Sunqueen

Don't forget the people you put through the prep were probably already sick. I just took a book into the bathroom. I followed my friends advice and started early - that way you get to "finish" sooner and can sleep. I didn't fast for 48 hours either. I saw the doc at 2pm, he had an opening for the following day, so I went home and started the prep. The prep was the worst part, but not nearly as bad as I had been expecting.

THe real problem is that you are moving to Florida. THe $500 for BCBS is realtively cheap considering you have asthma, let alone are pregnant. When my husband was laid off we decided to go with the $750 Humana private plan with $5000 deductable, rather than the $1500 COBRA. Before you decide to go with the COBRA, find a doctor, find out if they take your insurance and then call the insurance company to check the out of network charges. Florida doctors and insurance companies seem to have a very on and off relationship. The doctor you saw last week may not take your insurance this week and the company's provider list is never right. Florida is truely insurance h**l - health, property and even auto.

I just had a 10th grader tell me she didn't know her address!!!!!

I took (and passed) the test last August. I used the Comprehensive Text and a few other NASN publications - the new review book was published too close to my test date to make it worthwhile ordering. Since I had an August test, I spent the summer studying an hour or so every day. My biggest tip is to answer with what you know should happen, not what actually happens in these budget strapped days.

I have only ever stopped at one accident scene, when the paramedics were obviously already there. Back in the late 80's I was on my way to work, dressed in full NHS nursing gear (blue dress, belt with buckle and even my nice white cap). I sat in traffic for nearly an hour and finally crawled past the scene. I pulled over and lept out of the car. As I ran towards the nearest police officer, he kept repeating "Miss, we don't need you the ambulance already left". It took me a couple of minutes to get him to understand that the car sticking out from under a very large truck was my father's. Once he did he was very nice, stopped the traffic again do I could do a U turn on the freeway and got me a police escort to the hospital. Of course it wasn't my hospital, but the staff there called my ward to tell them where I was. My dad was fine - broken colar bone from the seat belt and covered in broken glass. To this day I can only imagin what I must have looked like, running out if the fog with coat and cap flapping in the wind - nurse Nancy to the rescue!

Have you checked to see if it has batteries? They don't all come with batteries already inside.

I don't think ther will be huge influx of foriegn nurses anytime soon. You only have to read the posts on the International Boards here to see how hard it is for nurses to immigrate. I came over to Boston in 1989. The shortage must have been worse then. individul hospitals employed foriegn nurse recruters and there were US job fairs in London monthly. Visas were expadited for nurses due to the shortage. I took CGFNS in September and started work in Boston on Feb 14th. it seems to be taking years for nurses to complete the process now. i was employed as a GN until I took N-CLEX in April/May. The hospital paid for revision classes for all the British/Irish nurses. I really don't see the influx of foriegns now like it was then. Most of the night shift were either British or Irish and there were quite a few of us on days too. Since most of us joined the MNA I don't think we forced wages down either.

it depends where in Florida. South Florida is no longer the cheap place in the sun. I have seen ads for condo rentals around $1000 a month (2 bed). When we moved here 10 years ago we rented a 3 bed, 2 bath house for $1100. That same house would now be well over $2000 a month. Buying is another story. Despite rumors of the housing bubble bursting, it is still not cheap. Prices have just stopped going up, not come down! I was under the impression that most hospitals down here pay from the mid $20's and up.

I know the Health Dept. runs three free clinics in Broward. I think the North Broward Hospital District may have some too. I don't know about any smaller clinics.

I live just outside Fort Lauderdale. So I would advise you to really check out house prices. South Florida had massive house price rises over the last few years. Home owners insurance doubled and trebled for people after last year's storm (it is also really hard to get - we had ours cancelled) and property taxes have been shooting up. We are supposed to be in an affordable housing crisis. Whenever the paper reports about the cost of housing they always say it is teachers and nurses that can't afford to live here! Propety prices are stabalizing and it is moving towards a buyers market, but it is still much more expensive than it used to be.

When we moved to Washington State 11 years ago, we flew to Vancouver. So I had to go through immigration at the Blaine border crossing. I thought the two young boarder gaurds were going to die laughing when I tried to show them my X-rays!:chuckle

We flew and then waited 10 days for the truck with all our stuff! The Overseas Highway isn't scary at all. It is beautful. You sort of island hop, so only short bridges between. Apart from the Seven Mile bridge at Marathon - that can be a little scary if the wind is blowing. Hope you don't mind a word of advice from a veteran of the last season. Make gettting your hurricane plans together a high priority. I am sure the Coast Guard has plenty of advice and family evacuation plans. Personally I much prefer knowing for 5 days what is going to hit me, rather than the possibility of an earthquake at any time.

