tagamargos

I agree with you there alcheska, life here revolves around credit cards, mortgage, car loans. But if you live by your means, you'll be okay. Over here, if you start saving for your retirement like your 401K, IRA early, I think retirement life will be okay. Plus of course healthcare is waaay better. I've thought about the option of going back to the Philippines when i'm ready to retire 30 yrs from now, but my kids are here, they will start their family here. I want to be there for them all the time. If I go home to the Philippines, nobody's there anymore. All my siblings are scattered over US, Canada and EU. So no point in going back. On the other hand, I was thinking I don't want to end up in a nursing home, with diapers soaked in urine, contracted and having stage 4 decubitus:sniff: I'll cross the bridge when I get there I guess...

I agree with you Lasagna_RN! I've worked with a lot of fellow Filipino nurses here and most of us are hardworking, quiet (sometimes too quiet) law abiding citizens/residents! there is pure vested interest written all over this article!:angryfire "Amdream's website said it is an affiliate of a Los Angeles-based company with operations in the Philippines that serves as a springboard for Asian operations. It was conceptualized for the purpose of assisting nurses to pass the different US immigration requirements."

hi musee, can you PM me? hahaha... I don't know how:lol2::lol2: then I'll just reply on you PM.

I found the agency that brought me here to the US through a friend. This was way back in 2000. I don't know where she got this letter inviting nurses to a job fair in Cebu. So we went. Some representatives from different hospitals here went over there to do interviews. I guess I was just lucky it was a legitimate placement agency. Well, I felt I did not risk anything because they did not ask for ANY amount of money from me. So I just went ahead with it and gave them a copy of my pertinent papers. They did honor their side of the contract. Housed me free for 3 months. I got the hourly rate stated in the contract. They also reimbursed my expenses for the tests that I took (TSE, TOEFL and NCLEX). The only thing that turned out different was I ended up working in Texas instead of Florida as originally planned. See, the agency is an in house agency for this Hospital System here, and they have hospitals all over the US. At that time they already sent some nurses to Florida and Texas needed nurses, so they asked me where in Texas I want to be. I chose the city where my sister in law was at that time. they have a website that you can visit. I don't know if they still are hiring from the Phil. and of course the retrogression. :uhoh21: Good luck on your venture.

I found the agency that brought me here to the US through a friend. This was way back in 2000. I don't know where she got this letter inviting nurses to a job fair in Cebu. So we went. Some representatives from different hospitals here went over there to do interviews. I guess I was just lucky it was a legitimate placement agency. Well, I felt I did not risk anything because they did not ask for ANY amount of money from me. So I just went ahead with it and gave them a copy of my pertinent papers. They did honor their side of the contract. Housed me free for 3 months. I got the hourly rate stated in the contract. They also reimbursed my expenses for the tests that I took (TSE, TOEFL and NCLEX). The only thing that turned out different was I ended up working in Texas instead of Florida as originally planned. See, the agency is an in house agency for this Hospital System here, and they have hospitals all over the US. At that time they already sent some nurses to Florida and Texas needed nurses, so they asked me where in Texas I want to be. I chose the city where my sister in law was at that time. they have a website that you can visit. I don't know if they still are hiring from the Phil. and of course the retrogression. :uhoh21: Good luck on your venture.

I'm not sure exactly how, but you can check your name at www.rn.ca.gov look for the tab that says "permanent license verification" and type your name. This is how I found out my friend passed the exam. There might be other better way to find out...

Having an experience in Phil before coming here is an added bonus, if you have it, fine, if you don't, still okay because they will train you. They treat foreign hired nurses as new grads in this hospital) I had 2 months orientation in a MedSurg-Oncology floor. It was not a bad transition for me because I started off as a PCA (nurse aide) and Unit secretary while waiting to take my licensure exam. When I oriented as a nurse, they give us a whole week of general orientation, what the hospital's mission, policies, all those good stuff (free lunch and paid hours;) ) and how their computer system works. nursing stuff like medication dosage calculations and the equipments that we as nurses use (IV pumps, PCA (patient controlled analgesia machine) glucometers, etc. On the floor I was assigned to a Filipino nurse for a preceptor which really helped a lot, language/cultural barriers are eliminated. They give you patients starting with one, and gradually increasing till you take the full load (6-7 patients in my case). I got a new graduate nurse rate on this hospital, so when when my contract was done 2 years after, a converted into PRN (no benefit, pays better, more flexible schedule) and got a full time job in another hospital which jumped up my salary to $7 more/hr. Then when we moved to the bigger city of Houston, I found a hospital that credited half of my total Phil experience (10yrs experience in Phil, credited my for 5yrs here, so I got a very good offer) They just asked a copy of my job certificate from back home. And the work condition is way better than the remote city of McAllen. Here, on this hospital, their nurse patient ratio is 1:4 in MEDSURG! At first I did not belive it but it's true. So i grabbed the opportunity and still works here today. Of course I've moved to a specialty unit, but another story. If you have experience on the Phil. make sure you get a job certificate and hang on to them, you'll never know you'll use it some day.

Great thread, Why didn't Lawrence post this 5 years ago?:) :chuckle It would have helped me, I had to learn it the hard way:o :chuckle Anyway, when i came here, It was only me and my husband first, we are sort of "trying the new water" first, so I can concentrate on my new job, and he can concentrate on looking for a job (hey, I'm smart! got to let them work!) My kids followed after six months (she was 7 and he was 4) , but, boy those were the hardest 6 months of my life! Spent too much money on long distance calls to p.i. and end up getting eyebugs for crying too much (you get the picture), Then, we enrolled them to school as soon as possible (my 4 yr old got accepted because he is what they call ESL (english as a second language) otherwise, if your kids are born here, they won't accept them until they are 5 or 6? I'm not sure. They can always put them in daycare but they are very expensive. The kids adjust really quick. I remember my son only know "yes" and "no" for english, after a few months, he has to think had na to talk in our language. 6moths fast forward, me and my husband are having a difficult time adjusting our schedule (we only had one car then) he has to hurry home so I can leave for work (7p)....so he decided to leave his work as a security officer (which he only received base pay of $5.15, no insurance, no benefits, hey I was glad he decided to leave) and just be a homebody so "he can take care of the kids".....fast forward few months, my husband got crazy with DEPRESSION (my diagnosis, anyway, he was in denial:lol2: ) being at home most of the time, nothing to do drove him crazy. We were always arguing (BEWARE: a big part of your adjustment is the spouse that's left at home to take care of the kids, esp when they had a totally different role back home) THen my husband decided to go to nursing school thinking it is one job you can have good pay, and where you can find job in most place you go. So now, we're both working as nurses... end of story. You have to weigh all the advantages and disadvantages of bringing your kids with you. If you have a spouse that is already taking care of your kids in the Phil full time, then I guess it's okay, because he/she is already used to that role. BUT if you have a reversal of role when you come to migrate, PLEASE always remember it's a BIG adjustment for BOTH of you.

I work in Houston, TX. My hospital (private) requires nurses to wear royal blue scrubs, PT maroon, RT green...etc with or without the hospital monogram. Jackets with prints is a no-no. And yes, we pay for our own...

tagamargos here (Rep might recognize my hometown:uhoh21: )... RN from TX

Thanks for the info, augigi... i appreciate it.

pardon my ignorance, but what is EAD and AOS?

The hospital I'm working at right now I think is one of the well staffed hospital. Medsurg/Tele 4:1, Our nurse techs have 8:1, they do the blood sugars, weights, charting (in computer) I&O's. And this is night shift. We have the same staffing ratio with day shift. And I can't believe STILL some nurses complain!

happened to our dean's lister too! guys, if you noticed, when you take the nclex and check the results afterwards, it will only plainly say :pass or fail. no grades, no percentages, etc. you only have to prove that you are within the level of difficulty they are looking for.

48 hours after you take the exam. Hubby took the exam Tuesday (US, US grad), by thursday morning we already knew the result. As what grace said, there is an unofficial result from pearson vue that you pay $7+... the official result from TX BON came later that day (for free). Of course we couldn't wait, so paid $7.95 Worth it!:cheers: