iloveleeks

Went I went to Alaska to work, I received a $15,000 relocation/sign on bonus as a NICU RN. IT was also given to two new grads who started about the same time as me. Interview was over the phone, so no interview allowance needed.

Hi there, Does anyone know if a company makes cute scrub tops for IPC practitioners? Looking for a bacteria themed print.

Not necessarily true....I have worked in a number of countries whose language was something other than English and used English to work. Also, I have worked in some countries (outside Europe) where my original license is accepted and I am exempted from getting the national license. However, these jobs are few and far between and I have been lucky to get them. I have had to undergo about 9 foreign nurse licensure procurements and it is a pain in the neck!! However, persistence pays off. Your first and most difficult hurdle will be trying to find somewhere that will sponsor you without holding the correct passport. You'll be pretty much limited to the Middle East or any US Military job that might be advertising (rare but not impossible to get),

I applied to Landstuhl a couple of years ago in response to an ad on USAJobs requesting neonatal nurses. I sent in my resume but never heard back. So I called them. I spoke with the head of nurse recruiting. He told me that they use a computerized scanner to look at resumes. If the computer didn't pick up a certain percentage of key words they were looking for, then the computer would not forward it on to a human being to read (no kidding). So I sent my resume in again (13 pages in all to contain all the sorts of info that they were looking for). THen I followed up with a phone call. They said that they had received my resume and would have to wait until the nurse who was thinking of quitting told human resources before they could announce which candidates they would contact. Didnt hear back from them and I ended up getting another job. Haven't heard of any one else being successful at this.

Well...it's not impossible to get work overseas, but it's not easy either. Really helps if you have a parent or grandparent that was born overseas so you can get a passport that allows you to work easier. I was originally a US RN and left for a job in Australia (sponsored) and never looked back. Over the years I have taken nursing jobs in: Saudi Arabia (sponsored) England (sponsored the first time, got an EU passport the second time) Channel Islands (my EU passport worked here, but the CIs are not part of the EU) Guam/Virgin Islands: US registration New Zealand: used Australian passport for no-visa-needed work Brunei: sponsored Timor L'este (where I am now): sponsored Japan: went there on the japanese sponsored JET Programme but ended up teaching at the local nursing college once a week Benin/Ghana: volunteer I've also been offered jobs in Bermuda (sponsored) and Ireland (EU passport) but didn't take them up. Singapore sometimes recruits with ads in Australia You can sometimes find work in American Samoa and Saipan and can work on those islands with a US passport and just transfer your US nursing licensure over to them. I am looking at working in Canada next. Some of these jobs entailed getting the local nursing registration. Sometimes they were waived for me. Sometimes it depended on whether if they were public or private hospitals. i would stress that most of these countries do not hire people for a short-term contract. you'd be looking at at least a year...maybe even more if they sponsor you. Getting overseas registration can be a lengthy/costly process. I have been rejected in Ireland and South Africa which surprised me. Some other places that recruit are The Turks and Caicos, The Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong. I have had friends that have worked in these places. Also, have you ever thought about taking an English CELTA course??? English teaching jobs can be easy to come by, you don't have to learn the local language, will occasionally sponsor your visa and you can get short term contracts for 3 months or so. Just something to think about. Just so you know, I am a neonatal nurse, so there are limited jobs that I can apply to overseas, but I have managed to nail down the ones I have listed. You just have to have the knowledge and then persistence!!!

Hi, I am also a NICU nurse. I am currently in Alaska, but I have worked on and off in the UK and about 15 other countries around the world...all NICU. I do know Continental Travel Nurse. I contemplated changing over to them while I was working in the Channel Islands (English speaking islands just off the west coast of France). When I left the job in the islands, I went over to London and found a ton of work in NICU. I mean...I could have worked every day with an agency if I wanted to. NICU nurses are in short supply. As a matter of fact, I just ended up working at one hospital because there was such a need. The hospital was just off the major London shopping streets. Anyway...living in London was expensive and I was going with Continental just to be somewhere out of London for a few months at at time. I spoke to them a fair amount on the phone and they were knowledgable in what they are doing. I ended up leaving the UK to go work a bit in West Africa and then Micronesia and Australia for a bit. There always seems to be NICU jobs advertised around the UK. It is a specialty area that is hard to fill. The jobs may not always be listed as NICU though. SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit) is the other term. To get an idea of current demand, look at these two websites: pulsejobs.com and frontlinestaffing.co.uk (their sister company). You can also look at jobs on line in their major nursing journal nursingtimesjobs.com Good luck

Are you still looking to travel??? I am a RN with over 20 years of international work in every continent (except Antarctica!). Austalia and NZ are loosening up a bit on visa restrictions to let non commonwealth nurses in to their countries. Europe is easier since you have Italian citizenship. It would be very easy for you to get agency work in the UK. Probably one of the most popular companies would be pulse nursing agency. They have tons of work in London and offer short term contracts throughout the UK. You would first have to get a UK nursing license. Their sister company is Frontline Nursing. Another company who recruites from the US for 3 month positions is continentaltravelnurse.com. They will provide housing at least. The Channel Islands off the coast of France is English speaking and is always looking for nurses (depending on the specialty. I worked there for almost 2 years. A UK nursing license is sufficient to work there, and although not part of the EU, EU citizens can work there visa-free. Other possibilities would be Gilbraltar (English speaking, UK nursing license...they offer short term contracts on occasion) and Malta (also English speaking but requiring a Maltese nurse license). Singapore is currently recruiting for nurses (pay not so good and housing expensive, but could be an adventure for you. English is the working language). I also worked for several years in Brunei. At that time, any license from a Western country was sufficient and they paid all travel and moving costs. Salary was tax free and I spent lots of time in the rainforests on my days off. One of the hospitals there is always accepting applications. Jerudong Park Medical Centre. Just google it.

