In the Philippines when you finish your 4 year course you graduate as a BSN.

I agree that the Bachelor of Science in Nursing is a 4 year degree - in the Phillipines.

Students enter it after only doing, what is considered here in Australia, only a few years of a secondary education at about (correct me if I am wrong) age 16.

They do many subjects in this - 4 year degree, swimming, folk dancing, literature from the islands, national service, which to everyone else in the world is considered actual secondary schools subjects and the first year of this degree is doing just that doing secondary school.

The 3 year Bachelor of Nursing - that most universities in Australia offer is pure nursing subjects as to be accepted into the Bachelor of Nursing a student from school has completed 6 years of secondary school and had to pass state exams to get the score to enter the Bachelor of Nursing, they are at least 18-19 years of age and are at least 21-22 before they are given the responsibility of giving WHOLISTIC care to a patient, which includes doing 'all the dirty jobs' as well as all the technical stuff.

Having a Bachelor of science in Nursing is just another name for a nursing degree here and a think one of the universities calls its Bachelor of Nursing - Bachelor of science in Nursing and it is still a 3 year degree.

As an RN, I graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing with Distinction, I do not need and it is impossible for me to go back to find that university in Western Australia, so that I may state I have another name for my Bachelor of Nursing.

Some universities offer the 3 year degree (which most students do) and have options for their nursing students to enrol in a 4 year degrees, because they do more mental health, psychology, rural health or in 4 years include Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Midwifery, but most RN's are 3 year university Bachelor of Nursing, which is considered no more less of an educated nurse than those with 4 years with extra, mental health, psychology, rural, it does not give those extra qualifications, just extra study in those areas. Most students just want 3 years and get a job quick, before they disappear.

Other graduates of other programs, - arts, science, engineering can do graduate programs, these are often called, a graduate Masters (often gets confused with further post grad masters for nurses) or a two year Bachelor of Nursing depends what the university wants to call the initial nursing degree and how much money they can get off students. STudents from these 4 years degree, still graduate with a Bachelor of Nursing, but it is tagged Bachelor of Nurse (rural) Bachelor of Nursing (Psychology) Bachelor of Rural Nursing.

Many of the 3 year degrees, universities are now calling them all sorts of names instead of the Bachelor of NUrsing, such as Bachelor of Nursing STudies, etc etc, still no Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Some offer international nurses a 1 year for a Bachelor of Nursing, they call it conversion and this is often the course that nurses trained in hospitals in Australia, up until the 80's also do to obtain a Bachelor of Nursing.

The graduate year in hospitals that graduates apply is considered a type of 4th year and thats why many hospitals sometimes (because there are more nurses here now) ask as part of the criteria to have done a graduate year.

Nurses here pay big money for a Bachelor of Nursing in Australia and work very hard just to get into a Bachelor of Nursing degree, it saddens me to have our qualifying degree, thought of as inferior to that of the Phillipines, I believe no offence was to be made and I just want knowledge of our RN education to be put straight, especially in this forum. :specs:

We also do not squeeze midwifery into our 3 year degree as this is considered another degree and midwives deal with women/birth. We also do not have to do 'tasks'- clinical cases, in our degree and have full clinical care of patients, with full care depending on our year and theory content at university at the time, under strict supervision of experienced in hospital, nurse educators.

A friend from the Phillpines is a lecturer at my old university and it is her observation that in the 3 year nursing degree here offered by Australian universities, the students do far more clinical experience than many of the nursing colleges in the Phillipines and to me this is the important thing, not just having a 4 year degree that does not have purely nursing subjects and has the name 'science' attached to it.

Many RN's go to do post graduate degrees, certificates, diplomas and masters. we need to do this to be considered educated in our specialties.

The confusion in education comes from the fact that university education for nurses came in the 80's and there are still RN's working with a hospital certificate and have not converted to the university degree. These nurses sometimes, now, find it difficult to apply for post graduate degrees and promotions, but with so much experience are excellent RN nurses with or without a BSN.

bobby123 · Mar 11, 2012

Apologies if my previous post cause offence. It was not my intention. I did not mean that one country's course is superior or inferior to another.

I was told that you can add a Bsc if you take another year in uni - evidently incorrect. It was information I gathered from an Australian RN colleague and I was gullible enough to believe her.Unfortunately, more gullible enough to add it in this forum.

I've worked in the Philippines, UK and Australia and heaps of nurses from a lot of different backgrounds to say that it is not what education the Nurse has taken but what he does at work that counts.

