stormforce

I am in a situation where I live and work in my own country, but because of the amount of English people who live here I am unable to speak my native language at work. I've heard non natives critise my fellow countrymen for speaking our own language because they can't understand us. Our government has had to introduce a language law to prevent our native tongue from dying out I will not speak English if there are staff around who speak my language, its my first language and although I am fluent in English as well I find it easier to communicate in my own language, I know English speakers can't understand me but i don't think in English and it's comforting to be able to relax my guard sometimes and not have to translate before I speak. There is no excuse for being rude, but if English isn't your first language it is nice sometimes to take a break and not have to think about speaking. I don't mind being told that I'm not understood and will switch to English if needed. Sometimes I don't even realise I've switched until it's pointed out. what I'm getting at is these nurse who are talking their native language may be going it for a few reasons it's nice to speak your own language, and far away from home I'd imagine there would be some comfort they may not realise they have switched from English, language is intinctive if someone says hello to me in my own language I respond in my native tongue automatically, it's not deliberate

I'm not a US or OR nurse so please forgive me if I don't understand the intricacies of theatre nursing, I do work between the wards and theatres in an advanced practice role. Where I work we have teams of theatre staff, the scrub nurse / assistant the nurse in charge of theatres and at least 2 runners who are not scrubbed and maybe more depending on how big the case is. We would never expect the nurse who is scrubbed to answer a pager or phone, but because the doctors usually have more than one sick patient and do need to be contactable it is expected that one of the runners answers pages and phones. Just to make sure that there is no emergency / urgent situation with another patient. I would have no hesitation in contacting my surgeon in theatre to inform him of something that was happening on the ward, and yes I know it is an inconvenience to the theatre staff but there are things he needs to know. If I get no response to pages I will put theatre scrubs on and go into theatre if I have to but this takes me away from a potentially sick patient so I would prefer to phone or page. Providing there were no catastrophies going on in theatre I would expect a member of the theatre staff to answer that and relay the message.

So how do you provide health education Billie, as a nurse it's fundamental to your care of your patients and your generalisations are not going to help really. It's an addiction like any other, unfortunate for those who struggle to quit and have long term health problems as a result. I don't like to see nurses smoke, it doesn't portray a very good image and makes it difficult to promote a healthy life style, non smoking hospitals are obviously a good thing, but having only areas that staff have to smoke with patients is not good. If we are going to help our staff to give up we need to provide them with the education and support they need, and if they are struggling we need to provide them with areas away from the publics view to support their addiction. Telling them it's a trashy low class habit is not going to help, and in fact it really isn't restricted to what you would traditionally consider the working class. Some of the most educated and sophisticated people I have met smoke, they know the risks and have chosen to continue.

Your entitled to your opinion, but to be honest, to generalise about any group of society is not wise as your usually proven to be incorrect. I wonder, as a nurse how do you manage to provide health education to patients who smoke, I can't imagine them being receptive to a someone who is so judgemental

Wow are you in NZ already, that was extremely fast I'm amazed you've been able get get a work permit organised in the short time you've been asking immgration questions do you mind telling us how you've managed it, What language requirements are there, if you've been professionally registered with thier board of nursing and what capacity you've been hired in. I am sure others who are wanting to leave the phillipines would dearly like to know how you've achieved so much with your qualifications experience and how so fast

You have a 1 year practical nursing course, that's not recognised in the UK or any other country outside of the phillippines so I'm not boasting just being practical. In the UK, that qualification wouldn't allow you to nurse because it's not the standard that the Nursing and Midwifery Council requires. If you had a 3 year nursing degree with experience in critical care or theatres then I'd be saying a completely different thing as that's a transferable qualification with skills in areas that we need in the UK. If you want to work abroad you need to make yourself marketable, a 1 year PN is not marketable. You may not like the message but it doesn't mean it's not the truth. Finding work in most countries is difficult so the more qualifications and experience you have the better chance you will have at finding work. So yes, I would advise you go back to college and get a qualification that other countries would want if you truly want to work abroad, otherwise your going to be classed as unskilled labour and most countries have enough of their own citizens who fall into that category. Or you could just continue being angry at sensible advice and spend your days in the Philippines wishing for a different life, it's your choice.

