dreamyjean

I once attended the funeral of a ex-colleague of mine. The funeral was huge as she was only in her late 30s and her death was unexpected. I believe she took her own life, but not sure how common knowledge that was. Anyway, afterwards I saw an ex-patient and wife at the funeral and went up to them and chatted to them. They said they had seen the death notice in the newspaper and wanted to go come out of respect to the wonderful care the nurse had given them. They did not know the cause of the death. Wow, it would be hard to get greater recognition than this. Years later, I wish I had written to the parents of this beautiful nurse and told them how much an impression their daughter had made on people. I think the couple (the ex-patient and his wife) were at the funeral quite anonymously. She was an amazing nurse, but obviously had a lot of hidden personal trauma going on. She is sadly missed.

Thanks for your reply and idea. I have emailed the local hospice in the city we live in for some ideas and some good resources. We are going up later this week (long drive to see FIL and MIL). It complicates that we do not live in the same city as them so hence may not be seen as needing support by them to deal with this. Interesting and tough times ahead in our family. I worked in palliative care many years ago, but dealing with such an insightful daughter I feel I am out of my league on this one.

Hi Seasoned Nurses My FIL has poor health and CLL along with multiple morbidities. He is finally under hospice care (in reality i cannot understand why it took so long to get to this stage as my understanding of hospice is that they can be involved in any life-limiting illness...but that is another story). I think it is unlikely he will make it to Christmas, but i keep thinking he may not survive to the end of October. Anyway I would love to have some ideas of how to help my 6 year old daughter get through this, loosing her Grandad. In the last 6 months I have also lost my maternal Aunt and Maternal Nana. So what is likely to be 3 funerals in a year which is a lot for a 6 year old. She is amazing in her understanding. I never forced her to see my Aunt or nan in their coffins, but she wanted to and had some very good questions (why was my aunt holding a teddy bear for example). The day I told her that my Aunt had died in the night she took her easter story she had made to school and talked about new life in death. When it snowed recently she made a comment when we drove past the cemetry where my nan's ashes are that she would get cold in the snow! So any ideas of how to make the next few months easier. We have never wanted to hide death from her, but it is turning into quite a contrast as i did not attend my first funeral till I was 18. We do not live in the same city as my FIL but are going to visit this week (it is a 7 hour drive). Any ideas of what to do to make this visit easier? In reality it is a good bye trip, but i do know if i should explain part to her. Thanks in advance

When I have run education days I have had a real mix of things. Quizs, research discussions, DVDs playing excepts from a well known movie that relates to health care makes it light hearted. And discussion around that. Yes and chocolate bribes are great too.

Thanks for all the replies. I have not had a computer that I have been able to log into this site for a while. I will keep knocking on doors to get some more answers. Interesting to read some of your experiences. I am wondering how on earth I am to stay sane in all this, but will get there.

Thanks for the replies. We are in New Zealand, not in USA so the system is a bit different. However the services are good and the health system publicly funded. At this stage the paediatrician does not want to put a label on him as such other than globally developmentally delayed. We do already receive good early intervention services. I am relatively happy with that at the moment. But I am beginning to wonder if he is on the autistic spectrum. Hence I was wondering from other parents what lead them to believe there was something not quite right about their kid and how that lead to getting their diagnosis. I have found it hard to get this sort of info from any sources to date.

Hi There seasoned parents of autistic kids. I am beginning to wonder if my just about to turn 3 year old is autistic. Currently he is functioning about a 1 year old level. He has recently started to walka nd currenly just babbles, but this babbling is getting more frequent, but no actual words. We had been seen by a paediatrician and various specialists. At this stage we have been told he is globally developmentally delayed. We adore him, but are devastated that he is developmentally behind. And that it seems he is going to need support his whole life (unless a miracle occurs!). They say it is too early to tell anything else diagnosis-wise yet. He is quite a sociable little guy and enjoys anyone who gives him attention - it is this aspect that make me doubt autism. Can you give me some idea of how you can to get the autustic diagnosis and your stories of how you got to that and how old your kids were when they got diagnosed. I am not necessarily asking advice, I am just interested in sharing with others in similar sitautions like myself. Thanks again. PS I am a paeds RN too, but it is a whole new ball-gmae being on the other side. I really take my hat off to some of the parents I have come accross over the years.

