OzNurse69

NAD = no abnormalities detected. ie. normal (in relation to pathology/radiology)

KVO with hep saline. I'm in NICU though, so our kids aren't up to walking around!

Common practice here. These are the guys that deal with cord blood donation in our hospital. http://www.bmdi.org.au/default.asp?id=40 I work in NICU, so I'm not sure of how it works, but most parents donate their child's cord blood. Cheers.

In Australia we have this: http://www.worldsgreatestshave.com/ Maybe you could contact the organisers to find out how to set up a local chapter, with donations going to an organisation in your area. Ruth

Nope, EBM. We were just going through it at a faster rate than she could make it.

RE: permanent residency. See here: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/medical-practitioners/visa-options-nurses.htm There are a number of different sub-categories for applying for residency, it seems. These include hospital-sponsored, visas for people with relatives willing to sponsor them, and independent visas. Check out the requirements and costs and see which one is most applicable to you. FWIW, I've worked at both the Wesley (closest to Western suburbs) and Mater, and these hospitals have sponsored O/S staff in the past. PM me if you want contact names or more information. RE: lots of work for L2 nurses. Level 2's in Qld are Clinical Nurses. They are usually in charge of a shift when there is no NM, or act as resource people for the unit. "Lots more work" translates generally as they have to do rosters, organise education for the unit, work more lates/nights as these shifts don't have NM coverage. They may or may not have to take a pt load as well, depending on the hospital and the particular ward. It's a "semi-management" position, but L2 experience is usually a requirement for any sort of management role. RE: education bonuses. Not a one-off deal, these are reimbursement of up to $1500/$2000 (conditional) for education, as well as up to 3 paid days off per year. Something about if you don't use the money after 2 years it gets paid out in cash, but as I intend to use mine I didn't look too closely at that condition. RE: patient loads. Where I've worked (high acuity surgical wards) daytime acuity is 1:4 or 1:5, evenings 1:6 and nights 1:8. Or something around that. Depending on staff! RE: superannuation. Your employer is required by law to pay 9% on top of your salary into a superannuation account. This can't be touched until you turn 60 and retire. If you move back O/S before then (but why would you want to? ) your super continues to earn interest until you reach retirement age, and then it gets paid back to you. Some places (Qld Health, Mater Health Services, I think some of the pvt hospitals) require you to contribute an amount of your salary as well - usually 5%. This amount used to be able to be withdrawn when you left your job, but is now "preserved" (i.e. you can't touch it til you turn 60) as well. However you will still be able to get it no matter where you live when you turn 60. RE: health insurance coverage. Medicare is available to Canadian citizens as part of a reciprocal agreement between our respective governments. This entitles you to free treatment in the public system, a rebate on Dr outpatient visits (including things like radiology and pathology) and subsidised pharmaceuticals through the PBS. If you want to avoid waiting lists and/or be treated in a private hospital, or if you want to receive benefits for things like dental/physio/chiro etc, you would need to take out private health insurance. There's an incentive program where if you are over 30 you pay an extra 2% per year for every year you don't take out private health insurance BUT if you take out insurance within 12 months of arriving from overseas this is waived and you pay at the base rate. RE: taxes. The "loopholes" you refer to probably refer to salary packaging. That means that if your employer is QLD Health or a not-for-profit hospital (i.e nearly all of them) you can elect to get things like rent/mortgage payments/credit card payments and a whole bunch of other stuff, up to (I think) $8500 per year taken out of your salary before they calculate the tax payable. So if you earn $50,000, and salary sacrifice $8500, you only pay tax on $41,500. It sounds like a rort, but it's completely above board and legal! Your employer will have all the details about this, and will let you know how to sign up when you get here. Some employers (like mine) require that you have a qualified accountant draw up your salary sacrifice agreement, but for about $200 in accountant fees you pay about $2500 less tax per year. Not bad! I lived in the western suburbs for years, and still have many friends and relatives there. PM me if you want any help/advice about anything else. Cheers, Ruth

Good grief. I work NICU now, but in a previous life was on a (very busy) colorectal surgery floor. We were lucky to have 4 RNs on at night - for 31 beds! And that was only on busy post-op days. Most nights were 3 RNs for 31 beds. And that's total staff - no LPNs, no CNAs, just us. Now I know that's a bit excessive as far as workloads go, but surely they could have managed 19 patients with 3 staff. That's what I reckon anyway, and that's coming from a med/surg point of view. Primm

I have a mum of 30 week twins who is having trouble keeping up supply pumping. They are now 34 weeks, but she can't be there all day every day as she has older children. She's tried increasing frequency, all the usual tricks, but no go. So me and our LC suggested she might try seeing if her GP would prescribe a galactogogue for her. She went to see her, and the regular GP is away on holidays, so she spoke to someone else. This dinosaur told her that as a 46 year old mother of twins (naturally conceived, not IVF), she is TOO OLD to breastfeed and should just give up. :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire Fortunately she didn't believe him, and is going back to see her regular GP when she comes back from holidays. I'm holding out hope that as a female Dr our mum might receive a little more compassion. Primm *just venting - thanks*

Yep. Full immersion baths, dry around the cord, no alcohol/lotions/potions of any kind. Oh, and my youngest is 13, so this has been policy for some time. Most of our cords fall off in 7 - 10 days with no infection. (I'm in NICU).

When I had a stick a couple of months ago, my staff counsellor told me there were no recorded cases of anyone who had been stuck with a low risk needle contracting HIV. Anywhere. Ever. I took his word for it and didn't research it myself, but that's my understanding.

In my NICU we have a choice as to whether to receive the pertussis, rubella, hep b and flu shots. If we choose not to, we also choose another unit to work in.

That's the way I was taught when my firstborn was born - 15 years ago! Obviously things aren't as slow here as I thought.

On my ward we have a system. You work either Christmas eve/Christmas day OR New Year's Eve/New Year's Day. Then swap the next year. There are usually enough new staff to fill in the gaps if it's uneven. If you want a particular day off & haven't got it, it's up to the individual to find someone else willing to swap. No whinging, doesn't matter about kids/no kids or families/no families. And everyone knows they work every second year. Ruth

Must be an Aussie thing Gwenith, we've been doing that here since mid 90's. From both a professional (ED RN) and personal point of view (son had bad hot water scauld c partial thickness burns to his feet) I can vouch for the efficacy of this. Seems to help with scarring too, but that was just on my son, and could have been because he was young. Ruth

From what I understand after working with some O/S nurses, you need to be sponsored by your hospital in order to get a working visa. They basically guarantee that you will be working while you are here. I've heard it can be a bit of a circular process - can't get a job without a visa, can't get a visa without sponsorship (ie a job!). But I'm not an immigration expert, and this was a couple of years ago. There's a serious shortage here same as everywhere, so maybe things have slackened off recently. Ruth