To sign or not to sign...

[BCNursie]

Hi everyone,

Ok so like many people here I'm new to travel nursing. I can not wait to make my way down to Australia and get started... only I'm debating between signing with an agency or registering myself and finding work on my own. Any suggestions? Has anyone here moved to a new country before having a job lined up?

It would be great if anyone had the name of a travel agency in Australia (all the ones I have found so far seem scketchy at best) .

Thanks!

[suzanne4, RN]

I would definitely have things lined up before going there, first, you will need a different type of visa to be able to work, and that means having it in hand before you arrive.

You will have immigration issues to deal with in addtion to getting your license down there.

Please do your homework before goign down there.

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Absolutely!! Besides we don't HAVE "travel agencies" as such. You will have a better chance of coming over if you can get a hospital to sponsor you. There are some appreciable differences between the US and Australia. We tend to do more of all care in that we have fewer techs and CNA's, our drug names are different with some drugs that you would be used to using not on the PBS. Our pronunciation is different as is some of the terms we use ( hit one today - we say PV bleed you would say lady partsl bleed:p - Lord but it is a hoot working with Americans:chuckle)

So I will give my standard warning DO NOT take a job at any hospital that is designated "rural and remote" as you might find yourself the ONLY RN for several hundred kilometers with only Kangaroos and Emus to talk to:rotfl:

[Grace Oz]

so i will give my standard warning do not take a job at any hospital that is designated "rural and remote" as you might find yourself the only rn for several hundred kilometers with only kangaroos and emus to talk to

and sometimes, those animals make more sense than the humans do!!!:rotfl:

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Too right mate!! Don't know about SA but we do have our backwoods areas where the whole town has the same surname! Cared for one woman who insisted on watching "Sixty Seconds" on TV and could not tell us how long her chest pain lasted because she did not know the difference between minutes and hours:eek:!!!:chuckle:

Usually though, our country folk are so tough that most of the real bushies (now over here that does not mean they are supporters of your president!) would walk 5 K on a broken leg and only complain that "it stings a bit".