Again apologies for my previous post.

ceridwyn · Mar 11, 2012

I am sorry for the misleading information given by this Australian nurse, she/he may have thought you were asking how you get a nursing degree, when hospital trained.

Bachelor of Nursing, Bachelor of Nursing Science all means the same over here and there may have been miscommunication.

A hospital trained a nurse needs to do one year of a conversion Bachelor of Nursing to obtain a Bachelor of Nursing degree, whether you said Bachelor of Science in nursing would not have mean't much to that nurse. cheers :lol2:

Ey-em · Mar 11, 2012

hi all! is there anyone here with a confirmed slot in the April 2012 intake of CON Burwood? I'm trying to search for flatmates. I do have some other accommodation options since I've lived in Sydney for almost 2 years (I'm currently back home in the Philippines and will be flying back on April 18) but I think it would be better for me if I live with people doing the same program.

vanessa2685 · Mar 11, 2012

Hello, fellow RN's! :)
how can I contact Philman Agency? I am from Davao & i would like
to apply for Australia. The problem is, I'm just a fresh NLE passer.
How many mos/years of experience shoud I gain before I will be
eligible toregister for APHRA or for BP? :) Help me out po. :))))

you can check them out at facebook. but you need to have at least 1 yr hospital experience and ielts 7 in all bands .

Ey-em · Mar 11, 2012

hello!
anyone here going to Con for April intake?

Hi! I will be attending the April 2012 intake of CON Burwood.

Ey-em · Mar 11, 2012

For those who recently applied in the College of Nursing, were they able to tell you if they still have slots for april and july intakes?

Hi! I submitted my application on the last week of November 2011. I was aiming for the January 2012 intake but unfortunately, they have already selected the applicants when my visa got approved. I now have a slot for the April 2012 intake.

As for your question, I think you must submit your application a few months in advance of your desired intake date because slots are pretty competitive. It is better to send Ms. Irene Wong an email or better yet call them for updates.

danceinstructor · Mar 11, 2012

Hello, fellow RN's! :)
how can I contact Philman Agency? I am from Davao & i would like
to apply for Australia. The problem is, I'm just a fresh NLE passer.
How many mos/years of experience shoud I gain before I will be
eligible toregister for APHRA or for BP? :) Help me out po. :))))

You only need to have at least 3 months full time experience for AHPRA. You may refer that to the form AGOS40. But for PhilMan, they need at least a year of experience. Of course, you also need to have a score of 7 in each subtest of IELTS in one sitting.

ychelle anne · Mar 12, 2012

Ychelle Anne..You need not come back to the Philippines anymore just apply to ahpra for assessment wait for your eligibility and apply for BP..While waiting for your eligibility apply for short courses like cert.in aged care 111 so you get a certificate and can earn higher pay..Then once your eligibility comes out enroll for BP and get your RN license.

Hi! Thanks for the info.. I am now enrolled in UniSA for bp.. Just waiting for my student visa.. So having finished short courses is a plus.. Well maybe I have to consider that when I get there.. Hopefully it won't cost much.. I'm quite short of finances now.. Haha!Are you an oz nurse now? :)

ychelle anne · Mar 12, 2012

You will find that whether you applied and have your LOE from AHPRA before Sept 2011, you will still have to have an IELTS score of 7 overall in one sitting before you REGISTER. This is why it is important that your IELTS is still valid before you apply for initial registration for your practice certificate. It's not called a 'licence' here in Australia.Such is the case for a struggling Filipino who finished her BP and can not register with AHPRA because her IELTS expired. She has to take up an English course to pass the IELTS and apply for an extension visa. She is now working part time as a carer where my wife works. She recently failed her IELTS again. Lucky for her she has relatives who support her.

Really?! I was informed that I have to have a valid ielts to continue my application for registration.. My course will conclude on aug24 and my ielts expires on sept11.. You think I can get my registration quickly before my ielts expire? And do I have to take another English course prior to taking ielts?

ychelle anne · Mar 12, 2012

You need a work visa to work as an aged carer with cert 111, while studying if you have student visa you can only work 20 hours, once you have finished your course then your student visa finishes. It would be illegal to work if no visa that allows you to work.Aged care workers are not on the skilled list, how can one apply to work? or apply for a long term business visa?

A big question mark for me! Hahahahahaha!!!

ychelle anne · Mar 12, 2012

Hi serveRN. You may want to visit this site Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency - Contact Us It has the list of 9 different locations where you can send your documents for assessment. Hope this helps.

Hi! I suggest you pass yours in south Australia.. Mine took roughly a month for my LoE.. :)