Oh dear, where do we start. Firstly it may help to get yourself properly qualified, a 1 year PN aide is not going to get you very far in the UK. We have enough of our own citizens who have minimal qualifications and need work without giving jobs to those from outside our country. Your student visa is just that a student visa, once it's expired you will have to leave the UK. I think you will find that you'll get a similar answer from Canada as well. If you want to work abroad your going to need marketable skills, from what you say you don't have these at the moment. I'm not even going to touch on your plan to find a wife while your in the UK, the very notion is just very nasty, and I think Silverdragon, Fiona and Sharrie have covered that aspect of your plan. If your dream is to truly work overseas then my suggestion would be to go back to college and get a qualification that would be useful in other countries, it may well take a few more years but unless you have something that employers want and can't get in their own country your going to find yourself out of luck.

Another UK nurse here, and I can only reinforce what others have said. My hospital is currently closing wards and making some nurses apply for jobs elsewhere or face unemployment. There are jobs advertised in the various websites but for each job you will find that there are 20 plus British nurses who will be applying for them. My sister has just finished her nurse training and half of her group have not found jobs.

Really, do you honestly believe this. Yes primary care refers on to a specialist but there has to be that in depth understanding of the various conditions, both common and rare to even identify some of these disorders. They treat and manage multiple pathologies with the poly pharmacy that comes with that without referring to specialists. I cannot understand how any professional would believe that less education could be a good thing

I would suggest that you make up the work experience required to work in Canada if that's where you want to work You would need to speak to the Canadian Immigration / nursing boards about that. It may well be they don't recognise the qualification and the transferability of international qualifications is notoriously difficult to assess. I certainly wouldn't take the word of anyone who is going to take money off you to get you enrolled on the course It would be up to the UK borders agency if they would extend your VISA to do this, but if you don't have more than a years experience as a nurse you won't fit the criteria that is needed by the nursing and midwifery council so wouldn't be eligible for registration as a nurse in the UK No idea although I've looked at their website and found this a bit of a worry

Firstly, BBC news reports that NHS managers numbers have risen to 45,000 over the past year, and during the same period nursing and midwifery posts have been reduced by 2% Go figure http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8587122.stm Also reported is that NHS England have presented proposed spending cuts to the government with the aim of saving up to £20 billion by 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8590710.stm Now I am a strong advocate of the National Health Service but I am concerned about the sustainability of a quality service when faced with such proposals. I understand the need for management in the NHS I really do, but increased managers when the numbers of clinical staff are being reduced I struggle to understand. Can you imagine going into a restaurant to be told that because of cutbacks your waitress was serving twice the number of tables that day and it may well be that you would have to wait just that little bit longer for service, you'd not go there again would you and yet I fear that this is what we are asking our patients to do, with their health which is far more important than dining out, and without the choice of seeking a better service elsewhere. I'm not sure what the answer is but I truly am concerned about what this means for our poor patients.

Actually, I seem to remember the UK nurses had a "Chat Meeting" once a week. I never participated but the feedback I've read in the posts seem to indicate that they did really enjoy their virtual meeting.

http://www.midyorks.nhs.uk/Patients+and+visitors/Patient+information/EIDO+Healthcare+leaflets.htm try here for information about procedures

Does this mean you left your account open with someone else working on it for long enough for her to finish what she was doing and for him to send this email. In my facility you would be investigated for leaving your IT account vulnerable to abuse and this is something that where I work you could get sacked for. Your IT account is your responsibility, we have to sign IT contracts that states this and then you have to take responsibility for anything that happens with this account. Also, did you see him send the email? Has he admitted it, how do you know it was him? The last person to be working on your account would be the one that I would be more suspicious of, not sure of what action would be taken over this, with the greatest respect what proof do you have that it was this person? I am not sure you can sack someone on a suspicion you need to have firm evidence.

Your not getting flack because you said you don't want children, your getting flack because your generalisations about children and women who do want and have children are quite frankly offensive and rude

Without having a child you just really wouldn't understand how much they can and do enrich your life. As far as your question "how has having/ not children affected your career" It's personal choice, I was 27 when I had my children, I had a fulfilling life before, I worked hard, socialised hard and enjoyed my life. I had a successful nursing career had been qualified 7 years, and after having my first child spent a year off work to take care of her. I returned to work and started to study for my degree, which I did part time whilst working. I had a very flexible working environment and was able to longer shifts and less days and they gave me time off to study, when I worked my baby spent the days with her dad or grandparents and I have no hesitation in saying that this has enriched her life greatly. 10 years on I am very successful and working in a senior nursing position (DON), I am finishing my masters degree and am extremely content with both home and work life. It's about balance, I am motivated and ambitious and want to continue to progress in nursing, however without having the experience of being a parent I feel my life would be so much poorer. That's not to say being a parent is the right choice for everyone, but for me it has been an enriching and rewarding choice and one I would do again in a heartbeat if I were able. As far as how it's affected my career, it hasn't I am where I planned to be in both my personal and professional life. Had I been able to have more children then maybe my professional plans would have taken a little longer but I would have still got there.

