SnowSeal

There are 4 agencies I'm looking at that "welcome new grads." Based on the responses here, and the job descriptions posted, it sounds like I may be put into something a little out of my depth. The agencies do advertise 24-hour support by another RN or the DON. I haven't worked with these sorts of agencies before; am I being naive in thinking they're going to keep the promises? Am I risking my license working there? I do have some experience; working as a wilderness EMT, paramedic, health care director of a summer camp and 1 year as a nurse extern in a level 1 trauma ICU, but working on an RN level is new for me.

Sounds like you work at my hospital! I had the best experience when I did my preceptorship in PICU at a large teaching hospital. They had high standards, but if you were struggling with stuff, the nurses & doctors were more than happy to help you out. I got some criticism, but the whole environement was so supportive and the staff loved their job, so the criticism just motivated me to try harder. My current hospital is the level 1 trauma center for the county and, while technically a teaching hospital, the only students they have are those doing preceptorships or are residents. Terrible environment to work in, identical to what VANurse2010 describes.

I just got my RN license for Washington state, and due to family and financial commitments, I'm considering taking a job in home health (peds) for 2 months before starting an PICU residency (dream job) in February. My plan for the next few months would be perfect if it works out, but I also don't want to take advange of the home health agency. A little bit of background: I've been working as a nurse extern at a large hospital in Florida, where I live with my fiancee. However, the pay sucks and I hate working there. As I am from WA, all my licensing paperwork was processed through there, so I took the WA boards. Now, I have a license for the state I don't live in. I hate Florida and would love to go back to WA to spend some time with my family. My grandmother is not doing well, so we're doing something special for Christmas, as it will probably be her last. My fiancee and I were also planning to take a road trip up the East Coast in January to visit his family, as they can't make it to our wedding in February. I don't want to start a residency in WA in October/November/December because I want to have the free time for Christmas, the road trip and our wedding. Many residencies I've looked at have said "plan on no vacation for the first 12-14 weeks of working." We're also trying to save up for a down payment on a house, so I want to start working soon. My solution was to work for a peds home health agency dealing with kids with vents, trachs, g-tubes, PICC's and other stuff. I figure this will give me a decent paycheque, allow me to spend some time with my family by moving to WA, and allow me to practice skills that are standard in a PICU. Ideally I'd start work in a few weeks, and quit just before Christmas. My questions are: will having 2 months of working as a home health RN help or hinder me when I apply to a residency? And is what I'm doing kind of a "dick move?" I understand that training me to do those skills costs money, and if I'm only going to be working there a couple of months, it's expensive for the agency. If the work is something I enjoy, I wouldn't mind doing it per diem after I start a residency. I've seen posts where new grads are asking if they should quit their current job 1-2 months in because they got a better offer elsewhere, and most replies tell the OP that they should quit and do what's best for them. But I'm torn between doing what's best for me, and feeling like I'm taking advantage of/screwing over the home health agency. Advice?

Ah, got it. I wasn't understanding that you were a qualified nurse already. I got my nursing degree in Australia, so didn't have to go through all that. Good luck with trying to get a job! Do you know which state you want to work in, or do you want to hook up with one of the travel nurse agencies?

The visa application is extremely easy; you should be fine doing it on your own. I has a 573 visa since I earned both my degrees in Australia. A 575 visa is for study abroad for a semester/year students, though, so if you have any questions, your school should be able to help out. I'm not sure why you're going through AHPRA first though; if you're going to be a student, then your school automatically registers you as a student through AHPRA. As for finding a school for bp...do you mean bachelor of paramedic science?

Also, if you're looking for residency programs, you've just missed the deadline. Applications for Graduate Nursing Positions open in July/August and this year's applicants are now being offered positions that start early next year. I guess you could apply next year, if you've worked less than 6 months as an RN, but no internationals/non-permanent residents I know got GNPs. Or you could work down here for a year doing something else to get your PR, and apply for GNP next year.

You're going to have an incredibly hard time finding a job. I'm an U.S. citizen without permanent residency in South Australia who's getting an RN degree from an Australian university. It's been impossible for me to get a job; I'm going back to the States to try my luck. Best bet for getting an international job is to stay in the U.S and get a year or two of experience.

I'm in this boat as well; I'm from WA originally, but have my RN and paramedic certifications from Australia. Tacoma Community College was pretty willing to work with me on getting some paramedic credit to certify in WA by taking only a class or two. They're stricter with their nursing stuff, but it might be worth shooting them an email and asking if you can do 1 or 2 classes. They're my back-up if I can't sort out this ob-gyn stuff before I leave Australia at the end of the year!