Elleann

Great, thanks! :)

Sorry, didn't mean to offend. So, are you saying that within retirement communities, there is no specific facility where a resident would be admitted on a permanent basis for frail care, that such a person would have to live in a private hospital?!? Or is Private Hospital just the name given to what I am talking about? (sorry if I am the one being dense here .) NZ instead of Australia - well, NZ has always seemed immensely attractive to me in terms of physical beauty and lifestyle. As long as my basic needs are met in terms of income, and as long as I am enjoying my work and making good friendships and relationships, the money thing isn't a huge issue. I also prefer the idea of a smaller community to a large sprawling land (have lived in SA all my life!).

Maybe I should clarify! :) By LTC (long term care) I mean eldercare or geriatric care within residential retirement facilities - patients would be in either the frail care or dementia units, or even in assisted living units. Would that be the same thing as what you mention?

Hello. I'm interested in hearing from RNs working in Wellington, particularly in LTC facilities as this is where I am looking for a job. Can anyone tell what it is really like? Any kind of information would be great, as I am just trying to build up a picture of working conditions generally. For instance: are there official nurse to patient ratios and do facilities adhere to them? How do salaries for RNs in LTC compare with salaries for hospital-based RNs? Are there facilities that you would recommend or avoid? What type of shift rosters do the LTC facilities use? I have about six years experience in LTC, and over 25 years in nursing altogether. I really like the field but was wondering whether to stick with it, or whether it would be better to look for a job in another area - I also have hospice and ICU (a long, long time ago!) experience. Thanks for any and all input! Elleann

Thanks for the reply, sorry for the misposting of the query!

Hello. I'm starting the process of getting registered with the NZNC. When I contacted a medical recruitment service in NZ, the consultant said that registration usually takes 3 - 4 months if all the paperwork is correctly submitted. I noted from reading the posts within this section that some nurses (many of whom who seem to be working via agencies to come from the Philippines) have been waiting much longer than that (over 7 or 8 months) for their registration to come through. Any thoughts, anyone? Is the consultant misleading me? Is the time difference maybe due to something like country of origin, length of experience (I am not a new grad, I have over 25 years RN experience) or even maybe the agencies the Philippines nurses are using? I look forward to hearing from you - in particular, if there are other SA nurses who have or who are emigrating to NZ, it would be great to hear how your process worked. Thanks Elleann

Thanks. Yes I do know about retrogression (the factors beyond my control I mentioned). I'm just feeling pretty devastated at present as I recently learned that my I-140 was denied, and it's not my fault!!! I was working with a small CA agency through which a number of friends had already successfully emigrated. When time came to file my I-140 (Jan this year) there was no job offer available as the original hospital contract I had signed on with had been withdrawn (hospital group changed its foreign nurse recruitment policy and cancelled a bunch of contracts) and the agency (a small, one-man operation) was struggling to build new contacts and already hospitals were getting antsy about taking on staff with the long wait for them to arrive. So I signed a contract with the agency itself which essentially made me a 'travel nurse' with the agency as sponsor. BUT, mainly due to retrogression and subsequent lack of placement and therefore lack of commission, the agency is struggling financially and the INS assessed him as being unable to pay my salary and DENIED my I-140. As he has no other job to offer me right now, an appeal is bound to fail but its been lodged anyway. I'm completely devastated by this. Not only is retrogression screwing things up, but this has knocked me to the back of the queue as the only way to proceed now is to find a new sponsor / employer and file a new I-140 application - and god only knows how long things will take from here on out. And since I'm no longer in my 20s or 30s, its not like I have time to sit around patiently waiting for things to happen ... but what choice do I have? :angryfire

This may sound like a silly question but I really need to know! I'm in South Africa and took my NCLEX in June 2006 as part of my emigration process and passed first time. I did it through the VT Board of Nursing. My VT license was renewed and expires again in March 2009. I'm also in the process of having the license endorsed over to CA. But my emigration process has slowed to a complete halt due to factors totally outside my control and I have no idea when it will complete. Now, I vaguely remember reading something somewhere at the time that pertained to the NCLEX results and had to do with needing a Social Security number for 'something' to happen - cannot remember what it was at all - and I also seem to remember a two year period being mentioned!! Obviously I won't have an SS number until I get to the US, whenever that may be. It's eighteen months since I passed the NCLEX and I am now concerned that whatever it is I am remembering might be affected by the delay. Does this sound like nonsense or does it ring a bell for anyone? Any input would be much appreciated!! Elleann

Rachelle, I am still in SA... my I-140 application went in to the INS in January this year and we are still waiting for that to be processed, but it IS underway. Apart from that, though, apparently there is a huge backlog in terms of the priority dates which are given out for the Green Card interviews and this is causing long delays in completing the process. I know of one girl here in South Africa who got her I-140 eighteen months ago and has still not been given a date for the final Green Card interview. I tell you, the frustration is HUGE! So when my agent told me earlier this month that we should expect to be in SA at least another year to eighteen months, in order to cope with that and use the time productively, I decided to register for a post-graduate diploma course next year at my local university. I'm planning to study for the Diploma in Primary Health Care which enables one to function in the same kind of capacity as the US Nurse Practitioner - you learn to assess, investigate, diagnose, prescribe and manage cases independently, which I think will be a value qualification to have once I get to the US - hopefully it will be accepted as an NP qualification and that will broaden the scope for employment opportunities. :-) Other than that, I'm working part time in a primary health care clinic but at a lower level. How about you? What are your plans?

