UK nurses need to realise something, the US is NOTHING like the UK. The pay is not great, US nurses think everyone comes from the Philipines, the pay is similar to the US, ONLY the taxes ARE MUCH HIGHER! Try 35% Federal and 12% State tax in some states, e.g. California, that is 47% compared to 25% in the UK. Health care here is very expensive and not free, you get a bill for everything. And the staffing here is HORRIBLE, 1 ICU patient in the UK, 3 or even 4 ICU patients in the US, you will be run ragged. Everyone gets 2 weeks vacation, and if you are sick, they is no sick pay, you have to use your vacation or not get paid.
The managers talk to you like you are crap, the doctors talk to you like crap and the patients and families just sue you. This is like going back in time 20 years, the surgeries, the procedures, being a doctor's hand maiden is archaic. Doctors write orders in the patients chart like Nurse will ambulate pt 3 times a day (the pt was 850 lbs), or pt may not have bathroom priviliges, you are held accountable, and sueable, for everything. The secretary writes the wrong thing, your fault, pharmacy sends wrong drug, your fault, lab draws wrong blood, your fault, your fault, your fault.
I wish someone would have told me this before I came here, after 8 years of 5 States, I give up, glad to come home. They had slavery for 300 years in the US, officially, unofficially, it still exists, few unions, few rights and limited protection.
The UK isn't so bad, not hot as hell and humid, no earthquakes, forest fires, tornadoes, landslides AND NO GUNS, I have never seen poverty like the US, you will die for the sake of cheap meds, or you will get shot in car for your radio. The US is a vicious and violent, more people get shot here peacetime than in the rest of the world put together. See you back in UK SOON!
i am one of the brits who happen to like it over here, i have done an 18 month agency contract, been a travel nurse and am now permanent staff, what you say may be true for your experience but its not for me and other brits that i know. if you had been any sort of member on these boards then you would know that personally its not always been plain sailing for myself, i have worked in california with state mandated ratios, now i work in arizona some hospitals still do put upon their staff with ratios but not too much here, taxes are known to be higher in ca, but why did you put up with your apalling conditions for 8 years? and if i was an american i would take offence at your bad mouthing the entire nursing population, in fact i take offence at you giving american nurses a bad impression of a uk nurse, if thats the way that you act towards them. nursing over here is not always wonderful and yes the vacation time is short,,,,4 weeks for me, if i work 52 weeks a year, and yes the sick time stinks and yes the management dont have any people skills, i have had a couple of bad experiences but nothing like you describe.
70% of Europeans go back to Europe, I know some of you know some that stay, well I don't lots that go, too, but the official, not the subjective figure is 70% return. If you came and you stayed, good for you. Personally I miss my family and my country.
I spent 4 years at UCLA and loved it, I am a damn good nurse and damn good at my job, voted one of UCLA best, but some of the US RNs are not truthful, staffing, pay and vacation is awful, look at Florida or New York, low pay and high patients.
Scot was factual in most part, I had 9 weeks paid vacation before I left the UK, so why should I comment on him telling the truth, look it up for yourself.
Comments like cry baby and go home then, are childish, it indicates you just heard the truth, and you can't deny it, I feel sorry for US nurses for the conditions they face, but only you can change it, just face the truth
well dont feel sorry for me and my workmates as we have good working conditions, as said before we dont like the lack of vacation and sick time, but the wages and conditions are good. and that includes brits. we have a better lifestyle here so good luck to your move back home, i dont know why you didnt do it sooner, and do you know that you cannot use your us nursing education back home? but then it sounds like you only know american nursing or am i misunderstanding what you are saying.
well dont feel sorry for me and my workmates as we have good working conditions, as said before we dont like the lack of vacation and sick time, but the wages and conditions are good. and that includes brits. we have a better lifestyle here so good luck to your move back home, i dont know why you didnt do it sooner, and do you know that you cannot use your us nursing education back home? but then it sounds like you only know american nursing or am i misunderstanding what you are saying.
do you know any other lifestyle though, , but just how far have you travelled, , that you have a better lifestyle how!
