pediatric nurse from US to Auckland

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so i am a travel nurse in the US, planning to come to auckland in january. i was just wanting to pick the brains of some other pediatric nurses in auckland. basically i would like to know working conditions, patient to nurse ratio, hourly salary, type of nursing (primary or team), type of facility (teaching or not). also just some general information about auckland. like where to live, what to do, how to meet people. all the good stuff that you should know before moving to a new country!!

any help would be greatly appreciated!! thanks a lot!!

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Hi there.

Im sure someone out there may be able to give you better info than me (im still nursing student, but im currently doing my final rotation for 10 weeks in paeds) but ive lived in Auckland since forever so i may be able to offer some insight...

There are two hospitals in Auckland that offer paeds, Starship Childrens Hospital and Kids First Hospital. Both are teaching hospitals.

Kids First is relatively new but only consists of a couple of wards, it is located on the same site as Middlemore Hospital (adults). Its in a very low socioeconomic area and lots of the families that you deal with have preventable medical problems that come as the result of poor housing etc. There is huge ethnic diversity in both the staff (i heard the other day that theres 150+ different languages spoken by the staff at Middlemore) and the patients. People who have worked there were very positive about it, staff friendly and very supportive.

Starship Childrens Hospital is located on the same site as Auckland City Hospital and is more central to town, bus routes etc. It is the main paediatric hospital in AUckland. The hospital is relatively old (15+years) and in my opinion not designed particularly well (very small rooms etc). However you get beautiful views of the city and harbour from all of the wards. It is located in a higher socioeconomic area but because of its specialities there is still a wide range of socioeconomic status in the patients (patients come from all over NZ for specialised treatment including cardiology, PICU and oncology). Staff are generally very friendly and there are good support systems in place but short staffing has lead to a slightly stressful environment on some wards. Personally i would prefer to work here than at Kids First when i graduate due to the specialities it offers and its location.

As far as living in Auckland, it is a very spread out city and a car is a must (though parking is a headache at Starship- people working 12 hour shifts find it easier tho). I live on the North Shore and it takes about 20mins to drive to AUckland City Hospital. Where were you thinking of living?? I could give you some more info on those areas from a locals perspective.

Auckland is a beautiful place to live with so much to do only a short drive away from the city centre (if you like exploring!). There are heaps of nice beaches, bush walks, sand dunes and islands to visit.

Let me known if you have any more specific questions...i'd be happy to answer them!

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I only worked at KidzFirst for a few shifts but I have lived in Auckland almost all of my life so from a locals perspective I can tell you it is expensive to rent a flat, cost of living will be extremely expensive compared with the US and as mentioned in the post above, a car is a must because public transport is limited if you live in the suburbs.

In my opinion your best course of action is to work at Starship Hospital and live in the central city, for example Grafton, Ponsonby, City Central because the public transport system is more user friendly, you are relatively close to work and there are plenty of things to do and see.

Your salary is dependent on your years of experience and I haven't worked in NZ since the latest pay rises so I'm not sure what the scale is now, maybe an RN currently working in NZ can shed more light. Just off the top of my head though the highest rate is around $24/hr with shift differentials.

Meeting new people is easy when you're an RN, work always has plenty of new faces.

I hope you enjoy your exciting move to another country.

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thanks for the information. turns out my recruiter says there were no positions in auckland, so she is looking into wellington or christchurch for us. Not sure if you know anything about those cities, but any information is definately appreciated!!

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Specializes in CVICU, Obs/Gyn, Derm, NICU.

hi,

you might want to try these job sites...

aucklandhealthcareers and seek

sorry, i can't seem to get a link. i am sure there are job vacancies at starship in auckland.

the salaries have gotton better. a staff nurse with five years of experience earns a basic salary of NZ $54,000. then add on $15,000 per annum (or some more) for shift diffs and weekends.....so it's not a bad salary.

you will find some things cheaper in nz...for example, car insurance and electricity are much less than the us...however food and clothing are more expensive.

good luck

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Specializes in CVICU, Obs/Gyn, Derm, NICU.

Hi Tess,

just want to add - there are several vacancies for Starship on the Aucklandhealthcareers.co.nz site.

This site has all medical/nursing/allied vacancies for the three district health boards in the Auckland region ; Auckland, Waitemata and Counties Manakau.

Auckland District Health Board is accustomed to recruiting international staff - they may easily be able to directly hire you, rather than go through a recruiter.

Good luck

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who is your recruiter?? there are definately LOTS of jobs available at starship.

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i will definately check out that web site, thank you for the info!! the agency i have been working with is called clinical one. but it sounds like i may be better off locating a job myself.

the salary is much better than i was thinking that it was, that is good. i was thinking i was going to come there and have to live like a bum. so that is very good news!!! thanks a lot.

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If you cannot nurse in Auckland maybe you could go to Christchurch. There is one main hospital there that has a pediatric ward. THis hospital is called Christchurch Public and it is located in the Canterbury Province. You could look at the Canterbury District Health BOard website which is www.Canterburydistricthealthboard.co.nz. There are job vacancies posted on the website. Christchurch is a lovely city and accommodation not too expensive. They are desperately short of nurses in this hospital.

All the best.

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Help pls.Im a filipino nurse still processing for my application as a nurse to new zealand. Im searching the net for the best place to start working, that will suit my taste(a work place in a city or near a city that does not have that too much high cost of living, so i can send enough money to my family in the Philippines, I want it being close to nature also.I love the city life, i dont want it be too much laidback).

So,any suggestions to what place in new zealand im referring to?

is a auckland a nice place?

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Specializes in 1 PACU,11 ICU, 9 ER.

I cannot comment on NZ as I am in the process of applying there myself and have only visited, not worked there.

But I know the salaries are not that high and if you are looking for financial gain the US has much higher salaries but also stringent requirements like NZ.

Hope this helps some.

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well,im planning on working temporarily in NZ while waiting for my US application.They say it takes years for processing,so im gonna work in Nz for a while

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