If there is anything else you want to know about NZ or nursing here, I will try and answer. I have lived in the UK had and short working trips to USA before I was an RN, but NZ is the only country I worked as an RN in. The health system is getting harder to get jobs in NZ. I have heard recently of nursing schools being over-subscribed for applications for RN degrees. For example the local uni I heard had 300 applications for 100 places for the last intake. Then for a new grad to get a job is an even harder task. A different story to when I became an RN 10+ years ago when I had the pick of jobs!. Now I have 2 small kids so i cannot be so flexible, so I have found it difficult to secure a job allowing me flexibility...it is always in the employers favour. So these days I just temp/agency nurse to give me the flexibility I need. But I hate the lack of job security.

Sounds like you are stuck in a hard place with no experience and hard to get it! I wonder if the USA or Australia is easier. It is no surprise to me that NZNC has made it harder for international nurses to come to NZ as they have really toughened up on NZ trained nurses maintaining their practice and professional development. Good luck

Let me know how you get on. Good luck:)

According to the NZNC website the address is [email protected] This address is slightly different from the one you mentioned above. There is a lot of info about competence assessment programmes on the website for international RNs, but having just had a scan through it, I agree it is confusing. It may take few days to get a reply as remember that here in NZ we are one of the first countries across the dateline and hence it is now late Saturday night so the weekend and NZNC is likely to only be staffed Monday through Friday. You may want to try looking up nursing schools in NZ and finding out about competency assessment programmes for RNs. I believe most of the nursing schools run this programme. From the NZNC website not all international nurses have to do this course, but it also looks like you will have to do an English course/exam as well. Hope that helps.

Hi hope NZNC is able to answer your questions then. When I did my RN degree in the 1990s the requirements were that we had to do at least 1500 hours theory and 1500 clinical practice (we did more theory and clinical practice hours than that actually) to be deemed fit enough to sit our RN exam. I agree the hours would need to be as a RN as opposed to a caregiver/nurse aide. However the competency programmes appear good from the nurses that I have "preceptored" on the clinical part of that programme. No doubt you would need to submit evidence of your theory and practice hours as part of the acceptance process in a competency programme. Hope that helps. The NZNC does have a lot of info on it and the times I have emailed them about things (such as the ongoing process for maintaining having a practice certificate) they have always been helpful. GL!

Hi. For me I am NZ trained and work in NZ as an RN. So for I have never had to go through the process personally. I had a quick look at the NZNC website and there is a lot of info there for gaining registration for international nurses. They say there strongly advise against coming to to NZ before getting into a competency programme. I would agree with that. The nurses I have talked to that have done the competency programme say they are hard to get into. The nursing homes have a lot of international RNs who have not been able to get into a competency programme so have little choice but to work as a caregiver/nurse aide. Hence I agree with your comment about the people you know who have come to NZ who cannot save much as a nurse aide as it is very poorly paid. I do think emailing the NZNC would be your best bet when you can access their website. I gather the process has got more complex over the years for international RNs coming to NZ but this is inline with even NZ trained nurses who have to prove their competence and maintenance of professional every year. In the 13 years I have been a RN, the nursing conditions have got worse in our public health system. That is my opinion anyway. The health system is publicly funded, but very good...that is my opinion also but maybe I am biased. There are a lot of filippino RNs in the hospitals here as well as other nationalities. In fact in NOT unusual for me to go to work and be the only New Zealander on that shift Hope that helps.

Do you have any family/friends who have managed to emigrate to NZ? The hospitals in NZ are full of fillipino nurses! The 450 hours probably refers to a course NZNC often requires foreign RNs to do to get nursing registration here. I suggest you email NZNC direct.