SarahRN1987

I came here with my ADN and they took me :) You should be fine!

Yeah right now the nursing jobs in Melbourne have pretty much dried up There are quite a few posts on here about it. But I'm currently working for an agency in the acute care sector, and could probably count on my fingers and toes the number of times I've been called for a shift in a hospital since the end of November. I've been working a bit lately in aged care, but I've heard that even jobs in the aged care sector are hard to come by. If you want to look online to see what jobs are out there at the moment, try seek.com.au...it's pretty much the number one job board here. I've recently applied for a couple temporary part-time positions (maternity leave cover for a permanent staff member) just to keep myself busy, so we'll see how that goes! The good thing about Seek though is that you can also look for jobs all around Australia to get a feel of where the demand is, and that might also help you decide for sure where you might want to move. :) -Sarah

I agree with ceridwyn. I also came to Australia via the US, and I didn't apply to AHPRA until after I got here. I was waiting for 8 months with no job because that's how long it took to process my application! Luckily I came here to live with my now fiance, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to survive. However, I had less experience than you when I moved here, so I don't think you would have any trouble getting a license here. As far as sponsorship, I can't really say much about which is the best route to go because I came here on a work and holiday visa and am now applying for permanent residency with a partner visa. Also, as ceridwyn said, it depends on what kind of place you would feel most comfortable in as far as where you should live. I came from a small town in Illinois and now live in Melbourne, and I love it (other than the traffic! lol). I think when Americans think about Australia, they picture beaches and hot weather all year long. If that's what you want, then I can tell you that Melbourne isn't the city for you, lol. Good luck with everything and let me know if you have any other questions. -Sarah

What the HECK?!

I wouldn't mind going regional. But my fiance just got a new job here in the city so it is a bad time for us to move. Might happen eventually though, you never know! Thanks for your other comments...I figured the new grads would have something to do with the quiet time I'm having :) Just stinks because I am in a contract with my agency so I can't really look for anything permanent until November! So I'm hoping they are right and things start to pick up again after the Easter holidays are all done. :)

Is my agency the only one who has been SUPER slow in the last few months? I can probably count on both hands the number of times I've been called to go to a shift! My manager says it will pick up after Easter, but in the meantime, I'm going stir-crazy! Anyone else in the same boat? -Sarah

I had an LPN to start out with and got my ADN-RN, and didn't have any problems getting registered in Australia. But AHPRA will assess your qualifications and let you know. Good luck! :)

I'm an agency nurse and just went to Epworth Richmond today...park wherever you miraculously find a spot And pray you don't get a parking ticket! lol

I know what it's like. I am doing agency nursing and work on all med/surg wards. It is a difficult and often times frustrating job, but I have found it to still be rewarding in so many ways. I think the problem is that nurses right out of school think "I have to do med/surg before I get into my preferred specialty," but med/surg IS a specialty. I was working on a maternity ward one night (assigned to overflow med/surg pts), and the nurse I was working with, who was an experienced L&D nurse, had no idea what to do to help me when one of my patients starting having explosive BMs because she was on bowel prep. She just felt lost because it was an occurance that she had never had to deal with on that floor. But anyway, it will get better! And no, don't think of it as a type of nursing that "anyone can do," because it is difficult and you need to be on your toes. Keep your chin up! :) Hope things get better soon.

I vote "A."

In response to the posts regarding Australians as anti-American, I have found that to not be true. I graduated with my ADN in 2009, worked full-time on a home care case, and moved to Australia in 2010. I had no acute care experience, but wanted to get into the hospital system here, and ended up joining an agency because I couldn't get hired by any hospitals with my lack of experience. The first few months were extremely difficult. I was doing new tasks that I had never done before, getting used to new terminology and medication names, etc. But I found the nurses that I worked with to be very understanding, patient, and helpful. Of course there is always one or two people who are the exceptions and just don't have time for you, but you get that anywhere. I have found though that nurses here seem to be trained much better than nurses in the US - at least the ones from my nursing school anyway! lol So anyway, not discounting anyone else's experiences and definitely not saying that everyone here loves Americans, but I have not encountered anyone who really set me off in these 5 months that I have been nursing here. I've also lived here for over a year now and most people think it's actually really interesting that I have moved here, and I wish I had a dollar for every time someone told me they liked my accent haha. So anyway, there's my two cents on the matter! -Sarah

Thanks for that. Starting to get my PAYG statements in the mail! Hurray refunds! lol. Thanks again for your help

Thanks for the advice! I got onto the ANF website and saw that they just did a course yesterday, lol. So anyway, I missed out on that one but I did join up with them, so hopefully I can get to the next one they do. Also good to know that they take care of my insurance as well! Thanks again for your help -Sarah

Hi Everyone! I am from the US and have been doing agency nursing here in Melbourne since this February. I graduated from nursing school in 2009 and learned how to cannulate there, but since I had been out of practise for about 8-9 months while waiting for my license to transfer to Australia, I just wanted to re-learn how to cannulate. I know that a lot of hospitals offer a course if you are a permanent staff member, but since I am an agency nurse, I don't think I would be able to do that (correct me if I'm wrong). Has anyone ever taken a cannulation course on their own? I have googled some and they are all pretty expensive, so just wondering if there is something out there that isn't too pricey but still a good course. Thanks in advance! -Sarah

Thanks everyone for your replies, I am starting to get the hang of things, but it is going to be a long haul I think Gintran, I applied originally last May for my license to be transferred, and I only just got accepted a few weeks ago. The reason for that was because when I applied, they still had state-by-state registrations, and in July they switched to a national registration system (AHPRA), so I got caught right on the transition of that and had to start over in July. So I would say by the time I got my application sent in again, it will took about 5 months to process. I found that the key is making sure you have everything done exactly as they want, and when you find out who your registration officer is, keep calling them to make sure that they are working on your case. I think mine finally got tired of putting up with me, so she approved my case lol Right now I'm working for two different agencies, just to increase my chances of getting called for a shift. I am in Melbourne, so I just googled "nursing agencies in melbourne" and applied to the ones that looked all right. There are so many of them out there! You won't have any issues getting in with one of them. The transition so far has been somewhat difficult I am finding, but I am also a relatively new nurse and also had quite a big lapse in my practice because of waiting for my registration to be approved. The nurses I have worked with have been very helpful and patient with me, which is good! Are you in Australia right now, or applying from the US?