Questions For Uk Nurses Living And Working In Usa

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

:Melody:

A few questions to UK nurses who have relocated to the USA.

1. Have you been well recieved by other RN's

2. Are you happy in your job/new city ect

3. What are the main problems you have faced in your new job

4. Do you think US nurses are better trained than UK nurses

5. What do you miss from the UK

How do you think a UK nurse could help to make the transition easier, ie what can you do to prepare for the change in working environment before you make the move.

:p

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Specializes in Stroke Rehab, Elderly, Rehab. Ortho.
:Melody:

A few questions to UK nurses who have relocated to the USA.

1. Have you been well recieved by other RN's

2. Are you happy in your job/new city ect

3. What are the main problems you have faced in your new job

4. Do you think US nurses are better trained than UK nurses

5. What do you miss from the UK

How do you think a UK nurse could help to make the transition easier, ie what can you do to prepare for the change in working environment before you make the move.

:p

Are you planning to work in the USA???

I am not over there yet so cant answer your questions...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Stroke Rehab, Elderly, Rehab. Ortho.
:Melody:

A few questions to UK nurses who have relocated to the USA.

1. Have you been well recieved by other RN's

2. Are you happy in your job/new city ect

3. What are the main problems you have faced in your new job

4. Do you think US nurses are better trained than UK nurses

5. What do you miss from the UK

How do you think a UK nurse could help to make the transition easier, ie what can you do to prepare for the change in working environment before you make the move.

:p

Are you planning to work in the USA???

I am not over there yet so cant answer your questions...

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I'm not a UK nurse, though I've worked with many. The ones I have worked with were all well received as they were all excellent nurses. Work ethic and ability determine your reception more than anything:) I've only worked L&D and NICU and I will say the L&D nurses from the UK had more training since they were all midwives and nurses here don't do deliveries. I don't notice much difference in NICU nurses, except some of our Brits didn't insert IVs or PICCs before coming here.

I'm thinking about going to the UK one day to work, so I hope there isn't too big of a difference in our abilities and training:)

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I'm not a UK nurse, though I've worked with many. The ones I have worked with were all well received as they were all excellent nurses. Work ethic and ability determine your reception more than anything:) I've only worked L&D and NICU and I will say the L&D nurses from the UK had more training since they were all midwives and nurses here don't do deliveries. I don't notice much difference in NICU nurses, except some of our Brits didn't insert IVs or PICCs before coming here.

I'm thinking about going to the UK one day to work, so I hope there isn't too big of a difference in our abilities and training:)

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
I'm not a UK nurse, though I've worked with many. The ones I have worked with were all well received as they were all excellent nurses. Work ethic and ability determine your reception more than anything:) I've only worked L&D and NICU and I will say the L&D nurses from the UK had more training since they were all midwives and nurses here don't do deliveries. I don't notice much difference in NICU nurses, except some of our Brits didn't insert IVs or PICCs before coming here.

I'm thinking about going to the UK one day to work, so I hope there isn't too big of a difference in our abilities and training:)

Well I will let you know in future what differences are hopefully !!!!

Let me know if I can help you will any advice re coming to UK. The fillopinos at work who i believe are similar trained to US nurse tend to be much more technical minded than UK nurses as they tend to be more hands on. Most of my job tends to be management of ward and staff.

Kay

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Thanks Kay. It's the UK nurses I've worked with who have me so interested in trying nursing over there. The use of midwives appeals to me very much. I've always found the midwives I worked with as an L&D nurse were great resources. First though, I need to pay off my loan and it's hard to give up the high pay here until that's done:)

Do you know where you plan on working if you come to the US? I've worked in different parts of Canada and the US and have found it's extremely difficult to generalize about nursing here because it varies so much from state to state and facility to facility. The management of staff is done by our head nurses, I suppose you would call them sisters, but I have never done it myself. The US does tend to use a lot of nursing assistants and LPNs, so even regular staff nurses often have supervisory duties.

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Specializes in med/surge.

Hi Fergus and Madwife...

I wonder about this US/UK thing since I am a v. weird combo-- American long-term UK resident. Married to Brit. Now training to be adult and nurse and after 15 yrs getting homesick and thinking about returning to US. --Maybe east coast above the snow line :)

Point is this: I keep hearing that nurses in the US are more like "junior doctors" over here; and that y'all don't make any beds and are "too posh to wash" as they say here. I worry that I would be too hands on when I move to the US and not technical enough...

any thoughts?

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Hi Kermit, too posh to wash is not true in my experience. There are some wards where CNAs do the bathing, but that's a staffing issue. In many units, it's an all RN staff (like in ICU and L&D), so they must make the beds and wash the patients or no one would. I don't think being "not technical enough" would be a real problem since most skills can be learned fairly easily and with the nursing shortage I'm sure the hospital would be willing to offer you any extra orientation you felt you needed. I have found that many nurses here do pride themselves on their technical skills, but it isn't usually to the detriment of their basic nursing care.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Hi Kermit, too posh to wash is not true in my experience. There are some wards where CNAs do the bathing, but that's a staffing issue. In many units, it's an all RN staff (like in ICU and L&D), so they must make the beds and wash the patients or no one would. I don't think being "not technical enough" would be a real problem since most skills can be learned fairly easily and with the nursing shortage I'm sure the hospital would be willing to offer you any extra orientation you felt you needed. I have found that many nurses here do pride themselves on their technical skills, but it isn't usually to the detriment of their basic nursing care.

I must say like Kermit I too was worried about us nurses in UK being too hands on and not technically minded as the US nurses. So I am pleased with your reply to Kermit because for me I would benefit from some orientation ect. I also worry that nurses working conditions sound worse than here in UK if that is possible. Do you constantly worry about being sued, there is an element of that here but I dont worry about in on a day to day basis.

Kay

Ps I am not that old just touching on it lol

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Are you planning to work in the USA???

I am not over there yet so cant answer your questions...

hi,

Yes in answer to your question sorry it took so long. Are you planning to go too?

I found this site in january and whilst it has been benificial to me in answering lots of questions, it has slightly increased my concerns re relocating. I so want to go to US but sometimes when I read the problems on here I actually believe there are more problems in US. Whilst lots of the problems tend to be the same ie staffing, management. Working in the NHS and being in your own country makes you more confident to speak up and attempt to tackle problems head on, because basically you have to do something very serious to get sacked from NHS, and we know this when we voice our concerns.

I worry how I will keep my mouth shut and not stick up for what I believe is right, and I dont mean I would not respect the customs and traditions of the US, I would always do that.

I must admit that until this experience I had not given credit where credit is due to the Nurses and Doctors who work in this country who have come from overseas. i have only had pleasant experience with the Indian and fillopenos who have come to work on my ward but I hadn't passed a thought to their worries, because they have never complained or appeared nervous or anxious. Big learning curve for me.

Kay :saint:

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Specializes in med/surge.

Hi again,

Well, in answer to Madwife's concerns, I think its always healthy to broaden one's horizons by remembering that all cultures have differences... having lived in a "foreign" place (which does now feel like home) for the last 15 years, I've had a lot of practice in comparative sociology ;)

I've also learned that you just end up being what you are, and that may be an assertive British nurse, or a weird American nurse who insists on washing patients or a petite submissive-looking filipina who gives people hell. Cultural stereotypes are made to be broken.

Job descriptions, however are another thing. I keep finding myself going through the many US textbooks we're recommended on my course to see "how the Americans do it" in case blood sugar monitoring, for example, is done differently? how silly is that. But I keep wondering how I'd cope over there.

Probably ought to concentrate on just getting finished and registered over here first!!!

xxa

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