uk nurses who have come to the usa

[cariad]

I noticed on the med/surg site where kay posted, that some of the shifts sound horrendous....starting and finishing at 3am! we start at 7.30 am or pm, and finish at 8am or pm, sometimes there are 8 hour shifts only for the nurses who work a certain amount of hours. they will work 6 x 12 hour shifts and 1 8 hour shift in a 2 week cycle, giving them 40 hours a week.

we take report first, each nurse reports off on the patient load that they have. we then collect our own patient medication charts and we then do rounds...that is go into each room and say goodmorning or goodevening to each patient, the assignment tells us which patients we have and we introduce ourselves as their nurse for the shift.

we then do meds for our patients, which can take a while, as back in the uk we pushed iv antibiotics, but here they are all mixed into 100ml bags of fluid and then each given either direct or piggybacked. and there are always loads of patients having iv meds, and some of them more than one each med time. we assess each patient that we have and then chart on them on the computer.

the doctor will come onto the floor, not always each day and they write orders for their patient, the nurse will pick the orders up and do what is required, either a change of meds or fluids or dressings , or order for diet, physical therapy or even consults with other doctors. we cannot do anything with a patient without an order from the doctor to say so. I find this a big difference from back home, what they say goes regardless of any advice from the nurse who is spending a lot of time with the patient.

the nursing assistants do the vitals and the accuchecks....as they call the blood sugars, and help with the patient care, but sometimes there are not enough nursing assistants to do everything that needs done.

the biggest difference that I have been totally surprised about is that us nurses still lift patients. coming from an environment from the nhs with state of the art education and equipment, I find it hard to deal with. I try to maintain the skills that I came here with even although there is not the equipment in this particular hospital, I am hoping that stateside it will be different, although from the posts on here, I think that they still lift patients stateside.

probably have loads to add to this will do it a bit at a time, because things are different here.

christine

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Thanks Christine,

I am finding all this information very interesting and helpful. I have to say i have my doubts about the helpfullness of the hoist and whether it reduces back problems the reasons I say this are that it may well reduce the lower back problem but I totally believe it causes upper back problems and more than I ever saw when we didnt have the hoist.

I work on a rehab ward where the patients are nearly always hoisted until we have moved hem forward and we always hoist with two nurses, all my staff have shoulder injuries including myself. We spend lots of time discussing this with the physio who is our manual handling expert in our hospital, and she too believes we are seeing more and more upper back and neck problems from the use of hoists. I just thought i would mention this, as you discussed lifting aids here in UK. (hopefully made you feel a bit better about missing the hoist lol)

[Owain Glyndwr]

Owain,

You don't need to be living in the US to have a bank account. I've had a bank account there for 2 years and I'm still here in the UK.

Tina :)

Hi Tina

How do you do it?!!! Is it easy? Do I get offered a rifle like Michael Moore did in Bowling for Columbine? :angryfire

Cheers

OG

[cariad]

we do have hoist but its ancient and only one ancient sling to go with it, I was used to working with a super duper swan hoist with a variety of slings, with one assigned to each patient due to infection control.

here it is lack of education and a not very good physical therapy depatment. the nurse put sheets on the beds for drawsheets and literally lift the patients up the bed...something that I have not seen in a long time in the uk.

there are no slide sheets, although I do keep my own fromthe uk. because we are assigned our own patients for their total care then you can often find that you are working with them on your own as everybody else is too busy with their own patients.

I work nights so getting them inand out of bed is not done on my shift, but sometimes the patients are left in bed as theres no way of getting them back in other than lifting them. not for me. will keep you posted

christine

Thanks Christine,

I am finding all this information very interesting and helpful. I have to say i have my doubts about the helpfullness of the hoist and whether it reduces back problems the reasons I say this are that it may well reduce the lower back problem but I totally believe it causes upper back problems and more than I ever saw when we didnt have the hoist.

I work on a rehab ward where the patients are nearly always hoisted until we have moved hem forward and we always hoist with two nurses, all my staff have shoulder injuries including myself. We spend lots of time discussing this with the physio who is our manual handling expert in our hospital, and she too believes we are seeing more and more upper back and neck problems from the use of hoists. I just thought i would mention this, as you discussed lifting aids here in UK. (hopefully made you feel a bit better about missing the hoist lol)

[letina]

Hi Tina

How do you do it?!!! Is it easy? Do I get offered a rifle like Michael Moore did in Bowling for Columbine? :angryfire

Cheers

OG

:chuckle

You won't believe how easy it is! You can go to any US bank and open up an account with as little as $100

I use my UK address for correspondence too, so don't think you even need a US address.

Simple as that!

Tina :)

[suehp]

:chuckle

You won't believe how easy it is! You can go to any US bank and open up an account with as little as $100

I use my UK address for correspondence too, so don't think you even need a US address.

Simple as that!

Tina :)

We have a US address that we use for our US bank account but they do have our UK address too and we do most of it online. To arrange a cashiers check a couple of weeks ago for the purchase of another house - we did this via fax...so it can be done - where there is a will there is a way! :chuckle

[Tumshie]

I have been in the USA 3 weeks and here are some of my experiences.