I have read through some of these posts in this thread and I am not sure what education in the Philippines has to do with nurses struggling for work in the US, I really can't see that the option of studying in a foreign country is going to be appealing for that many people or parents, I know that I would definitely not want to send my child to a different country to study. I know the difficulties that many of the nurses on the site are having with retrogression and the long wait for Visas in the US, but what of those who are already working in the US. What I would want to know from US nurses and international nurses working in the US is how the current job problems are affecting those who want to work in the US. Are there problems renewing Visas, are US nurses employed in preference to overseas nurses, as I know this is something that is done in Europe to make sure that employment for our own country men and women is a priority. With the state of employment are international nurses Visas likely to be revoked, I guess that's why this thread would be of interest in this section.

some information about the rising cost of litigation in the nhs http://www.nhsla.com/home.htm clinicians are subject to malpractice claims, if they are working within the nhs then there is vicarious liability so the trust will cover some of the legal costs, but this is supported by the clinicians own legal representation. if it is believed to be as a result of not following standard operating practice or not following procedures then the clinician is on thier own, the vicarious liability does not cover it.

Yogi I have read this thead and I don't think you have been bombarded by the moderators, within your first post you actually addressed the moderation within the forum from what I can see Tweety, Trauma and Sharrie are just trying to answer your post.

I am not so sure that I agree with you Zippy, I think that things are changing in the UK slowly yes but they are changing. Where I work we have quite a few nurses who do "advanced skills" routinely such as venepuncture and cannulation, catheterisation (male and female) DRE. In fact our catheterisation study day is not gender specific but teaches both. As a practicing UK nurse I find your comment about crimean sand personally quite insulting, there is a lots of excellent nursing practice in the UK and comments such as that devalues what nursing has achieved. There is so much negativity in the UK (and I understand why this is) but I truly believe that the majority of bedside nurses strive and achieve a high standard of evidence based practice. I do think these skills should be taught and practiced as students but understand that there is not always the time on a busy ward to spend the time doing that.

I've been really lucky, I dread the day I have to be a patient but so far the only thing I have had to endure is wisdom teeth extraction

I think the one thing I like most about burns was the ability of the human body to heal and the human spirit to adapt.

I guess it depends on why you are on that list in the first place, what perceptions does the manager have of you to put you in the position that you have found yourself in, is it possible that there is something that you have been doing that has formed these perceptions and if so is there something you can do about it. Is there a pattern to the reason / problems or are they different reasons every time? (I am not sure how many managers / jobs you have had a problem with) If there is a pattern then maybe even though it may go against the grain you need to adapt what you are doing to try to meet the expectations of the managers, or is it that you have just been unfortunate in where you have worked and found that you have struggled because of unrealistic organisational expectations? To be honest without specifics it is difficult to give any good constructive advice, there are so many possibilities we can only make guesses.

I know I would have similar concerns for any patient who was booked for surgery if they had any co-morbitiy, be it obesity, smoking or drugs and if I felt any of these increased the risk of an anaesthetic it would be flagged to the doctors for consideration when they assess for an anaesthetic

Forgive me if I misunderstand, but I am confused about some of your posts Does this not indicate that you feel you are at least as qualified as an LPN Again, suggestive that if the doc thinks so you are as competent and qualified as a nurse That's not what you said in the first quote of yours you said "state 10 things a LPN can do that a MA can't" Now are you able to do the same as a LPN or are the roles different, the nurses who have responded to you seem to be very clear about thier role, responsibilities and bounderies. If you need a cert to perform XRAYs, does that mean that you are also equivelent to a radiographer, or did you mean request XRAY's. In the UK we have very very strict guidlines about who can and cannot request and "perform" XRAY's and unless you are a RN who has had specific training or a doctor legally you are not allowed to request them. I am sure the US is not that different because you are dealing with Medical Radiation which is not something to be taken lightly I am not even going into performing them because I don't believe as a MA you would be able to do a certificate that would allow you to "perform" an XRAY