Nursing in France

germain · Feb 26, 2005

Merci pour l'info.

Dudette · Feb 26, 2005

Me again:p !!! I forgot to tell you about ratio because I think it might be a little different. At day shift, witch is 7 hours x5 per week, or 12hours x5 and then x2 per week, in surgery this is 15 patients per registered nurse, a little bit more in medecine and 5 in ICU. At night I usually have around 20-25 patients, except in ICU still 5. We usually work 2 week-end per months. The law is 35 hours a week. You have 5 weeks paid for holliday, 11 national hollidays, and when you work on that hollidays you will have another rest day to compensate and have a prime on your salary. If you are sick and cannot work, social security will give you 70% of your salary.

oh and if you are working at day, usually you work one week in the morning and one week in the afternoon, approximately. Hours are usually 6:30am to 2:00pm. You have 30minutes lunch break witch is not paid. The afternoon is often 1:30 to 8:30. There is another team for night shift that can be different from place to place. Might be 7:00pm to 7:00am, 9:15pm to 6:45am.... it depends!

Salut!:)

nutella, MSN, RN · Feb 27, 2005

Geneva!!!! How I love that place.
Yeah swiss salary is very reasonable but Switzerland is one h*** of an expensive country. Was there in 2001 loved it. Looking forward to go there anytime soon.
Suggest stay in France territory near the swiss border (geneva) and commute to Geneva to work, that would be less expensive.
Good luck.

I am not sure if this is still possible! I lived next to France and Switzerland. A lot of nurses liked to work in Switzerland but lived in Germany. This does not always save money , as you need more insurance (for both countries you are living in ) and the tax - stuff is getting more complicated. Commuting to Geneva and living in France is a good idea, though!

Vive la france! They know how to live-believe me...

germain · Feb 28, 2005

My husband is french and I had to live there for 2 years, on and off, and did NOT like it. I found people racist and small minded. I didn't have much use for old fashioned ideas, but I was in a bad area, or so I am told. Still, I will probably have to give it another chance someday. I speak the language well, so working would be really interesting.

Dudette · Feb 28, 2005

My husband is french and I had to live there for 2 years, on and off, and did NOT like it. I found people racist and small minded. I didn't have much use for old fashioned ideas, but I was in a bad area, or so I am told. Still, I will probably have to give it another chance someday. I speak the language well, so working would be really interesting.

I am sorry you had this bad experience. I think there is idiots everywhere! It might come from the place you were. I can tell you here all the people I am working with here are very nice with foreign nurses. As I could notice, racism is often based on jealousy or ignorance. I wish your next experience will be better. Will you stay at the same place?

aquphase · Mar 1, 2005

Thanks for all of the information, it is great finding out so much about french nursing, but it all seems to be about general nursing!

I am really interested in the psychiatric side of things if anyone knows anything about it. I know most people tend to give it a wide burth but my partner and I really enjoy working in this area over here and I just wondered how it works over there.

I really enjoy the psychiatric icu in England, although it can be very very challenging, but very rewarding.

Dudette · Mar 4, 2005

Thanks for all of the information, it is great finding out so much about french nursing, but it all seems to be about general nursing!
I am really interested in the psychiatric side of things if anyone knows anything about it. I know most people tend to give it a wide burth but my partner and I really enjoy working in this area over here and I just wondered how it works over there.
I really enjoy the psychiatric icu in England, although it can be very very challenging, but very rewarding.

About psychiatric I can tell you that you will have choice here. It exists psychiatric hospitals (hopital psychiatrique) as regular hospitals. They are public. You may found some psychiatric nurses in general emergency department in general nursing hospitals too. Some places welcome people just for the day (hopital de jour). Some are specialised in drug addicts, or alcohol addict, at any stage of the healthcare, from emergency to rest. You can work in prison too. As for general nursing, it exists private establishments too (clinique psychiatrique) in every psychiatric specialties. Salaries are the same that for general nursing. If you speak French, you will find much more on the website infirmiers.com, on the forum, psychiatric nurses are numerous, and I remember lots of topics about it. Good luck!

