whaley

I do not work for them, but my old house mate has just got a job with them, she applied on line and then went for a discussion/interview in London (it might be different in America!). They were a bit slow in asking her to interview, but she badgered them quite a lot. She is now waiting to go on a weeks training (where they kidnap you!) anywhere in Europe and after that they will post her somewhere. They like you have 2 years post qualification, know french or another language pretty well and have at least 3 months of working/travelling in a developing country. Thye don't just have project in war zones or refugee camps, they also have vertical projects like HIV clinics. They are a big well known, well funded organisation, so can get you out of hot spots if neccessary, they also pay you a small wage while you're out there. If you really want to go with them but don't have the travelling experience there are plenty of other organisations that you could go with first to get the experience. Me and my housemate have just done a diploma of tropical nursing to give us more opportunity to get into one of these organisations, and i would highly reccomend it, it is a fansinating course. I hope thats useful and good luck with it!

I'm sorry what I meant was, in a utopia wouldn't it be lovely if we had no problems!!!! sorry to confuse! However I am very realistic and can see the disadvantages of both systems and one'll never have the "perfect" health care system. There is no way one can make everybody happy all of the time. In regards to who decides on treatments, well like zippygbr said NICE (national institute for clinical excellence) and primary care trusts (PCTs) and within those PCTs there is a public health department, which my housemate (a junior doctor) worked for. She looked at research and the whole case and used an objective perspective to decide whether a patient should get a certain treatment (she didn't do any cancer related work, but other procedures and very new drug/treatments that GPs or consultants wanted funding for). She said it was quite a hard job, especially the very rude emails that she got when she refused people! Spacenurse, I work on a very busy 29 bedded respiratory ward, I start IVs, but can't take bloods or put cannulas in, I have to go on a seperate training course for this. Often on a shift we will have 3 trained nurses and 1 untrained (or health care assistant), this means that 1 nurse is in charge, dealing with discharges, staffing levels and coordinating etc, and then the other two trained take half the ward each, doing drugs, obs, dressings etc. the untrained floats and helps whoever needs it. It is very busy and we are trying to get more staff, but funding is an issue! Hope that helps.

What an intersting debate. I work in England, but have always been quite interested in the US health system as it always seemed quite elitist. At the beginning of this debate some people were worried about how it would affect their pay and the pt/nursing ratio. Well in the NHS in England, nurses in the private sector don't get paid much more than NHS nurses. However the pt/nurse ratio can be quite high, I often have 15 patients to look after. I don't know what it's like in the US, but I do work on quite an underfunded ward, so it's not usually that high. At the moment our government is trying to reduce the number of pts that need to be in hospital, so it putting more money into the community rather than hospitals, so people with chronic diseases can be treated and managed better, and therefore in theory need less hospital admissions. The NHS does have to be careful with resources, for example certain drugs like cancer drugs aren't available to everyone, which has recently caused quite a lot of controversy. The perfect sysytem would be that everyone could have free health care and there would be no money issues or waiting lists, however that's not going to happen, but I do believe that everyone has a right to good quality free health care.

IUGR - intrauterine growth restriction father of baby for FOB, wasn't astually what I was thinking! any more guesses?

oh, I have thought of another one!! TNP These are English ones though!

alternating current FOB

I work in the UK on a respiratory ward and qualified about 2 months ago, the usual ratio of nurses: patients is 1:15! Being a medical ward it is a bit different to a surgical ward, but I have been on placement on a surgical where the nurses have 12 patients. It is very stressful and I do not get to do the basic nursing that I love and I do not get a chance to have a chat to my patients and see how they are really doing, it is very frustrating. however my days do go very quickly! The US system does seem very different to the UK, but the UK government is saying that we do not need anymore nurses, but really the NHS just can't aford to employ anymore! They have even stopping foreign nurses from applying anymore, but then at least it will mean that there are more nurses in developing countries. It is very frustrating that one knows that one can do a good job if only we had the time and more funding. But then again I have worked in Africa and their situation is even worse, even less nurses as they all move to the developed world, and the minimum amount of money, so we can call ouselves lucky in some ways even though it does not feel like it when you get home after a horrific shift. I hope that this thread does not put off any budding nurses, nursing is a great job. :penguin:

If heparin used to be made from beef, did you ask Hindus if they wanted it, because a cow to a Hindu is sacred? So pork or beef there are exactly the same issues.

I am just about to graduate after a four year course and although I have loved it, it has been hard. people get cynical and negative and when going out onto the wards, nurses can be bitchy and not necessarily directed at you, but there are always ward politics and best thing is to keep well clear of it. I have found just going with the flow the best way to get on, and not stress to much about everything you have to do, it will get done, even if you are doing it at midnight!!! I have absolutely loved and am looking forward to having a holiday and finally graduating to be a proper nurse!! I wish all of you that are about to start training or about to graduate all the best.:yelclap: