suzanne7575

congratulations EN great news

our shoes have to be either white, black or blue, closed toe, low heel etc. we are allowed to wear trainers also. I don't think we are supposed to but a lot still wear crocs (me included) but eventually they will ban them properly.

I work in a community hospital which I would say was primarily elderly patients, our hospital is slightly different in that we do not generally have such acute patients as we are stuck out in a rural village with no medical cover out of hours, however I would say our elderly patients will be similar to those you will get on an elderly care ward as they don'tnormally go to one of these until acute medical conditions are sorted out. I would say our aim with our patients is rehab and promoting independence to perform ADL's as best they can. It does involve a lot more personal cares than maybe a busy acute ward might do but as a student i think placements on elderly care wards are valuable in gaining those essential skills (and call me old fashioned but i believe that basic care of patients is everyones job wether you be a HCA or a senior charge nurse). Our day mainly consists of getting our patients up and ready for the day, our patients are encouraged to wear their clothes each day to promote normality, we usually have lots of dressings to attend to and we carry on the work of OT and physio to help with the rehab of our patients. We also work closely with the multidiciplinary team and spent a lot of time planning discharge for our patients. enjoy your placement, a lot of people turn their nose up at elderly care nursing but i for one find it very rewarding

I have an interview next week for a band 6 post in general surgery. Ive been reading the info on here and have a good idea what to read up on, however i also have a presentation to do on 'how do we know we are delivering a high standard of care to our patients and what is the role of the charge nurse in ensuring this?' I'm okay with the first part as I am currently involved with a lot of quality improvement such as the clinical quality indicators, productive ward etc and have done a lot about quality n the leadership course i am currently on, the second part of the part of the presentation i'm a little more shaky on, i am presuming that the charge nurse role (band 6's are called charge nurses in my health board if anyone is confused by this) is that of a leadership one, developing the team, empowring other staff to give good quality care and also ediucation of staff and being a clinical expert. Getting a bit nervous as this is my first band 6 interview and although i have some surgery experience through my bank work, icu/hdu and renal experience i have never actually worked on a general surgical ward recently. I currently work in a mainly nurse led community hospital so have gained lots of managmeent skills so i do have the transferable skills and have worked on the ward i am applying for as a bank nurse too I would appreciate and help or advice anyone can give me

scotland are also getting a national uniform http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/uniform it has started to get rolled out and so far our SCN and CN have theirs. They are quite nice and certainly are comfy and cool. although a little conflict because band 6 are no longer distinguished from band 5's and also not many people quite sure what to do with the pockets on the combat trousers

if you read the news you will see that the NHS is actually cuting nursing jobs so there will be less job vacancies rather than more, in my health board alone it has been announced there will be approx 500 jobs lost, most of which will be nursing. They will not make us redundant but they will streamline and not replace staff who leave or retire. I know of several students who have qualified and have been up against 60 or 70 other applicants for a job. Every week our jobs bulletin maybe only has 1 or 2 new vacancies for nurses.

in my health board no-one is called sister anymore. The band 7 are called senior charge nurse, and the band 6 are charge nurses and registered nurses are staff nurses. My SCN hates being called 'sister'. In fact for the most part everyone is on first name terms anyway

as you may remeber i was started on the process of moving to the states but then came the massive stumbling block of not being able to get my transcripts from my uni or anywhere, so i had kind of come to the conclusion it wasn't happening. Now all of a sudden my transcripts have appeared and I'm undecided wether to start again or just not bother with the current visa problems. I was already with an agency but had said to them that unless i could get decent transcripts i wouldn't continue as what i had the agency were usure if they would pass the visa screen, now i have what seems to be a full transcript with breakdown of hours etc. I still have a desire to move to the states and nurse there but I'm not sure i want to put my life on hold for so many years if nothing gets resolved with regards to retrogression. also i know that without going through cgfns i will never know but my transcript has that i have only done 15 hours theory in maternity, and 30 hours theory in paediatrics, but i have done 150 hours clinical maternity and 300 hours paediatric clinical so not sure if they would think that sufficient. thanks everyone

I've been looking into emigating to canada (us now off)and understand the basic steps needed to take. I am going to apply for the registration (with BC) and was just wondering if i get approved to take the exam/get a temp license how long will that approval be valid for. so say i got the approval and we decided to hold off looking for a job and starting the visa process for a while to save some more money how much time will i have before i have to re-apply. Also is it possible to take the exam before moving out there and working as i though if it is i might think about doing that before applying for jobs and visas thanks

thanks everyone At the moment because my agency uses New Mexico for licensure they are saying that they need a full set of transcripts and nothing else will do, however if i cannot get them and my agency decide they cannot help me, then it looks like i may be able to get through CES alone as i am in contact with one of my instructors who i believe has a copy of the syllabus and the breakdown of hours and she would certainly be able to verify i completed that, and alsong with my degree certificate etc. I guess I might be okay. Hopefully the NMC will have my transcripts and I will be worrying about nothing but at least if they don't i don't now feel that all is lost. I will keep you updated on my progress

I am waiting for the NMC (UK BON) to see if they have a copy of the transcripts, but they don't always seem to have everyone's and i'm not sure what to do if they don't. I don't have any transcripts myself as we were never given any, all we got was our degree certificate and our nursing license.

I have posted about this on the UK forum but tought i would ask here too. Basically I have been trying for 6 months to get my transcripts from my nursing course from which i qualified from in 1997. It appears my uni has misplaced them or destroyed them. I have been working with one of my old lecturers and she has said that up until 2004 all the records were kept in the nursing department but then they changed buidlings and the records were ataken away supposedly to be put on film and haven't been seen since. I am hoping the NMC will have my transcripts as apparently everything would have been sent to them when i qualified but if they have nothing can anything be done or do i have to give up on my dream of nursing in the USA, or any other country for that matter?? I am with an agency who are doing everything they can to help me but they have said that if i cannot get my full transcripts then i will not be able to proceed any further, would there possibly be anyway of getting through CES without having full transcripts sent from my school, obviously they have it on record that i trained there and can write a letter verifing this and my final grade and i have my degree certificate, and the NMC can confirm I have met requirements to become a nurse and can verify my license. Do you think that is any way around this or not Thanks

what is this letter you are referring to AZhopeful? At the moment i have just requested my transcripts or any records they have relating to the hours i did in the various areas. If there are no transcripts should i be asking for some sort of letter that will take place of the transcripts???

i have had some good news, i can get my fingerprints done in Edinburgh at the police headquaters and it will cost me £30 for 2 sets. They didn't even question it like all the other police stations I have contacted.

well i have contacted the NMC this morning and spoke to the lady responsible for doing transcripts. I have to put my requestin writing and she will send any information she has to me, if they have any. I am presuming that they should have something as my uni said they would have sent all my transcripts and records of hours i did to the NMC when I qualified. I also have spoken to someone in the vice chancellors office who is going to do what she can to locate my transcripts. I can't believe that i only trained 10 years ago and someone has seen fit to get rid of my records, when people who trained a lot longer before me are having no problems. I am just really worried now that the uni won't have them, and the NMC won't have them and then that is it, no USA or any other country for that matter and it's as if i don't exist and almost like i have never done my training.

A difficult posistion to be in Paris, I hope you get it sorted. I am in a similar position as your staff nurse, in that due to living far away from family, and having a husband who works a silly job and has to be away quite bit I canot work a full time flexible contract but we need to do set shifts and reduced hours. I am a dialsis nurse with 7 years experience and my local dialsis unit is desperate for staff but they will no accomodate my requests therefore I cannot help them out with their staffing needs. I have asked for 24 hours and as the unit work 12 hours shifts i have asked for one set day where i can place my children in daycare then i could work one day at the weekend, but they will not accomodate me. They have also lost several nurses recently due to these issues as they have told them that although they only work 2 12 hour shifts per week they will have to pay for ful time childcare for both their kids making it not worth working in the first place. I have also approached the ICU's and they also say the same thing, even though i have experience in this area also I can understand that if one person gets shifts then it sets a precendent for other staff wanting them too which can be a problem, however before we moved I worked in a dialysis unit that was fantastic, there were several nurses who had families who did set shifts etc. and it worked fine, because there were wnough people who wanted to do nights, that covered those who hated them, and enough people wanting to work weekends to make up for those who didn't want to work them and it was mostly harmonious. As for me now, I work on the nurse bank and do what i please to fit in around the family, the only problems are i have been degraded back down to a bottom D grade when i was Band 5, point 7, and i no longer get any of the benefits of being employed on a contract.