Try Florida Keys Community College - http://www.fkcc.edu. No idea what their program is like, but they have a Key West campus. Good luck. You are managing to move even further than us - we did Bellingham to Fort Lauderdale 9 years ago.

I don't think there is a US equivilant to a Health Visitor. I had my first daughter in England and second in the US. I really missed the health visitors advice and visits the second time around. Home Health nursing is nothing like Health Visiting and not even really like District Nursing. Do you know where in Florida you want to live. I have just interviewed for a School Nurse position and here in Broward county that is a Board of Health position. I know they staff the free clinics in the county and have full time nurses working at the Health Dept. in fort Lauderdale.

My advice is to visit a few areas. Living in South East Florida is like living in a totally different state to areas further north. As litle as an hour's drive makes a big difference. North Florida has a real winter (not as cold as the UK, but a lot colder than here). The cost of living in the north of the state is a little better than here in the south. The poster that warned about house prices was not kidding. She did not mention property taxes, which are getting high enough to prevent people buying homes. Car insurance is not cheap either - I think that is more reasonable in the north too. Orlando and Tampa are the big building boom areas now. There is no where else to build around Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Good luck finding somewhere.

Where did you train? You may just need to track down who has the archives. I trained at Guy's, but according to a classmate, our records are now at King's - go figure! I qualified in 1988 and had enough hours for CGFNS and NCLEX. I think it is the new University based courses that are short on the US requirements. Good luck. I have liveed here for years and still find that US personnel offices are not very accomodating to the differences between here and the UK. I am returning to work after staying at home with my kids and an HR manager refused to accept that the Brompton may not still have a record of me working there 15 years ago!

Don't he know anything specific about Holy Cross, other than that it has a really good reputation locally. If you are thinking of coming to Fort Lauderdale soon, make sure you check into housing really well. Broward county had a problem with a lack of affordable housing and that has only been exacerbated by the hurricane.

I am doing the RN Refresher course at Broward Community College. I know that is way too far south for you. But, why not call there and ask if they know of any other Florida colleges doing the course. The prerequisites include a Fl licence and past RN experience (but someone in my class has only ever worked as a volunteer, so they are flexible). If you would like the contact person and the phone number pm me.

Where in Florida? South Florida is nothing like the northern part of the state. How did you get the job? I am live near Fort Lauderdale and am doing an RN refresher course as I have been out of the hospital setting for 10 years. there are women in my class who couldn't get a job, without doing a refresher, after being out for 2 years! Make sure you get a good orientation. US nurses do some things UK nurses don't and UK nurses can do some things US nurses can't. You must have trained around the same time I did and I never did IVs. So I am spending most of my course sticking the rubber arm and looking for patients with easy veins on my clinical days. Good luck - you are coming at the best time of year (no hurricanes).

I think you have to be a citien to hold any Federal job. Thay includes being a postman! Don't know about State jobs.

I can answer some of your questions. The banking system is not hard at all. Only difference from the uK seems to be that there is more banks to choose from. You do need a Social Security number to open a bank account (and to do pretty much everyhting else). I got mine 15 years ago when I went to Boston with O'Grady Peyton. Becoming a citizen takes a lot of time. I don't know how long you have to live here before you can start the process. My husband is American, so I only had to wait 3 years. But, the actual process took another 2 (and a fair bit of cash). The lack of holidays is killing and Americans look at you as though you are mad when you moan about it. I had to work for a 6 months before I could take anything and then got 1 week a year. You needed to have 3 years seniority to ger more. I am in the process of returning to work (post kids) and plan to work per diem so this won't be a problem. Just for a point of reference - my husband is in a senoir management position and gets 4 weeks a year.

If a State requires credits to renew your license it does not matter if you are currently working or not. They will still require them. Don't worry they are really easy to get. You can do them online. There are loads of sites but I use CEBroker.com

I trained in London in the late 80's and was issued a cape (and caps) with my uniforms. We used to wear them during the quiet times at night, The only way to keep warm in those huge old wards!

When you file your taxesd you will have to put down your earnings you will need to put down for the whole year. But, the US recognises the tax you already paid in the UK. If you go back to the UK in the middle of the year you will still need to file for US taxes at the end of the year. I can't remember when the UK financial year ends but here in the US it is Jan- Dec.