Useful information on working as a nurse in Australia

When thinking about working as a nurse in Australia there are a few things to consider. Below is some advice about nursing jobs, and other useful tips for working in the nursing industry in Australia. 

THE BACKBONE of many major city hospitals in Australia is provided by overseas nurses.  The growing pressures of an ageing population means that non-residents are in high demand.

Those aged 18-30 will not only find it relatively easy to get work, but discover they are highly valued by agencies and hospitals alike.

However, before you take the plunge, there is much to consider – you will need the right sort of visa and there are strict rules about what you can do and how long you can work for.

Nursing Types

THERE are several types of nurse that can enrol in Australia: registered nurses, enrolled nurses, assistants in nursing, wardsmen, orderlies, registered midwives and disabilities support workers.

All specialities within these areas are currently being hired, but there is a particularly high demand for intensive care and theatre nurses at the moment.

All jobs require experience – the minimum is six months full-time for registered staff – but it is generally more than 12 months for agency workers. New graduates can apply directly to hospitals for work.

Registered nurses can earn in excess of $24-$34 per hour depending on experience and can also work under a 457 business visa.

Many agencies and hospitals offer sponsorship, but not all, so check their websites first.

For further information, interested candidates should check out www.immi.gov.au. 

Regulations

NURSES are required to register with the regulatory authority in the state or territory in which they intend to practice. All original documents are required for this registration, such as a transcript of training, character reference, diploma or degree certificate and registration fee.

All healthcare workers must have a national criminal record clearance and a working with children background check before they can start work. This is obtained on their behalf by the hospital or agency they work for.

NSW Health requires all workers including agency staff to provide written evidence of occupational assessment, vaccination and screening for specified diseases, before they can commence work in any public hospital. 

Working Holiday Makers

For a working holiday visa your start point is Form 1150, the application to participate in the Working Holiday Maker (WHM) programme.

The working holiday visa is available for one year, is electronic and visa holders can work for any one employer for six months or study for four months.

General Skills Migration

Nurses who wish to migrate to Australia under the General Skills Migration category need to have their qualification assessed before applying to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

This assessment is undertaken by the Australian Nursing Council Incorporated (ANCI).
Overseas nurses can work in Australia without achieivng Australian registration as assistants in nursing.
Once workers leave Australia for good they can claim back their superannuation and tax.

USEFUL LINKS FOR WORKING AS A NURSE IN AUSTRALIA

www.ntmedic.com.au

www.247nursing.com.au

www.healthcareaustralia.com.au

www.in2nursing.com.au 

Source  :  www.bbmlive.com

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Anonymous donor to replace nurses’ car tyres

An anonymous donor will cover the cost of replacing car tyres slashed in a vandal attack at Western Australia’s major children’s hospital.

Nurses returning to their vehicles from 12-hour night shifts were distraught to find tyres had been slashed on their cars some time on Monday night.

Up to 23 cars parked in Princess Margaret Hospital’s secure staff carpark were targeted in the attack.

PMH executive director Philip Aylward has released a statement today saying all affected staff will be reimbursed by a generous donor.

Police are still investigating the crime.

Source  :  www.watoday.com.au

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Perth man contracts swine flu strain resistant to Tamiflu

A Perth man has become the first person in Australia to contract a strain of swine flu which is resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

WA Health confirmed the 38-year-old man, who has a weaken Australia to contract a strain of swine fled immune system, initially responded to the drug but developed a resistant strain of the virus when his illness relapsed.

There have been 13 cases of Tamiflu-resistant infections reported around the world.

WA’s Chief Health Officer Dr Tarun Weeramanthri said in a statement this was a rare and isolated case and did not pose a risk to the public.

“There is no evidence that the virus has spread to other people – none of the patient’s family or hospital staff caring for him have contracted the virus, and he has not been in contact with the wider community,” he said.

“Experience from overseas shows us that these cases tend to be confined to individual patients and it is not uncommon for it to occur in people who have weakened immune systems.”

Dr Weeramanthri said the man had been treated with an alternative antiviral drug that was active against the resistant virus and was no longer infectious.

However, he remains in a critical condition in intensive care.

“When it becomes available, the human swine flu vaccine will offer the best protection against the virus and I would encourage people to seriously consider getting vaccinated,” he said.

The first people to be offered the vaccine will be pregnant women in their second and third trimester, those with underlying medical conditions including morbid obesity, Aboriginal people, children in special schools and frontline healthcare workers, WA Health said.