As you have proably read 6 months on and i am still getting nowhere what with probalems getting hold of transcripts, and getting someone to complete transcript summary forms, and also getting fingerprints done and al this before I have even really started. I am desperate to move to the USA and am now really scared that my transcripts and records of how many hours I have done have been lost by everyone forever and that I will never make it I can't sleep at night because of the worry of it all and am having mixed feelings of worry, frustration and anger Hats off to my agency though who are being really patient and encouraging and have been communicating directly with my uni also in order to get things resolved but we are just getting nowhere.

also meant to say that as I'm with an agency they are dealing with the notary, but i know if you need it done the embassises will do it, and certainly the US embassy in Edinburgh would be able.

I have come across nothing but problems trying to get fingerprints done also, I contacted my local police station and they basically said that they are not allowed to do them for anything other than visa purposes. I tried to explain it was for part of the visa process for nurses but they wouldn't have it and said as it was effectively for FBI checks they couldn't do it. I am also trying (being the operative word) to apply through NM so still need to get my fingerprints done. I am going to contact the fingerprint bureaus in Edinburgh and Glasgow but if not I am going to have to contact Scotland yard and probably make a trip down to London to get it done, where they do definatly do it as it says on the website and gives a number to contact, but the cost for me to get to london, probably have to stay overnight, and to pay to get the fingerprints done is going to b too much for me this month so it may have to wait a while.

thanks everyone I have armed myself with a list of phone numbers and email contacts and will set to it tomorrow. I am going to see if i can get the NMC to send a copy of my transcripts to my agency or to me, if not I am going to get my school to request the information from he NMC (apparently they can do this if they no longer have it) I am presuming that the NMC will still have all my records of hours etc. even though my university has seen fit to get rid of them. If either myself or the agency can get hold of the transcripts then we can send them to the uni to complete any transcript summaries or further transcripts needed as i believe when it comes to getting the visa screen the documents do have to come dirtect from the Uni. I am just so cross that everyone is making this so difficult and am actually glad I am with an agency at this point as without their help I would have more than likely given up on it as I wouldn't have known where to turn next. The thng is the more this goes on the ore determined I am to get to the states and will be more dissapointed if i can't go thanks to my Uni. Do you think i could get the RCN/ lawyers involved as surely this is an infringement of rights, because basically I know i have all the hours required but because oif my uni I cannot prove it and therefore I am basically being told tough you can't move to the USA because we have decided we are going to destroy/lose your documents

^ months on and i am still no further in getting hold of my transcripts. I am going with an agency and they have been brilliant but the long and short is I cannot get hold of my transcripts. My university has lost, destroyed, or done something with all of my records and cannot help me to get any info required. i know i can get my transcripts sent to a board of nursing by the NMC but the NMC will not complete any forms regarding amount of hours, or confirnmation that I have completed nursing courses. Basically i am applying to vermont BON, but now cannot because my uni cannot fill in the parts of my application regarding hours and the NMC will not either, and even if i was going it alone and was trying to get a CES report done it would be impossible becauase hours have to be filled in by the school and the transcripts have to come direct from my school and they don't have any info at all on my course. Can anybody help me out please, my agency is beginning to lose patience i feel, and even if they were to drop me (i have no idea if they are going to or not but it has been 6 months with getting no further) I wouldn't be able to get anywhere on my own due to needing to get CES done. I realise this should probably be on the international forums but as it kind of relates directly to UK training i thought it might be more appropriate here. Thanks

I really hope you all get good news and can get over to the US soon

Don't worry, i've found it and it appears i have enough posts How on earth did i get this many posts???

whereabouts is the chat room, I can't see it anywhere and how many posts do I need to get in??? When will the next chat be??

alsorts, doesn't help that I don't usually get to bed after doing my nightshift, as i do split ones so i can fit it in with the kids and hubbys job. Last week I took the kids into town and nearly walked out of a shop without paying for something !!!!!!!!!!! not a good thing to do when you are planing to apply for a greencard!!!!! Usually i just stay at home though, and do daft things around the house