patrickfr · Mar 11, 2005

Oh wow, how good it is to hear y'all talking about my country in such a warm manner! :Melody: So I am a french nurse living and working in South of France. It will be my pleasure to answer your questions if I am able to do it. :balloons:
As said above, we have public (hopital) or private (clinique) estabishments. Generally public pays better than private. But it depends on the convention of the clinic. Some pay a lot but you find them around Paris, not in small town. This is the same for psychiatric care. We have agencies too (interim) that propose you some long or short assignments in private establishments. This is what I am doing for 9 months now. This is a great choice, because due to the shortage you always have a lot of choice and you are your own boss. I decide the days I want to work or to rest, the shift I want to work, I am doing night shift, and I decide the units and clinics where I want or not to go. I earn the salary of the nurse I are supposed to replace, plus 10% for end of contract, plus 10% of insecurity prime. Now if you want to have an idea of salary, I can tell mine, but it will be just an information because it increases with lenght of service. This is something you should negociate with your employer. So, I am 4 years of service, and when I was working full time in surgery in clinic, I was making 1500 euros per month. When you work at night, you earn 10 more %. As a "intérimaire" (agency nurse) at night, I am making 1950 euros per month for surgery. Here is the most popular agencies ; www.appelmedical.com and www.quickmedicalservice.fr . You have assignments in French islands too! You earn more in ICU (réanimation). Oh I have to say this is what you keep in pocket after taxes to be paid. You are paid once a month. You might think it is very a small amount, but you have to see it in the context of the life. Appartments here are very cheaper than in America. I am living by the sea in 80 m² with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchen and balcony, a place for my car, for 400 euros per month. The taxes taken off your salary monthly serve to pay for your health insurance company, retirement and unemployment. For exemple, I had an accident of exposition to blood 2 weeks ago with a needle. So I had to have a blood test for hepatitis and HIV, and made it for free. It will be done 1month, 3 months and 6 months after and if I had to start a treatment it will be all for free. When patient go to visit a doctor, the price is 20 euros but you will have 70% of your money back a week later by social security. So finaly life is pretty sweet.
Now about being a foreign nurse in France, we are used to hire Spanish nurses. I have worked with some of them. Usualy nurses are nice with them and helpful. Of course doctors are less patient but if your french is not bad and you are doing a great job, they will trust you pretty quickly.
This is the adress of a very good french website, the most famous, where you could find a lot of news and a great forum : www.infirmiers.com
Some talked about Switzerland, this is great just in case you are living in France and working in Switzerland because you will earn 2,5 the salary, but life is very very expensive there and you do not have the same benefits!!!
Voilà !!! I hope this help. Let me know if I can help. Where in France would you like to live? I hope everything will be Ok for you,
à bientôt et bonne chance !

Hi Im Pat and I am relatively new to theis web site!

I have read with interest the information on Nursing in France. I am looking to move to the South of France soon and was wondering if you know of any english speaking agencies. I am in the process of learning French but at the moment it is very poor. I am also interested in work with research compamies as I understand that research in France is conducted in English. Do you know if this information is correct?

Any help or information that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

What part of France are you in?

Kind regards

Pat

Dudette · Mar 29, 2005

Hi Im Pat and I am relatively new to theis web site!
I have read with interest the information on Nursing in France. I am looking to move to the South of France soon and was wondering if you know of any english speaking agencies. I am in the process of learning French but at the moment it is very poor. I am also interested in work with research compamies as I understand that research in France is conducted in English. Do you know if this information is correct?
Any help or information that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
What part of France are you in?
Kind regards
Pat

Hi Pat,

I took some time to answer you because I had not the answer to your question. Having a friend who is a researcher for the CNRS, I asked her. So yes, the research is made in english. Now I don't know any english speaking agency. I am working with an agency too. I am living by Perpignan, in the Pyrénées Orientales. You might have more choice in Montpellier.

Hope this will help you.

Dudette

avsy · Apr 19, 2005

hi! i really find your thread very informative. i'm a nursing student here in the philippines and i'm planning to practice my job there in france. Is it hard to look for a job especially i'm not from there?

sbidal · Apr 30, 2005

Bonjour,

I am a fluently bilingual Canadian nurse who has fallen in love with the french culture and have since been desperately trying to fulfill my desire to work there. I was wondering if any of you have worked with or know of any Canadian registered nurses presently in France. And if so, would it be possible for you to forward me the details of how they begun this process. Also, does anyone know if it's possible for me to register my license without being present at the DDASS?

Susie

germain · Apr 30, 2005

Hopefully someone who lives there will give you the heads up. I think you must present yourself on application, and you might look at taking the french language exam just to have the paper in front of you that you speak well ( it helped me get a hospital job)

I met a canadian nurse in France who immigrated with a work visa, so I know its possible. Sure wish I had her contact info for you. Good luck.