Due to recent changes regarding applications for International nurses to Australia and the combining of the nursing boards to one central nursing board in Australia AHPRA I have started a new thread for people to discuss the new process on working in Australia.
Currently New Zealand is not accepting new applicants from International trained nurses except those that meet the Trans Tasman Mutual Recognition Agreement {TTMR} this will be updated once the New Zealand nursing board reopen their books to International nurses.
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency AHPRA
Hi just want to ask if jobs are available for us internationally registered nurses after doing BP? AUD 10,000- 11,000 is not cheap. That amount is even more expensive compared to my tuition fee in my 4yrs of nursing degree!
If we can find a job, then that is worth the investment. I only have 11mos of post reg. nursing experience of which, 3 mos is paid and the remaining 8mos. is volunteer. I hope to hear from cioman94... hehe.. and to all who have just finshed their BP if they successfully landed a job. I only have a cousin in NSW but it will take another year for her to get her PR. I have an aunt in VIC who has a PR but have lost contact with her..
Hi just want to ask if jobs are available for us internationally registered nurses after doing BP? AUD 10,000- 11,000 is not cheap. That amount is even more expensive compared to my tuition fee in my 4yrs of nursing degree!
If we can find a job, then that is worth the investment. I only have 11mos of post reg. nursing experience of which, 3 mos is paid and the remaining 8mos. is volunteer. I hope to hear from cioman94... hehe.. and to all who have just finshed their BP if they successfully landed a job. I only have a cousin in NSW but it will take another year for her to get her PR. I have an aunt in VIC who has a PR but have lost contact with her..
if i got it right, the reason for the nursing unemployment in queensland is the lack of funding and unwillingness to mentor new grads? odd. most hospitals in the philippines will have a new grad nurse partnered with an experienced nurse. no more additional training fee, and the mentoring comes from filipino camaraderie :)
It would be easy to find a job in Australia if you have years of experience under your belt. These days it would be near to impossible to land a hospital RN job if you have little or no experience especially in cities.
But this does not mean that there is noway for a non-experienced Filipino RN who successfully got registered with AHPRA to get an RN job.
Aged care is not very popular with newly registered Australian RNs and there are quite a number of places vacant in this sector. So if you are open to aged care nursing, there is a good possibility for you to be sponsored a 457 visa.
If you do your research, you can actually find aged care providers that offer good wages and have good working conditions. Some really do suck but others are quite fine.
I actually quite enjoy working fulltime in an aged care setting in a small town in Queensland. I am a level 1 RN and I get a base pay of 26.74 AUD per hour. I work full time and I often get overtime because the facility often has difficulty in getting agency nurses ( as a rule, employers generally do not want their employees to go overtime). When shift allowances and weekend penalties are included, I normally get a fortnight's pay between 2500 to 3400 AUD before taxes. And for someone who is used to getting 14k php per month as a nurse in the Philippines, that's not bad at all.
But don't get the idea that aged care nursing is easy. It is not easy and that is why it is not very popular among newly registered nurses. I find it easy because I have 3 years of medical-surgical experience and have more than two decades of managing different types of people.
Acute care experience is helpful if you want to work in aged care. In aged care, the RN is the highest skilled staff and you don't get enough support from clinical nurses because chances are, you will be working on your own, with EENs, ENs, and AINs under your supervision. This is particularly true during late shifts and night shifts.
If you are up to taking care of 40 high care residents, 40 low care residents, 10 secure dementia residents and 4 to 5 palliative care residents and at the same time managing 6 to 10 nursing staff (EENs, EN, AINs);then sign up for aged care nursing
Your duties will include: administering regular and prn medications, authorising EENs to give PRN meds; you do peg feeds, ngt feeds, wound care, colostomy care, tracheostomy care, managing oxygen therapy, continence care (inserting and removing catheters)teaching AINs, managing ****** AINs (oh yes you will have heaps of em), assessing, making care plans, ensuring plans are carried out, evaluating, documenting, etc..
