scarah

As a Vic trained nurse who moved to NSW... Vic nurses do not know what they wish for. I would seriously take a pay cut here to have the Victorian conditions, while the NSW base rate seems higher it's penalites are totally different like 1) casual loading is 10% not 25% 2) shift penalities are lost when weekend penalities are effective ie. you can only be paid night shift penalty OR Sunday penalty not both! 3) Casual loading is lost when weekend or PH rates are payable 4) In-Charge of the ward gets a measly $20 per shift penalty instead of a different pay rate Plus the conditions and moral here are horrendous. While ratios have just been won here, they currently have many more ENs /Div2s for each RN on the ward, they also use AINs or PCAs in acute care. I have seen 32 bed wards on afternoon shift with only 2 RNs on. They regularly short shift casuals and agency in the public system meaning 6 hour shifts for these workers (but 8 hours worth of work) and then leaves the ward short for the overlap between shifts. Also ratios might have been won here but they aren't necessarily the same as Vic, for instance having the supernumery in-charge won't exist on afternoon shift. Also how's this - acute care wards with manual winding beds! I'd never seen that in Vic. Also no emerg buzzers on the wall, no bed side meds (yup shared med trolley for the ward so only one nurse can do meds at a time), no ensuite bathrooms in wards... Seriously having seen both, the Vic system rocks!

Hi there, First of be aware that the NP model is Australia is a long way behind/very different the NPs of the USA, and if you're looking for a NP program that will qualify you to work back in the USA then it might be a whole lot more trouble than it's worth studying in Australia. Doing the course in Australia is unlikely to satisfy the USA requirements. Also be aware that until a few weeks ago each state in Australia had it's own registration system for healthcare professionals and each had it's own requirements for NP status. Each University course would satisfy the requirements of the state where it was based, but not necessarily the requirements of another state. Thus registration of NP was not easily transferable between states. National registration only came into effect at the start of July and hence is still new and probably not quite as smooth as it should be. Visit the national board website for more info http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/en.aspx If you are looking at working in Australia as an NP then a course alone is not enough, you also need a lot of clinical experience and expertise. This document in particular will help clarify the requirements, http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/documents/default.aspx?record=WD10%2f137&dbid=AP&chksum=Qyu3rfmyxhyGBnNNRAAauw%3d%3d and you can see a big clinical component to the requirements. Because of this there is not really provision for overseas nurses to come here just to study NP because they do not satisfy the other requirements for registration as NP in Australia.

I my 2-year graduate entry course we got a lot of prac time. We had a 3 days a week of med/surg for seven weeks each of the four semesters, this was integrated with uni the other two days. Being on the wards for seven weeks gave us time to become part of the team and even tho it was equivilant to 4 weeks full-time, I think it was more beneficial. On top of this we had two mental health placements, and a two week elective.

It's true in Victoria, after your second year of the Bachelor you can enrol as a division 2 (enrolled) nurse without medication endorsement.

Hi Claire, I've just finished my nursing degree in Melb and did placements at both RMH and St Vs. I've got friends at both now who have just started or are just starting their grad programs. Both are excellent tertiary referral hospitals with very similar ranges of specialties and wards. They are some of the busiest hospitals in Melbourne and both have excellent graduate programs offering two rotations of 6 months each. The orientation and supernumery days are practically identical and in fact, the friends I have at both are all loving it. Differences between the hospitals include: RMH is a trauma centre, St Vincents is not. So RMH get trauma cases from all over Victoria included car accidents, gun shot and stab wounds etc etc. No depending on what wards you get this will make no difference to you but if you end up on the ortho/trauma or plastics/trauma unit at RMH it'll be different to the ortho unit or plastics/ENT unit at St Vincents. Another difference is that while St Vincent's is a 'public hospital' it's actually run by the Sister of Charity and not so much the governement meaning the funding is different. Now I felt that St Vincents was less well resourced than RMH for example the neurosurg unit at RMH has HDU beds with a 1:2 nurse to patient ratio. Neurosurg at St Vincents has no funding for HDU beds so all patients are nursed 1:4 even tho they are probably just as sick. The other major difference is RMH has ward-based educators of the grad nurse program. That means mon-fri 9-5 there is at least one education on your ward, who will be build a relationship with you and make sure you're ok. St Vincents do not have ward based educators but have a number of educators to cover the whole of the GNP (grad Nurse program) this probably means less educator time and less chance to individually build relationships with the educators. Overall RMH is a slightly more laid back hospital, uniforms seem a little more optional (although I think they are trying to change this) and everyone seems a bit more friendly. St Vincent's on the other hand seems to have a bit more of the "excellence" culture, best practice and further education are the norm. On placement I preferred RMH and had I stayed in Melb they would have been my first preference for grad program, however St Vincents is also great and other people preferred that hospital over RMH. Whichever way you put them down I would advise having both on your preference list and I'd be happy with either! I don't know where you're planning on living in Melbourne but other options are the Alfred (major difference is they only do one 12 month rotation so hopefully you get something good!). The Austin - I've had little to do with them but I worked one agency shift there and very much liked the feel. The Western health group (Footscray is ok, I would steer clear of Sunshine as it's limited in options). Out in the eastern burbs Monash Med Centre is excellent but really only worthwhile if you live in the area as it's a long way out. It all depends where you want to go with nursing. I mean if you have a particular interest then that could influence your decision. For instance some people in my course want to do midwifery later on so they went for the Royal Womens, others went to the Royal Childrens... Good luck with your decision and I woudln't worry too much - Victoria is great place to be nursing and either St Vincents or RMH will be great.

That's right in Vic public hospitals we have ratios so for every 20 patients on the ward you have to have 5 nurses (RN or EN so you could have 8 between you if you are team nursing with an EN) this generally works out to 4 patients per nurse. This doesn't apply to privates tho - so in Vic there's an advantage to working in the public But I'm moving to NSW (don't get me wrong, I'd much prefer nursing in Vic but I'm moving to NSW to study medicine) so I need to choose between NSW public and NSW private. If they are both going to give me 5-6 patients then I'm trying to work out what the other disadvantages/advantages of the two. Thanks for your response, tho. I also have another question I just read the award and it seems that casual bank staff only get 10% on top of base rate to compensate for no sick leave or annual leave? Is this right? In Vic casual get 25% on top of base to compensate for the lack of sick leave and annual leave and this is always in addition to shift allowances or weekend penalty rates. Seems like NSW doesn't treat their casual nurses very well you don't even get that extra 10% on a weekend or public holiday because you get the shift penalty instead... surely that isn't right. That means that a casual and a permanent member of staff would get exactly the same hourly rate on a weekend although one is accruing leave and the other isn't? If there are any NSW nurses out there that can shed light on this it would be great.

I'm a Vic nurse, newly registered and I'm moving to NSW (Newcastle) and have the option of working in public or private. Now I'm not doing a grad year, I'm starting a whole new degree so I need flexibility. The no grad year part doesn't bother me too much, I'm already working agency in Vic and I'm coping ok but I'm not sure about where to work in NSW. In Vic I'd choose public, the number 1 reason being our ratios (5 nurses to 20 patients on AM,PM). These don't apply in private so while public patients tend to be sicker... you only get 4 generally while private can give you more. But in NSW there are no ratios, and I get the feeling the publics are struggling for nurses, for resources... (they were over keen to employ me and I'm inexperienced). I'm trying to get a feel for what the publics are like whether you feel overworked and stressed all the time (relatively of course, I know nursing is in general busy and stressful). The private I'm looking has pay rates which match the public rates, so $$ do not really play a part in the decision. I'm more wondering what NSW nurses see as advantages and disadvantages for working in the public or private sector. Anyone with NSW experience, Newcastle or elsewhere. I'm looking at a Healthscope run private by the way. Thanks for any input.

Melbourne Uni is prestigious however I don't think it matters too much in the nursing world, even tho Melb Uni might be prestigious it's only taught nursing since 2003 so the nursing course doesn't carry the same 'prestige' that some of the other courses do - in fact a few other unis may be better regarded in terms of the their course but that's not to say Melb Uni is not a good course. Melbourne Uni thinks a lot more of their 'prestige' than any one else ;-) I would say some of the three year courses such as ACU and Latrobe are the better known ones, but Melbourne Uni compares well. Just don't let them make you believe that Melb Uni is better because it's prestigous, the nursing world is too well grounded in the clinical environment to judge on a name. All the nursing courses here are acredited by the board meaning they all lead to being a registered nurse, so they all cover the same content. I think we are better prepared than some unis, and everyone has just got jobs for next year and a lot of people have got their first choice which speaks for itself. As with any group of students there are those who shine and those who struggle, so much of what you learn in nursing is up to you. Especially in the clinical setting, you can be proactive and learn loads or just sit back and do no more than you have to... I do think the integrated placement structure is the major advantage of the Melbourne course over others but I think there are some draw backs to other areas. For instance we got very little pharmacology taught to us, our assignments were structured for us toe self-learn a lot of pharmacology but that where some students will have learnt a lot and others not much at all. I know of two Americans in my year level, unfortunately I know no-one in the masters in the year below as we are at Uni when they are on clinical placement and vice versa. The two in my year are planning to stay in Aus as far as I know, not return to the US and their motivation was a two-year degree which is only offered by a couple of Unis in Melbourne. I think ghillbert is getting confused by the name of the course, althought it's called a Master of Nursing Science it is an "entry to practice" degree. Those who complete it will be graduate nurses with exactly the same level of qualification as a bachelor student, the name simply achnowledges these students have a previous degree in another discipline. Uni of Syd and a uni in WA are doing a similar thing, Melbourne is doing this to all their courses as they move towards an american structure of uni education with a generalist undergraduate degree then a specialist 'masters' such as Masters of Social work, Master of Nursing Science etc etc.... So don't worry the course does not propose to cover nursing to a masters level as in a speciality area of practice. I think the title will confuse a lot of people in the industry as up until now, masters has been synomymous with advanced level of clinical practice. However with at least three Unis now offering this entry to practice masters I'm sure this will change. The pay level will be no different to bachelor graduates. Anyway hope that helps clear things up, my overall thoughts on the Melbourne Uni course are it will suit you well if you are a strong academic performer as Melbourne Uni seems to require a higher standard of academic work than some other unis. It has a good clinical placement structure and uses good hospitals, and generally it'll get you to where you want to go. However the name of the university probably doesn't mean that much within nursing circles in Victoria, it may hold more weight overseas - I'm not sure.

Hi Elizabeth, I am one week off finishing the 2 year graduate entry nursing Bachelor program at the uni of Melbourne which has been preplaced now by the masters (we are the last year of bachelor, the year below us is masters). So some of the course structure may be a little different for you guys but here goes with my opinion on the uni and school of nursing. Overall I would say it's been a good course, in that we seem well prepared compared to some other uni courses. It has some great feature like integrated clinical placements (2 or 3 days per week while you spend the other days at uni in class), which is a HUGE advantage. It means the 20 days placement is not a four week block but spread over 7 weeks, giving you time to learn more theory and consolidate while you're there. The program is not without its issues... our year level has had issues with quality of marking/consistency of marking, vague assessments and a few students have had individual problems in terms of the the uni taking into account their personal/health situations when they were struggling. But it's hard to make judgements on these cases, as I have have had no issues and have done well for the whole degree. All our clinical placements have been fantastic, with all at acute hospitals. I've been at major public hospitals including one of the major trauma centres. Anyway hope that helps

Hi Eeeva, Yes we do have NP roles in Australia however they are much newer than in the US and the requirements changes between different states (at the moment nursing registration here is still state based although there are plans to have it national by 2011). At the moment registering as a NP is done on an individual basis and in Victoria (Melbourne) is a very rigorous process. In Vic I think the NPs also write their own practice and scope guidelines and getting these approved is part of the process, it's very difficult for NPs to practice independently at the moment as the public health system will not reimburse patients for visiting a NP in private practice. Most NPs here practice within public hospitals, either in the Emerg depts or in the inpatient or outpatient area of their speciality. Hope that information helps, you'd need to look into detail in whichever state you wish to register. The individual nurses boards of each state will have more information.

Having had a look at the above link I think our Child and Maternal Health nurses are very similar.

