Practice Nursing

[RNnomad, BSN, RN]

Hey all,

I've been thinking of moving to Perth with my Aussie partner for many years now. I have 2 years ICU experience in the US. I am interested in getting into practice nursing (possibly at a day surgery center or endoscopy suite). Any info any Aussies have on this type of nursing in oz would be very helpful. I'm mostly trying to figure out how I can better my experience to land one of these jobs. Also any info on job market would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance!

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

Thats not practice nursing in Australia. Practice nursing is working in a GP practice. There are some free standing endoscopy centres and day sugery centres ..PACU or scrub scout experience would be good. Before all that make sure you are able to register.

[RNnomad, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the reply, K+MgSO4. I have reviewed the APHRA application but am still gathering more information before I decide to submit and pay the expensive fees. What sort of qualificiations/experience do practice nurses need to land a job at a GP clinic? Do you know any nurses who especially like/dislike this type of nursing? This would be quite a change for me coming from ICU nursing so I'm trying to get as much insight as possible. The ICU is starting to burn me out and I'm getting very exhausted of the unrealistic workload of bedside nursing.

[l1234567]

This may be quite late

practice nursing generally doesn't earn much money and you would be limiting yourself in some ways from my assumed knowledge of US ICU nursing. I have friends who are GP nurses but they view it as a stepping stone. Also most GP's require their nurses to have knowledge of the computer programs used. Therfore you would need an informal network to get in (at least from my part of Australia).

Most universities have campuses with healthcare and that would be a very nice job (from what my friends have stated) with good pay and super. So it's like a gp but on campus

Further education in Australia is much more rigid then the US (if that is where you are from). You cannot undergo nurse practitioner unless you have proven experience in your field, been in at least (from memory) a clinical nurse for five years. Most however are previously clinical nurse consultants.

You would be in my opinion better served looking for an ICU position.

I am also not very familiar with Perth, so I cannot give any further information.

But if you have any further questions please ask!

[canned_bread]

Hey - basically experience in scrub, scout, anaesthetics or recovery is what they would want. Any experience in endoscopy is often a bonus too. It's quite an easy area to get in to I have found