Rather poorly paid, little paid holiday, no pension contributions by hospital, somewhat high cost of living. I did it for 6 months, and it was good for that kind of contract length. Great for hiking. HOwever, I like to travel, and the NZ dollar isn't worth much once you take it overseas.

I spent months trying to join a US travel nurse agency after spending years overseas in Europe and Australia. No one would take me on without recent US experience...Eventually, I found a company who sent me to Guam for 13 weeks (which counted as US experience) and then on to a crappy assignment in AZ...again because all the hospitals wanted recent US experience and weren't willing to consider Aussie/UK experience.

I did over 20 years ago...what you are trying to do now. It is near impossible to get a job in OB without being a midwife. However, NICU is open to non-midwives. For jobs...check out www.ncah.com.au

Thanks..very informative. I was thinking of getting my Alaskan license to be prepared just in case an assignment comes up. But...since it's quite expensive to get the license.. I'll review that decision!

Fastaff Travel Nurse agency sent out a notice...apparently paying nurses $40/hour (living in a tent city) to go there. I see they are advertising on their website, but the salary info came from a colleague that was contacted by them.

I worked there as a travel nurse two times. Tripler Army Medical Center has L&D and a NICU. To work there, you must be military or get a job as a civilian nurse. I was there years ago and most of the nurses in L&D/NICU weren't military as they were getting away from training military nurses in these disciplines. The other big option is Kapiolani Women's and Childrens. I worked there as bank staff. They have L&D and a level 2 and level 3 (joined) nursery. They let me work in just the level 2, but they preferred that their nurses worked both levels (training provided). This is the specialist hospital on the island. Kapiolani is always advertising for neonates. Queens Medical Center is the other biggie. But...they are apparently hard to get in to because people rarely leave their jobs there. They have L&D and I believe a level 2 nursery.

I think we are saying the same thing!

Just came off Mercyships last year. They are not the same as Mercycorps. Mercyships has been desperate for theatre (OR) nurses...and was paying airfares and some of the crew expenses last year. They take nurses for 2 weeks to 2 years. It is a great opportunity because you will be doing exactly what you are trained to do and you will see what a difference your time makes. It is a Christian organization, but there are some non-Christians on board. YOu are not foced to partake in Christian activities, but are asked to adhere to certain behavior (tolerance, dress, ETOH, etc)

I am considering taking a neonatal travel nurse position in Alaska. THe past few years I have not been working in level 3...more like a level 2A (short term vents, CPAP, no surgery, etc). Most of my NICU level 3 work was in Australia and I am no longer famialiar with many of the US drug names, equipment, etc. I can handle level 2 no problem. I know that Providence NICU is a full on level 3. But what about Alaska Regional and the Native American Hospital NICUs? I recently saw on the internet that Regional was upgrading to a level 3 sometime this year. I have no info on the Native American hospital. So..I am really interested in knowing what kinds of babies are kept at these two hospitals. Also, do these two hospitals take on travel nurses, and which companies do they generally use? Thanks for any info!

geneva health

After years of delaying putting in an application for nursing in B.C., I finally started the paperwork early last year. 3 months later, the recruiter told me that they put a freeze on new hires from international sources. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The website Nursingvancouver (or similar) still lists that the freeze is on. However, I have noticed that there are one or two agencies in Australia advertising for Canadian jobs....one for my specialty neonatal. I am newly arrived in Micronesia on a nursing assignment and do not have a phone to call them to check on this. Does anyone in B.C. know whats going on?? Is there talk of the hiring freeze being lifted? Are they only recruiting for certain specialties (I noted they are hiring for aged care nurses from the UK to go to Canada)?

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My thoughts exactly. FIrst thing that pops into my mind is neonatal nursing in a nursery. Generally a happy place to work, but can be trying if working in an area with high rates of drug use, domestic violence, etc.

A European nursing license could also read as a nursing license from Europe...as I intended it to. However,there is a council in Europe that oversees the standards for nurses to be licensed in EU countries. Ditto for EU passport. That reads as a passport from an EU participating country...not as a type of passport. However, as far as I am aware...passports of EU participating countries have 'European Union' stamped somewhere on the cover.

Commonwealth citizenship is citizenship in a commonwealth country such as Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, India, New Zealand, etc. It harks back to the days when these countries were British outposts. It is often easier for a nurse (or any profession for that matter) with citizenship in a commonwealth country to obtain the necessary papers to work in another commonwealth country.

I used to live in Europe. You would have to apply for a European nursing license first. Also, you would have to have an EU passport. They are not sponsoring nurses there. Gibraltar is another place you could go. They speak English as the official language, but Spanish is spoken very widely. Agencies in the UK will send you there. Occasionally they have jobs. But...again,...you'd have to have an EU passport.

I trained in the US (4 year BSN) and hold 3 citizenships including US and commonwealth. I tried to get a nursing license for south africa a few years ago. No go for me. First...they did not see US training as sufficient. I would have had to undertake 6 months of unpaid supervised training in areas like E.R. and OR. After that...I would have had to sit the exams. I have licenses in about 10 different countries and have only been knocked back by south africa and Ireland. Go figure.