We sold our house nad transferred the money throught HIFX at the interbank rate to $ which was higher than the torist rate. This money was put into a $ account woth Nationwide international and a smaller amount was put into a HSBC International $ account as it came with a debit card which allowed us to use this when we arrived. These accounts are both off shore. We now have a Bank of america account and and credit card from them with a $5000 limit.

The telephone co and the H2o company both wanted $150 deposits all the other utilities and cable were fine. It is certainly esier when you get the Social security number though too.

We took out Uk Amex cards and were told they could be transferred to US cards and that the credit would follow. However Amex have issued us new US cards and we have closed the Uk account and the credit does not follow but it will build up.

We ordered a car before we left the uk through a company called international autosource (IAS). They offer it at Low rates of credit and have been good for us. We have also bought another car for cash which was fairly straight forward but I would advise you to get an international driving liscence as it does help. Here you need a state ID card or liscence but we can't take the test until sept 1st! Car insurance is $650 for 6 months for 2 drivers and 2 cars. 1 of which is brand new so I think that that is quite good compared to the UK. That was organised through AIG who we got in touch with from IAS. They offer insurances for allsorts and I have just applied for another credit card from them too as they guarantee acceptance.

If you are a costco member in the UK it can transfer to the US costco they just gave us new cards and they also do an Amex credit card associated with the costco card and again it is another one we have appled for as It all helps with the credit rating.

There is so much help out here if you ask around and shop around. We have enquired about a mortgage and should be OK but we haven't gone far on this one as yet. Not had enough time as yet.

I will get back again with more info about the job as I am in hospital orientation at the moment.

[Sunqueen]

I live in Florida with my family and ended up here after emigrating to Washington state 10 years ago. I can't comment on hospital nursing now as I last worked as a floor nurse in Boston 13 years ago. But, I do know about the differences in living here and in the UK.

The most important thing to remember is that things are very different state to state. Here in Florida house prices, car insurance and especially homeowners insurance and property taxes are through the roof. Our car insurance trebled when we moved here from Washington state. But, it only costs $50 a year to register my brand new Jeep. In Washinton it cost $700 a year to register our 10 year old car!

I thought you needed a Social Security number to open a bank account.

Most states have state tax as well as Federal. But, if you are a Resident Alien (ie here on a work visa) you can claim a ton of things as deductions. When I worked in Boston 13 years ago and was only earning $17,000 I got a $2000 rebate! There is tax resiprocity with the UK so you need someone to figure it out for you if you move in the middle of the year.

Don't forget about health insurance. Again it differs from state to state. But, for a family of four we pay close to $10,000 a year in premiums alone. They don't have to cover pre - existing conditions for the first 12 months. The cost to you is dependent on how much your employer pays and the kind of plan they offer.

[expatnurse]

I am in the usvi, and have been here nearly a year, maybe all the nurses who have posted their news about immigration, can now post about the differences in the us hospitals. I dont think that american doctors and nurses fully understand where we come from, and the working environment of the nhs, its only when we get here that we can understand the differences. I am sure that stateside hospitals are different even from here. and that they also vary from state to state, but maybe nurses who are waiting to come will be able to pick up some tips and know more than us what to expect.

christine....from wales to scotland to united states virgin islands, and then to the states, in january.

Did you feel that the US supported you in areas you were unfamiliar with ie. heart/lung sounds, and drug differences(names)etc. Or were you thrown in at the deep end? How do you feel UK nurses compare with US trained nurses? The UK nurses who have been trained in the new system of training branch specefic? I am glad you started this tread. :balloons:

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I live in Florida with my family and ended up here after emigrating to Washington state 10 years ago. I can't comment on hospital nursing now as I last worked as a floor nurse in Boston 13 years ago. But, I do know about the differences in living here and in the UK.

The most important thing to remember is that things are very different state to state. Here in Florida house prices, car insurance and especially homeowners insurance and property taxes are through the roof. Our car insurance trebled when we moved here from Washington state. But, it only costs $50 a year to register my brand new Jeep. In Washinton it cost $700 a year to register our 10 year old car!

I thought you needed a Social Security number to open a bank account.

Most states have state tax as well as Federal. But, if you are a Resident Alien (ie here on a work visa) you can claim a ton of things as deductions. When I worked in Boston 13 years ago and was only earning $17,000 I got a $2000 rebate! There is tax resiprocity with the UK so you need someone to figure it out for you if you move in the middle of the year.

Don't forget about health insurance. Again it differs from state to state. But, for a family of four we pay close to $10,000 a year in premiums alone. They don't have to cover pre - existing conditions for the first 12 months. The cost to you is dependent on how much your employer pays and the kind of plan they offer.

Hi,

Can you explain more re tax resiprocity, what do you mean?

I did think if i gave my notice in in UK that I would claim some tax back from UK if it was before end of financial year.

[Sunqueen]

Hi,

Can you explain more re tax resiprocity, what do you mean?

I did think if i gave my notice in in UK that I would claim some tax back from UK if it was before end of financial year.

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.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

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.

in the UK it is april-march