Xenene

You are from Germany? Two of my coworkers are from Berlin. And I 'm going to Berlin for my next vacation. I hope you get your green card soon.

Thanks for all your replies. And Silverdragon you are right I think I#m all ready addicted :chuckle

I wish you the best for America. and your further career. I have podered too about going aboard but for now I 've decided to study. But working in America sounds great, are you going to stay there?

hy, nutella. your Austrian friend lives in America now? I 've sometimes thought of going elsewhere. But now I think I will study first, maybe later. Where are you from nuttella? cheers claudia

hello siri thanks for writting. you are right though i have recently discoverd this side, i think it is great. you asked me about my diploma. well, things are different as far as i know in austria than in the states. in austria you have to attend a nursering school for 3 years after that you get your diploma. currently it is the highest degree you can get in austria, except specialisted educations like for intensive care unit. there is also the posibility to attend university to study "nursering" ( i don't know the proper word in english. and my english dicitionary for nursing is quite old) but these guys only do reasearch stuff and some of them never worked in a hospital before. where are you from? and what is it like there? and what does all these abbreviations mean, like crnp,clnc, rlnc? i 've read them quite often but i don't know what they mean. cheers claudia

I'm a nurse from Austria Europe. I would like to get to know other nurses all over the world to share experince and difference in our daily work and more. In addition I want to improve my English. I'm 26 years old and live currently in Vienna. I'm working at a medicine ward in a little hospital for 3 years. I made my diploma at the nursering school in 2002. In autum I'm going to attend the university , but I haven't made my mind up what I will study exactly. I like all kind of books and films. I'm interested in history ,languages and of course medecine and nursing. I hope I get some posts. Yours Claudia

Hello,thank you for answering. Well, I 've heard that in America you have to attend university to become a nurse. Here in Austria you attend a school which belongs to a hospital for 3 years. After getting your diploma you are allowed to work all over Europe as a RN. You donnot need an Abitur you just have to be 17 years old to become a nurse. ( now I have to explain our schoolsystem a little.First you can attend a form of elemetary school from the age of 6 until the age of 10 after that you attend some form of highschool until you are 14. After that you can choose to learn a job or stay at school and get your Abitur. Four more years )If you like to become a nurse you can leave the Abitur school after two years and attend nursing school. There is a nursing lecture at the university but it's only paperwork and research. They don't really work with real people and don't have to be a RN in the first place.There are also some kind of nursing assistants in Austria. If you want to become a nursing assistant you have to attend a so called nursing assistant course, which lasts one year. After that you can work in a hospital or a nursing home. The law allows the RN to install I/V lines but in the hospital no one of us do it because the doctors in training are responsible for such things Although I think that in the near future we will have to do it anyway. Up to now in some hospitals we were not allowed to do the injections or the instillations but now there is a new president who is responsible for the hospitals in Vienna, in charge, and he is a doctor. He wants to change some things in the system because there were some scandals in hospitals and nursing homes concerning patients neglection and giving the wrong blood type to the wrong person. I have some questions too, but acctually i should learn for my Abitur and there for I write you more later. Yours Claudia

Hello Selika In Austria you can only attend university when you have an Abitur. It is a kind of exam in several subjects. I think I know what you mean by BSN, but could you explain the word to me.( And please donnot hesitate to correct my English for I 'm keen on learning it probatly.) It is some kind of work permit. I think yes because the USA is not part of the EU,but accually I donnot know. Anyway I think it is very easy to get it for we have a lack of nurses here in Austria. As for your degree level, no problem you don't need good marks. But I will write you later more and ask more questions because my Abitur is in about 3 weeks and I'm supposed to learn for it by now. Yours Claudia

Hy, my name is Claudia. I'm a RN since 2002 in Austria Europe. So far I worked only at a medicine ward in Vienna. I'm also keen to know more about the differences in nursing in the several countries. And it is a good way to improve my English. For I'm up to getting my Matura or Abitur ( After that you can attend university in Austria). Talking about differences , well I don't acually know much about your nursing system in the States. Only what I've seen on TV on this serie called Emercency Room. I' ve heard that this Serie is supposed to be very realistic. And in some way I found it more realistic than the series we have down here. ( the quarels between the nurses and the doctors, careless mistakes, the many hours of overtime, the bad working competitions etc.) In the series we get from Germany nurses and doctors are perfect and seem never under stress, exept when there is an emercency. But back to reality. On my ward we have 37 beds ( or 37 patients, although we are not always full). As a RN in Austria you are resposible for the personal hygiene ( If you donnot understand a term please ask, because some of the word I have to look up in a dictonary and although I have a medical one, it is more English English and not American one, and I've learnd allready that some of the words aren't really in use any more), the preparation and together with the interns ( is this the right word for a doctor in training) for the giving ( don't know the correct word either, I think I have to get a better dictonary) of the injections and the instillations. Once a day there is a ward round. If we need a doctor at any other time we have to call him or her. We are not allowed to give medication on our own decission, but I have heard in some countries nurses are allowed to. We have to do a lot of the administration stuff like making appointments for X-rays etc., also we have to hand out the meals. If you like I could send you an offical descripiton of our duties. Although in my opinion it is very vage. And it would last a little because I have to translate it. As for my person, I'm 26 years old. I live in Vienna Austria. I like books of all kind, but recencently I haven't much time to read. As I said before I'm attending an evening school to get the Abitur, after that I wanna study, but I haven't made my mind up yet what exactly. I like English , really, I try to see most of the new films or series in English, to improve it. But as you can see I still have to learn a lot. I hope you write back. Yours Claudia