You will also have 2 to 5 residents on syringe drivers for their pain meds. You will answer phone calls from family members, appease them if they are irate. You will change the roster and find replacements if a staff or two will call in sick( sometimes you spend an hour looking for replacements). You may have a resident or two who are psychotic, sometimes you would be lucky to have a bipolar resident who would b**ch the RN and staff for any issue under the sun. You will always have residents that are sundowners, residents that keep on wandering, and high care residents who abscond.
From time to time your residents will have asthma attacks, will get really huge skin tears, sometimes a resident will have a TIA on your shift, sometimes a resident will have a stroke, an MI, shortness of breath, a head contusion, a hip or femoral neck fracture etc...
Being the highest skilled staff, you will assess, give immediate intervention, decide whether to call the ambulance, call the doctor or call the family.
You will experience residents die. You fill out loads of forms, incident reports, progress notes, ACFI notes. You normally will have 2 med rounds in the early and late shifts. Each round takes approximately an hour and a half to two hours to finish.
Some days are really good but some days could really get crazy.
At the end of the day, you realise that,well, that is what you signed up for; so you can't really complain.
If you are the type of person who can think on your feet, and if you are not so choosy even if you have no experience, you will surely find an RN job after you get registered.
There is one way to find out: get registered and see what happens!
thank you javRN for that very inspiring message! and to think you are a busy nurse and you were still able to find time to write a novel message! now i have a clearer picture of the working environment and RN job description in an aged care setting. :) when you were still studying, are you the toxic student nurse or type A personality? pax!
Thanks a lot JavRN!! After reading your novel message, I felt that my energy is being sucked up for every word that you typed... huhu... But do hospitals in Au consider working in an aged care facility as an experience? I am guessing that you accepted the aged care work for you to cover up your expenses for your BP, app fees, visa, plane ticket, accommodation, etc. and at the same time building your exp for a hospital job and a PR...
if i got it right, the reason for the nursing unemployment in queensland is the lack of funding and unwillingness to mentor new grads? odd. most hospitals in the philippines will have a new grad nurse partnered with an experienced nurse. no more additional training fee, and the mentoring comes from filipino camaraderie :)
That news is really depressing. You're right with the training here in the Philippines but some hospitals require newly reg RNs to pay for their training. Some offer training for free but have limited slots only and you must have a backer for you to be able to get the slot. If you are lucky, there are hospital that gives training with allowance but the ratio is only 2/10 hospital. At first, I am desperate to have a hospital experience. I couldn't get a job after obtaining my license in hospitals simply bec. they are not hiring. So, I volunteered. The training was good because you will really function as a staff nurse (except that you are not paid). Skills wise, you will really improve. But come to think of it, there are lots of hospitals in the Phil. that are understaffed! Where are they getting their manpower? From volunteer RNs!
My friend pointed this out to me after I got burnt out from volunteering. "If all of us will stop volunteering, then the hospitals will be forced to hire us." That is sooooo true. But for newly reg RNs, it won't sink in to them until they got burnt out like me. Because believe me, after passing the NLE, you are really hungry to work as a nurse and hone your skills. You don't care even if it is unpaid or you will pay as long as you have an "experience". Later on, as you apply in other countries, you will realize that they don't count volunteer experience. Maybe, just like in Queensland, the Phil. Gov. is not funding their hospitals enough for manpower. Ergo, they cannot hire. Thus, entrapment in the rat race.
Thanks a lot JavRN!! After reading your novel message, I felt that my energy is being sucked up for every owrd that you typed... huhu... But do hospitals in Au consider working in an aged care facility as experience? I am guessing that you accepted the aged care work for you to cover up your expenses for your BP, app fees, visa, plane ticket, accommodation, etc. and at the same time building your exp for a hospital job and a PR...
Sorry for making you feel like your energy is being sucked up. Some hospitals in Au consider working in an aged care facility as experience but then again, it would be harder to move up in acuity than to move down( its easier to move from hosp to aged care than from aged care to hosp).
If hospital setting is really your passion, maybe you can try aged care and get permanent residency first, and after that move on to hospital setting. If it is your passion then nothing should stop you from going.
