Australia Nursing from the USA

Working as a nurse is very different here from the states but so far I enjoy it. For one thing there are no RT's. And I'd say that is my weakest area, but I'm getting more comfortable. I've found the nurses here to be much more helpful than any hospital I worked back home.  Another difference is no orthoglass so that means using plaster which also isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Here's a good video on backslaps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPDeHgyDVw (Preview) ) Also blood glucose is in mmol/L not mg/dL so a normal value is 5.5 mmol/L or 100 mg/dL. Other differences a roster= schedule, nurse/patient ratio = load, 

I like Sydney because I don't need a car, its fairly easy to get around on public transport, and there's plenty to do. However, anywhere outside the city you will need a car. Australia is a huge country. 

Starting work as an agency nurse you won't get the vented patients until you're comfortable. You will get some on highflow nasal prong and bipap but those are not too hard. Review a respiratory book and you should be good. I'd rather take two non-vent right now until I'm more confident. The nurse patient load in ICU is 1:2 for non-vent and 1:1 for vent patients. If you're working ICU when you have a vent patient I'd just start kinda playing with the vent and looking at the settings. Try to do everything as if there was no RT. Its not as hard as I thought. Understanding the ABG's is more difficult for me. I have very limited ICU experience and I'm still able to do it pretty well. Most of the nurses are much for helpful and in the bigger hospitals there's also more staff who just walk around helping.

The work load is about as busy as the US hospitals. 

I took contract travel nursing it for 2 months. I'm went to a very rural town called Cloncurry in Queensland. The hospital has apartments right behind the hospital which travel nurses live.  In Cloncurry the hospital consists of a 3 bed ED, medical, and aged care facility. When I left a two weeks ago there were 12 patients. 4 acute adults, 1 peds, and 7 aged care. It was an adjustment working in Cloncurry but I was paid so stinking much I can't complain (All of that extra money is being saved for my visa). I learned that Queensland pays the most for nurses and rural nursing pays very well. Rural nursing you almost take the role of a nurse practitioner. Nurses do just about everything. From suturing to diagnosing ear infections and giving antibiotics. Many of the rural nurses are what's called RIPRN trained and it opens up the scope of practice even more. In Cloncurry the doctors only come to the hospital for real emergencies (but you can consult with them over the phone) or on rounds for the inpatients twice a day. I've not had any major issues in rural nursing. Its pretty neat doing medicine without the luxuries, it was an interesting challenge. Its been such a good experience and I highly recommend at least doing it once. 

Back to Sydney I'm normally an ER nurse but because I was worried at first about not getting shifts I signed up for HDU (similar to stepdown unit), ICU, and the general medical floor. I work mainly ICU and HDU but I've worked just about everywhere. Its been a neat experience. I was so nervous! I had my training in a box and thought I could not survive anywhere but ER. I'm glad I took the leap. Don't expect to work ER right away. All nurses start out on the medical ward or if you have ER experience you can also do ICU. The reason is the drugs are different and the scope of practice is different and one can be supervised a little more. My ER shifts were not bad but again it is pretty different.

Rural nursing and urban nursing are so extremely different. In the city you pretty much have unlimited resources and backup. Its almost sad because nurses have such a limited scope in the city (one example you can't start an IV without taking a course first).  There are physio's who do the backslab (plaster splints for broken bones) in the city but in rural you will do it all and then some!

If I were preparing on such a big move I'd start by doing assessments as if you were a doctor. Including looking in the ears, nose, mouth. When you have a limb injury try to pinpoint exactly what area is likely injured (because x-rays are not always available) look at ways to diagnosis with limited resources. 

I use two nursing agencies one Nightingale is wonderful. I love them.  They explained things very well and I highly recommend them. The only downside is they only do Sydney region. But when starting I think that would be the best place to start. http://www.nightingalenursing.com.au The second one is Healthcare Australia (HCA). They are one of the largest and can offer positions in all states. The pay is good. And I'm just finished a contract with them in rural Queensland. http://www.healthcareaustralia.com.au/

There are many agencies to work with (I've spoken with almost all of them) and these two are the most friendly and helpful. I would avoid an agency called Koala Nursing they were flat out rude and not helpful at all (and I was just trying to as a few simple questions).

I'm on a working holiday visa (allows me to work for 1 year) and I'm working on getting my long term visa. I don't want a sponsorship I want to do it myself so I'm  not limited to one area of Australia. 

I hope this isn't too long. This is a work in progress for me. And I encourage you to do your own research and figure out the best path for you.