To all energetic and ambitious nurses, don't waste your time in Australia!

[rabbi]

Dear all, I am another victim of AHPRA new policy among the dozen others in here. I have been living in Melbourne since May last year. I am a registered nurse with 7 years experience especially with experience in NICU and have worked in a renowned university based hospital in my home country. I obtained my nursing degree from a 50 top university in the world. I have passed the OET test in June 2014 and submitted the application to AHPRA in July 2015. The latest news I heard from them is my application is being transferred to the nursing board in August and still pending for result. The most likely outcome is that I will be told to take the IRON course after the application deadline of all the IRON courses in here( I have enquired the teaching facilities the deadline of the course is from July-August and next intake will be January). I am stucked in here with my partner so I have no other choices. That's why I have studied a Certificate in Aged Care Course and start working in an aged care facility as a PCA. And I learnt that a PCA who work on casual basis has similar hourly pay as a newly graduated nurse in here which is pathetic. Even as a PCA, there is inadequate job to work as a casual staff. That means the supply here is way over the demand. I totally feel like this country does not need my expertise and I have decided to move to the UK with my partner in next year. And I am not going to pay for the bloody IRON course nor 1 year conversion course nor to apply for PR because I think I have already paid enough and does not owe this country for anything. What this country wants is money. They stop any foreign nurse from coming here so that the international students who spent loads of money in studying nursing are protected. What's interesting is that nursing is still on the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List, that means they still want nurses to come here but only those who are willing to pay unreasonable amount of money to study the Australian Standard which they think is the best. When comparing the cost of bridging course in Australia and the UK, AUD$12500 VS GBP 1600, you may notice which is the greedy one. I cannot comment on what went wrong with the immigration policy in this country to make their own citizens suffered from unemployment and high property cost while some immigrants earned a lot on the property market. If you are an energetic and ambitious nurse from overseas who is looking for career development, do not have any hope in this country as you may ended up with an dead end job with inadequate working hours after paying huge amount of money!

[Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN]

Look very carefully into working conditions in the UK before you make your next move; I don't know what country you came from, but depending on where you end up in the UK, you may find conditions much the same.

Also, look into paragraph breaks. Holy chunk of text, Batman.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

First of all, Australia is not the only country in the world to have their own standard for nursing credentials. EVERY country has standards. It's not up to the country to alter their standards to fit nurses' credentials... it's up to the nurse to meet the credentials the country has set. Australia owes you nothing.

Second, you cannot compare apples to oranges. Australian dollars and Great Britain pounds are not equivalent.

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

Thanks for this response. ^^^^^ I would not of been as polite.

[Fiona59]

Why not take your expertise back to your country of origin? Sounds like you left a great job and career for a unknown and are regretting it.

[ajmclean]

This also sounds like the research wasn't fully done before the move. Lots of things found out after the fact.