Actually I accepted the aged care work not mainly for the reasons you cited above. I accepted it because it was the first employer willing to sponsor a 457 business visa. I sent hundreds of applications for months. I got interviewed and was offered jobs in hospitals but they were not willing to sponsor. At that time they were only hiring parttimers and casual pools. and 457 requires fulltime work. From time to time I still get phone calls from hospital settings as a result of the applications I sent almost a year ago and this time they are willing to sponsor me. (remember, I have 3 years medical-surgical experience and from a very good hospital at that) but I turn them down.
I love aged care. I love the setting. I love the challenge. Clinical skills wise in aged care, really, to be honest is a no brainer. you can do it with your eyes closed. But still it is very hard to finish everything. the key to success in this area lies in your ability to manage and lead a team and in your ability to think proactively. I like what I do. While crazy days do happen, more often than not, I go home and have a really good sleep, knowing that I have made such a huge difference.
My DONAC ( director of nursing) loves me for the effort i bring to the team. My colleagues are happy to work with me. And I get so much satisfaction when some residents would genuinely tell me they are glad I am here. I love palliative care (contributing to a peaceful death- remember V. Henderson?) and besides, though my hourly rate is lower compared to hospital setting, I can earn more than my hospital counterparts if I like because I can do lots of overtime because there is the need. ( for hours worked in excess of 76 hours in a fortnight, they are paid 53 aud per hour.
hi everyone im a newbie here.. i recently received my letter of offer from castlemaine health to do the bp on feb 2011.. ive been reading the whole thread and im still confused on how to apply for my visa 456.... anyone who already underwent the process? help! tnx!
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Hi good day, are you already here in Australia? I am going to do the BP on Feb 2011in Castlemaine.. so what's your plan now? have you already get the 456 visa? what's the requirements?
if hospital setting is really your passion, maybe you can try aged care and get permanent residency first, and after that move on to hospital setting. if it is your passion then nothing should stop you from going..
thanks for this advice. i know you are busy with work but you still find time to reply and give your opinion and advice to us, who are still undecided on what pathway to choose.
actually i accepted the aged care work not mainly for the reasons you cited above. i accepted it because it was the first employer willing to sponsor a 457 business visa. i sent hundreds of applications for months. i got interviewed and was offered jobs in hospitals but they were not willing to sponsor. at that time they were only hiring parttimers and casual pools. and 457 requires fulltime work. from time to time i still get phone calls from hospital settings as a result of the applications i sent almost a year ago and this time they are willing to sponsor me. (remember, i have 3 years medical-surgical experience and from a very good hospital at that) but i turn them down.
hehe i missed that one! but whoa! hundreds of application?? wow. i guess waiting for your license and job hunting will test every bit of sanity you have. i salute you for being able to overcome all of those.
i love aged care. i love the setting. i love the challenge. clinical skills wise in aged care, really, to be honest is a no brainer. you can do it with your eyes closed. but still it is very hard to finish everything. the key to success in this area lies in your ability to manage and lead a team and in your ability to think proactively. i like what i do. while crazy days do happen, more often than not, i go home and have a really good sleep, knowing that i have made such a huge difference.
from your previous post, i never had a hint that you are enjoying your job! hehe. it's a good thing that you have find a good place to pursue your passion. i just hope that day will also come for me.. *sighs*
I just received my eligibility letter today! Praise God! Abhy I am still looking for BP schools.
Congrats Salmonella!!! May I know for how many weeks/months did you wait for your eligibility letter? Perhaps, a time frame to share for everyone? Thanks.
now i have a clearer picture of the working environment and RN job description in an aged care setting. :) when you were still studying, are you the toxic student nurse or type A personality? pax! 
anyone who already underwent the process? help! tnx!
banchan, LPN
33 Posts
Hi just want to ask if jobs are available for us internationally registered nurses after doing BP? AUD 10,000- 11,000 is not cheap. That amount is even more expensive compared to my tuition fee in my 4yrs of nursing degree!
If we can find a job, then that is worth the investment. I only have 11mos of post reg. nursing experience of which, 3 mos is paid and the remaining 8mos. is volunteer. I hope to hear from cioman94... hehe.. and to all who have just finshed their BP if they successfully landed a job. I only have a cousin in NSW but it will take another year for her to get her PR. I have an aunt in VIC who has a PR but have lost contact with her..