katye

I actually am not much help I'm afraid when it comes to Visas and things. I am a permanent resident in Australia (married to an Aussie), we live back and forth between here and the US, so I am free to work without Visas, etc. I can't say I've really met many US nurses at all, mostly English, Irish, and Kiwi. I don't think your age should hinder you at all seeing that the cut off is 50. I would highly recommend getting about one years acute experience under your belt before coming over here to work. It is slightly different here, so get comfortably with your own practice in your own country first. But that means you have 6 months to get everything in order - perfect! I had 3+ years acute experience in the US before moving back to Australia. As far as an agency, there's not one I could recommend, but there is so much info online and here on this website I'm sure you could find something. Wages can be quite good here with casual rates, weekends, etc. I currently work as a shift supervisor at an aged care facility, but picked up that job as something part-time as I just came off maternity leave. I have my interview for a casual position at the local hospital next Wednesday, eek! If you follow the steps I'm sure you could get something without any trouble!

Hi, I too am a RN (BSN) from the US and I am currently working in Australia. My best bit of advice is to get your AHPRA done. I waited until I was here to do it and it made it quite difficult because I needed a lot of things from home, such as a statement of service from my old employer, etc. The application is a bit tedious, but not too bad, and only took a couple of weeks to go through. No further testing is needed here, such as a NCLEX type exam. A US BSN is pretty much recognised here as equivalent! Hospitals aren't interested in talking to you until you have your AHPRA, but after that is done you can always go through an agency to help you with Visas or see about getting sponsored by a hospital. How long have you been a RN? Having some experience behind you would help. Good luck!

So then am I understanding correctly that pretty much all nurses in Australia belong to a union? Just want to be clear on this because, while practicing in the US I was not a member of a union and in fact lots of hospitals try to keep the unions out.

Thanks Ceridwyn! What is the next best step for me with regards to obtaining indemnity insurance? Do I have to have it when applying for jobs or do I wait until I get a job? Also what is the situation with unions here is Oz?

My AHPRA came through today!! Hooray! Now time to start hunting!

Thank you so much for your feedback. I guess I will just have to wait and see. I heard back from AHPRA that they have all my paperwork and don't need any further information. Now it is just a matter of waiting for everything to be processed.

Hi, I just submitted my AHPRA last week (phew - finally!) and I know they next stage is just a waiting game that can take weeks to months. In the mean time I wanted to go ahead and start gathering some information as to what to expect when trying to enter the job field here. A bit of background on myself - I graduated with a BSN from the US in 2009 and worked in High Risk OB for 3 1/2 years at a women's hospital in Florida. I relocated back to Australia last year (I am a permanent resisdent) and have been out on maternity leave this last year. My family and I are living in Cairns at the moment. I'm ready and eager to get back to work, because I feel like a piece of me is missing and I also don't want my skills to diminish any more!! I've been hearing some very discouraging things about job availability in this region and mixed input on whether or not to contact an agency. I'm told there are nothing but casual positions available at the base hospital here and that if I go with an agency then I am likely to be placed in a nursing home (not what I want to do). Some people have suggested that with my background I might be able to work in an obstetrical area, but I am pretty sure this is not true (I'm not a midwife). I fear that if I do get hired on as a causal at the hospital I am just going to be thrown into the "deep end" with very little orientation in an area I am not familiar. What should I expect when I interview? Is it extremely formal? Is there a panel generally that you have to sit in front of? I am very fearful of this process. Also is it acceptable to go into a interview with certain areas you are willing to work in, in my case women's surgical, scbu? Also I've looked at the Queensland health nursing wages breakdown and am I correct in saying that I would be a Nursing Grade 5. Would my pay point be a 1? Or would they honor my experience and advance my pay point? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Thanks for the feedback, I know it'll work out but I do think it is going to be a big adjustment. I was actually thinking about NICU as a matter of fact. I hope they give more than a 2 day orientation. We usually get 6 or so weeks when you are hired onto a unit. Some specialty units like NICU and ICU give a 6 month orientation. I guess I just need to get busy and start contacting hospitals. Thanks again!

Hi allnurses! This is my first time posting to this website and I am hoping to get answers to several questions I have! Just a quick background about myself to help paint a better picture - I graduated May 2009 with a BSN. I have now been working as a RN for just over a year on an obstetrical unit in a major hospital in FL. I am married to an Australian and we actually used to live in QLD for several years (I have permanent residency). My husband and I however have been back in the States for about three years now, during which time I acquired my nursing degree. We plan on moving back to Oz around this time next year at which time I'll have just over two years nursing experience under my belt. My goal is to eventually go back to Uni in QLD for midwifery. In the meantime I am nervous about working as a nurse in Australia as I still feel very new in my nursing practice. My questions are as follow: 1. In looking for jobs online what is the difference between a position for a "Registered Nurse" vs "Clinical Nurse" or rather nursing grade 5 or 6? Are enrolled nurses essentially like our LPN's? What job postings should I looking at on the jobs.qld.gov website for example? 2. Are all OB jobs in Oz limited to midwives? Are there any OB related positions available to simply RN's with a strong background in antepartum/postpartum? 3. What are the average nurse to patient ratio's for a typical med/surg unit? 4. Are there any courses or training programs available through the public hospitals themselves to help "orient" an international nurse to working in Australia. For example I am a little nervous about learning new names for meds or learning slight differences in procedures between the US and Australia. 6. Have Australian hospitals converted completely to an EMR or is paper-charting still the common practice? 7. Where should I look for jobs? Should I go through a recruiting agency? I obviously don't need any assistance with immigration however not having any experience with searching for nursing jobs in Oz would an agency ease my transition? 8. Everywhere I look I've read that Australian nurses work 8 hour shifts? I love working my 12 hour shifts! Is the 12 hour shift very common is Oz? 9. Lastly I know this is a fairly broad question and obviously varies between a rural hospital and one like RBH, but how does the scope of practice differ between nurses in the US vs nurses in Australia? I know both do IV's, wound dressings, etc. Reason I ask is because before we moved to the US many nurses I met in Australia were saying that American nurses are allowed to do so much more. Is this true? Whew, that was a lot of questions but any answers would be greatly appreciated! My husband thinks I stress myself out terribly about what it will be like working in Australia. I just blame it on the fact that I take a lot of pride in my job and I want to feel confident that I am doing a good job no matter where I am working in the world!! Thanks for reading!