I don't know about Ireland but we hear HORROR stories from the NHS from nurses who've escaped. Victoria has some of the best nursing conditions in Australia, the base pay rate might not be the highest but we have legislated nurse-patient ratios which the ANF and Victorian nurses fought tooth and nail to keep when the EBA was up last year. This means that in an acute ward they legally have to have a minimum number of nurses and can't ask you to take on extra patients when someone calls in sick. For every 20 acute patients on a general ward there are 5 nurses - so 4 patients (during the day). This is in the public hospital system, the private system is not required to do this. The public hospital system is also governed by the pay rates in the document linked in the above post - the private hospitals may pay less. Anyway in general, nurses are underpaid everywhere in the world but Australia is not a bad place to work and the public health system isn't perfect but it works.

I'm unsure of what your exact role is in the UK but there are definitely roles in Australia that may be comparable. Things like Maternal and Child Health Nurses - who provide regular infant/mother check ups to monitor growth, health, wellbeing and generally work in clinics. I'm unsure of what kind of community roles there are in paeds but I'm sure there would be some, like Hospital in the Home where nurses visit patients at home to do things like Iv medications, wound dressings, etc etc I'm sure there'd be a paeds version? Also there things like the FrontYard Clinic here in Melbourne which runs under the umbrella of the Children's Hosp but is physically separate and provides health services to homeless and "at risk" youths in a clinic setting (co-located with other services the young people may need).

I find this really interesting because I'm a final year student in Australia and it seems like we do things a little differently. For a start on our clinical placements we work full shifts this includes handover (report) both at the start and the end of the shift. We are then "buddied" to a nurse and take on patients under supervision according to our skill level/goals/objective of learning. For instance as a final year I will take on a full patient load on a general med/surg ward. Now we don't have aides or anything so as an RN you do total care for your patient load. I will do everything I can for these patients within my scope, this includes, washes, showers, medication IV fluid administration under supervision, venepuncture (but not cannulation), wound dressings, writing progress notes (charting which is by hand here) which are then countersigned by the RN, and giving handover (report) to the next shift with my "buddy nurse" there to prompt me on things I forget. I also page the doctors (with my "buddy nurse's" ok) about patients, speak on the phone to docs when they call back, page/speak to allied health and look up path results etc. I am not assigned patients until after the start of shift handover - so I listen to the report on each patient as if they were my patient - just the same as if I were an RN. This means I start at 7am or finish at 10pm or whatever the shift requires - after all I will be doing this as a job next year. This is a gradual process, on my first clinical placement I might have only taken on one patient - this gave me time to look up their history and work out the whole picture, plus it meant i only had to give handover on one patient - then you work your way up. Now I get report and I know what a lot of the medical conditions are and the implications for nursing. Sometimes i don't - for sure, even as an RN I expect to keep learning but then I have a quick look at the patient file when i have time. The same way an RN would have to. I think this is in recognition of the complex nursing role - that talking to doctors, giving report etc is all part of it and needs to be learnt. Time management especially is an important skill and one we're taught during clinicals. If we can't manage a full patient load by the end of the course then we'd fail - off course that's not as scary as it sounds but it's about making use of time and resources. Anyway we don't really get to go into specialised areas in our clinicals like ICU - because here in Oz you need postgrad study to work in ICU. But it does mean we come out pretty competent in the general workings of the ward environment.

Hey there, I find facts hard to retain but if I'm working towards and overall understanding then things seem to work out fine. I depends on what you need to learn and how you personally learn. For Anatomy/Physiology and Patho I find I learn well visually - there are colouring books for anatomy which are great but also I often draw my own diagrams (even if they copy a text book one) and colour them in all neatly and label all the part. Then when I get to the exam I can see the diagram and how it all works. Don't just copy the text book out - read a page then jot down the key points or write out a flow chart. Creating flash cards for yourself can help, think up quiz questions from your readings and write them on one side then the answers on the the other. Test yourself a day or two after the readings. I find this helps in subjects where you are tested by exam because you often end up getting good practice for exam questions. Get together in a study group and break up the readings then teach each other your part - if you can explain it to other people then your understanding should be good. Good luck