Hi Rachelle Wow, it seems like such a long time ago now - I took my test last year in June! :-) I allowed myself a week in the UK but I had family I wanted to see (which also meant I had a place to stay!). I flew in on a Sunday morning, took the train up to Manchester and spent until Wednesday with them. Then took the train back down to London on Thursday and overnighted with friends. I had first planned to do it the other way round, ie exam first and fun afterwards, but in retrospect, I think it was far, far better to get rid of the jetlag and get used to the 'strangeness' of the country first, before taking the test. If you are English-speaking, it will be no problem for you - the only strange things are the currency and the accents, LOL! My exam was on a Friday at 11am. I think I left Earl's Court at about 8am, took the underground to High Holborn and followed the directions they gave, which are very clear and easy BUT do make sure you have a good London street map with you - this makes it sooo much easier as you can see where you are meant to be going. The test centre is very easy to find and once you are there, they tell you exactly where, what, how etc. No problems. If I can help you with anything else, please just ask, either here or via PM. Good luck! When do you write? Elle

I started reviewing clinical content last year in Nov or so, but only got serious about studying in Feb this year and wrote in June. If you are confident in your clinical content - your academics etc - the BEST thing you can do is first learn about how the NCLEX is structured and how to go about understanding and answering questions. This is a skill you CANNOT be without if you want to pass. Knowledge almost comes second... Then do practice questions until they are coming out of your ears, and everytime you do a question, whether you get it right or wrong, READ the rationale and make 100% sure you understand it fully. I cannot emphasize this aspect too much. Conquering NCLEX is ALL about understanding how the questions work and staying up to date with practice questions, keeping your head in the right space. Content alone will not help you pass the NCLEX. As to cost, you can get this info from the NCSBN site - sorry I don't have the addy here, I wiped all that from my pc once I had passed. Writing outside the US - in London - cost me $410.00 (excluding airfares etc) Good luck! Elleann

I took my NCLEX in London on Friday morning at 11. The test was actually great - same as most of you, I got TONS of priority, lots of infection control, 6 or 8 select all that apply, NO calculations, and very little psychosocial / therapeutic communication. Minimal peds, minimal maternity, and a few (obscure) meds questions. The questions seemed very in keeping with the practice questions I'd been using - Kaplan, Mosby, NSCBN etc. It shut off at 75 to my vast relief! I flew back to South Africa Saturday night feeling pretty confident, but not 100 % sure. Logged onto Pearson this morning - and I PASSED!!!!!! Thank God it's over!!! And thanks to all the wonderful and supportive people on this forum! Elleann

I believe that eating a high protein breakfast will keep your brain in better shape for the test than eating a high carb breakfast - so I'm going for the scrambled eggs on toast instead of just fruits and grains. Is one allowed to take snacks into the testing room itself, or are the snacks for when you take a break? Elleann

That's weird. I also bought the online testing product but it worked perfectly for me without the need to phone them for ID or anything. And I live in South Africa, so a call to get ID would probably have double the price of the product, hee hee!! It's a great product, btw. The only problem factor is that if you quickly and consistently do very well on it, and move quickly into the high-range-of-difficulty questions, you will find that in future tests you will see lots of those questions repeating themselves. In other words, that dBase of 1800 questions includes a LOT of questions that are ranked lower in difficulty. I also got the 99% probability of passing score, every single time I took the test, but by the end of my access period, over 50% of the questions I was seeing I had seen before in previous tests. I asked Mosby about this and they said that the product probably works best for someone who starts out initially as a low-scoring test takers who uses it and improves steadily throughout the 30 day window period. Elleann

Hey guys, I'm taing the nclex in less than three weeks, but right now I'm trying to cope with some major stresses on the home front . I was originally scheduled to take the exam in London on June 1st (flying over from Cape Town) but two weeks ago, my dad had an emergency triple bypass, and ran into severe postop complications including pulmonary edema, renal failure, prolonged ventilation, severe confusion and so on. At the same time, I had a TON of work on the go (I'm currently not in clinical practice, I'm a freelance writer/editor and had three major projects to complete before leaving.) So I changed my exam date and flight dates, (which meant more money out of my pocket) and am now scheduled to fly on the 10th June, take the exam on the 16th. Thank God, my dad is out of ICU at last, and should be transferred to a rehab centre this week, but he is far from well yet and is going to have a prolonged recovery period ... he still has basal atelectasis on the left, no appetite and no energy ... So what with completing work, and worrying about dad, and driving an hour each way to visit and support my mom, its been hectic. I'm finding my ability to concentrate is seriously impaired and my focus is way off track ... Plus tonight I got back home and found my daughter (14) feeling really awful, full of cold and flu symptoms. She's due to start her midyear exams tomorrow. On the plus side, however, at least I'm here to take care of her - if things had stayed as they were, I would have been in London right now and she would have been staying with a friend for the week. So, some bad and some good. Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to get it off my chest. Elleann