Working in Ireland: Any ideas?

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Hello All,

My brother and I have recently decided to travel to Ireland for a year. We have a 1 year work visa lined up for this time. I am currently in a Bachelor of Nursing program here in Canada and will be taking a year off for the trip.

The reason I am posting today is this: In Canada we are able to work as Health Care Aids (aka. Nursing Aids) after our first year of Nursing. Is there any sort of program for student nurses to get work in and around Cork?

If not, does anyone know of any opportunities in Cork (and surrounding area) for student nurses?

I am basically looking for any health care opportunity in Cork City. My brother has work lined up here and I would really like to get some experience (even a little) with medicine in Ireland.

I appreciate any info.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

a lot of students opt for agency nursing as care assistants. Not sure what agencies there are in Cork but may be worth doing a search and get in touch with them

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Specializes in Med onc, med, surg, now in ICU!.

How about RNs? What sort of arrangements would an RN have to make to be able to work in Ireland, apart from the obvious - obtaining a visa and so forth?

I love Ireland. I would absolutely adore working there, I think!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
How about RNs? What sort of arrangements would an RN have to make to be able to work in Ireland, apart from the obvious - obtaining a visa and so forth?

I love Ireland. I would absolutely adore working there, I think!

depends on which part of Ireland are you looking at for Northern Ireland you are looking at the NMC where as southern Ireland you have to register with their nursing board. I do have website on another computer will try and find it

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Specializes in Multiple.
depends on which part of Ireland are you looking at for Northern Ireland you are looking at the NMC where as southern Ireland you have to register with their nursing board. I do have website on another computer will try and find it

The link you need is http://www.nursingboard.ie/

Good luck

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
The link you need is http://www.nursingboard.ie/

Good luck

Ta :)

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Specializes in Med onc, med, surg, now in ICU!.

Thanks for that, I'll look into it further.

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Specializes in cardio-pulmonary.

I came over to work in Ireland last April. I have my BSN from an American university and had 18 years of experience, mostly home health. It took me about a year to arrange for a hospital to accept me as I needed an "adaptation" per An Bord Altranais- the nursing board here. The period of adaptation is 6 weeks clinical and 2 weeks orientation and must be done in a hospital that contracts you for a two year period. You might be disappointed in the limited scope of nursing once you pass all of these hurdles. For example, nurses don't listen to lung or heart sounds, don't insert IVs or draw blood and there are no standing orders. The only agency the hospital worked with was Kate Cowhig and she has a website you could easily google. Good luck.

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"For example, nurses don't listen to lung or heart sounds, don't insert IVs or draw blood and there are no standing orders'

What do nurses do in Ireland, meaning what is expected of them?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
"For example, nurses don't listen to lung or heart sounds, don't insert IVs or draw blood and there are no standing orders'

What do nurses do in Ireland, meaning what is expected of them?

In the UK nurses don't generally do lung or heart sounds although there will be some that do it. More nurses are doing cannulation (insert iv access), draw blood and also prepare IV drugs for administration but these are usually/mainly antibiotics (Out of hours we generally can't rely on the pharmacy to do it.) A lot depends on area of work, I used to work on a busy medical admission unit and all nurses was expected to be able to do IV access, bloods and prepare iv meds. We also did have standing orders but after talking to friends in the US who are nurses roles do differ a lot and this should always be taken into consideration

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Specializes in cardio-pulmonary.

It is different in many ways- not that the US is necessarily better in all ways. I felt more freedom to assess my patients and report back physical findings to MDs in the states. I am frustrated here when I have to rely on another provdier (MD, specialty nurse, etc.) for male catheterizations, phlebotomy, and even assessments. On the other hand, the maternal/child health is much more comprehensive and does not allow so many to fall through the cracks. The hospice care is excellent. I am just overall feeling let down by the enormous hurdles I had to jump in order to practice here and then have my skills not even used much. I feel like Dorothy finding the wizard behind the curtain in OZ is just a man after all.

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Specializes in MSc in Anesthetics.
"For example, nurses don't listen to lung or heart sounds, don't insert IVs or draw blood and there are no standing orders'

What do nurses do in Ireland, meaning what is expected of them?

i work in the north of ireland, yeap listening to lung and heart sounds aint a duty for most european nurses. however i do insert cannuals, draw blood, administer iv drugs, take ecgs, insert catheters and many many more they are the more task orientated jobs we still do alot of the basic nursing jobs to ie assistance with adls feeding, toileting, moblising etc etc. i work in acute admissions unit so we too have standing orders just basically because of how unstable the patients are and sometimes the doc mighten reach them in time. so id agree it varies from ward to ward in regards to job role!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

every hospital trust will have their own policies so read carefully as they can differ greatly and what you may be used to doing you might find you are covered to do over here and if something happened you woldnt have a leg to stand on.:nono:

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