more taxes, less wages, no national healthcare, look at most of your patients, your economy, do you have a swimming pool and a private plane? you don't know what a good life style is, not everyone comes from a third world country and europe is bigger, wealthier and more powerful than the us, and us women are so docile and obedient, get a life
I have been a ardent reader of all the posts on this website for a long time, but never joined. I felt compelled to add my two-peneth as it were, so I signed up today.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything the TravellerCA has written. I too am a British trained nurse who spent 6 years working in the USA, the last 2 years as a travel nurse, so I too got around a bit. There is no wonder that the USA cannot get their home trained nurses back into work, conditions are, for the most part, terrible. I felt used, abused and undervalued. I only stuck it out for the 6 years because I am not one to give up, especially when it took me so long to get out there. I thought maybe moving around to different areas would help, but no it didn't. I came back home to the UK in August of last year and have never felt happier. Maybe that stint did me good after all and made me appreciate just exactly how good we have it over here compared to there. I pay less taxes, earn about the same but feel far less pressurised and working conditions, although sometimes hard here, are far better than those I experienced Stateside, and the 9 weeks paid leave a year is heaven on earth.
I try never to regret things in life, but I look back over the last 6 years and wish it was something I had never done. I am just grateful to be home and will never be critical of what we have here in the UK again.
As you do not have to reveal your DOB to the public forum I don't see the need to falsify it!
Sorry, didnt even realise it showed up, like I say I only joined today, cant even see a way of making it not show up. Sorry to crash your forum, just wanted to give my point of view on this, may not be what some people want to hear but its my experience that I thought I would share with you all.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Sorry, didnt even realise it showed up, like I say I only joined today, cant even see a way of making it not show up. Sorry to crash your forum, just wanted to give my point of view on this, may not be what some people want to hear but its my experience that I thought I would share with you all.
You can change it via control panel not to show DOB. If people have had bad experiences that is fine but personal attacks will not be tolerated. You can give your opinion and respect that others have had different experiences without attacking members
Why on earth are you still in the USA if you hate it so much. I agree with Cariad, I am embarassed about the things you are saying about the USA nurses. I originally trained in the UK as SEN and then got my RN BSN in the USA. I have had experience in both countries in working and education. You would not like it if they talked about you that way, and with your negative attitude I am sure you are a delight to work with. I wonder if you co workers know what you are saying about them. As for Scott 33 , I think there is some irony in his reply.
as i said before if you had been a member for any length of time on these boards you would know most of my experiences as i have shared them with these members. what part of my post pertaining to my history did you not understand? i have travelled and worked and am now permamanent staff, live in a large metropolitan area, and know many nurses from other hospitals who work registry and work in lots of hospitals here, and yes some have not got good reputations, even when i travelled i looked into where i was going before taking the assignment. i worked 18 months in the usvi, in the only hospital on the island, which was sometimes like a third world country but still had a good experience.
after a car crash we have had personal injuries and experienced the other side of health care, and yes we do have a house with a pool and own another house and are looking to buy a third, but sorry no plane, then statistically how many working class people do? you havent addressed the question of your experience as a nurse in the uk yet. but obviously know how to use the english language to attack the posters. you know what they say, swear words are a lack of education, as the person who needs to use them in a situation like this does not know how to use the english language in a way that would benefit them. your original post made me feel sorry for your bad experiences, but now maybe, i think that no matter where you go you will always have them, as your attitude towards life and work appears to be a negative one. dont tell me that in 8 years you have always had to work in the worst places that there are and never experienced a good time?
cariad
628 Posts
i am one of the brits who happen to like it over here, i have done an 18 month agency contract, been a travel nurse and am now permanent staff, what you say may be true for your experience but its not for me and other brits that i know. if you had been any sort of member on these boards then you would know that personally its not always been plain sailing for myself, i have worked in california with state mandated ratios, now i work in arizona some hospitals still do put upon their staff with ratios but not too much here, taxes are known to be higher in ca, but why did you put up with your apalling conditions for 8 years? and if i was an american i would take offence at your bad mouthing the entire nursing population, in fact i take offence at you giving american nurses a bad impression of a uk nurse, if thats the way that you act towards them. nursing over here is not always wonderful and yes the vacation time is short,,,,4 weeks for me, if i work 52 weeks a year, and yes the sick time stinks and yes the management dont have any people skills, i have had a couple of bad experiences but nothing like you describe.