Source  :  www.watoday.com.au

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Charles Gairdner earns nursing award

A Perth hospital has become the first in WA to be awarded the internationally recognised Magnet Hospital award. Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital has been given the accreditation by the American Nurses Credentialling Center, joining prestigious hospitals including Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

 Health Minister Kim Hames said staff at SCGH had been providing high-quality care for the past 51 years and he was “delighted” at the achievements of the hospital. SCGH executive director Dr Amanda Ling said a growing body of research showed Magnet Hospitals offered high quality care to patients, who experienced better outcomes and fewer complications.

“By fostering a supportive environment which promotes professional development, staff increase their expertise and become more innovative in their approach,” Dr Ling said. “They enjoy greater job satisfaction while patients benefit from improved care.”

Acting director of nursing at SCGH Sue Davis said Magnet Hospitals also had much better records recruiting and retaining nurses.

“When staff are provided with an environment and the skills that allow them to provide high-quality care, they are more fulfilled and far more likely to remain with the hospital,” Ms Davis said.

Magnet status is valid for four years.

Source  :  www.thewest.com.au

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British backpacker Jamie Neale: ‘I’m telling the truth’

British backpacker Jamie Neale has revealed he thought he would die in the Australian bush where he was lost for 12 days, and had written goodbye letters to his family.

In his first interview since he miraculously survived almost two weeks lost amid freezing temperatures in Sydney’s Blue Mountains, the 19-year-old from north London, who was found by bushwalkers last Wednesday, also denied his story was a hoax.

“I was thinking I might die on that mountain,” he told the 60 Minutes current affairs television program in Australia in an interview for which he was paid an estimated $200,000 (£100,000).

“I had actually written some goodbye notes and things to my family saying, my last walk, saying sorry, explaining how I’d got lost and different things like that.

“I’m not a particularly religious person but I started thinking about God and I was praying and saying, ‘Surely you can move a helicopter an inch and find me,’ and ‘Why won’t you just help me?’”

Mr Neale returned to the location of his near-fatal bushwalk with the television crew after being released from hospital in Katoomba on Friday.

He posed for photos at the Narrow Neck Plateau near Katoomba where he had been discovered last Wednesday by bushwalkers, and was then flown over the Blue Mountains by helicopter.

He said he had lost the notepad with his goodbye letters, and his digital camera, while trying to get out of the dense bushland.

His incredible tale of survival – where he endured 12 nights in freezing temperatures, eating kangaroo berries and geebung weed, and drinking from local streams – has attracted many sceptics questioning the veracity of his story.

However Mr Neale remains adamant that he became lost after getting disorientated by the sun, and dismissed talk his disappearance was a hoax or a stunt to make money.

“I know what happened, and I know the people who were out searching for me,” he said in the interview, which was set to air in Australia on Sunday night and will be broadcast in the UK on Sky.

“They know that it happened and that’s good enough for me. People can say what they want because I’m not lying. It’s the truth.”

Mr Neale and his father Richard Cass hosted drinks in Katoomba on Friday night for some of the scores of volunteers who searched the rugged bushland looking for the lost backpacker.

Mr Cass, who had flown to Australia from the family home in London to help search for his son, returned to England on Saturday.

Mr Neale will now travel by train to Perth to stay with relatives as he cannot fly for eight weeks due to air bubbles on his lungs.

Source  :  www.timesonline.co.uk

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Bristish Backpacker found alive in the Blue Mountains NSW

Jamie Neale was found alive this morning at about 11.30am by two bush walkers.

After missing for twelve days he is now in hospital where police say he is suffering with exposure and dehydration.

His mother Jean Neale said they never gave up hope looking for their 19 year old son Jamie and she knew he would be coming home one day.

Jean has had a brief conversation with her son and said he sounds tearful and exhausted.

Jamies father was about to return to England when he finally got the good news.

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Western Australia upgrades patient management system

The Western Australian Department of Health is looking to upgrade its patient management system as part of the state’s eHealth reform program.

The department has decided to adopt iSOFT’s Patient Manager (i.PM) hospital information system to date in the hope of providing a flexible, cost-effective and fully integrated patient health record system across multiple hospitals.

The i.PM will be installed alongside existing complementary eHealth solutions, including the i.Clinical Manager and the i.Pharmacy, at 13 sites including Sir Charles Gairdner, Royal Perth Fremantle and Princess Margaret hospitals.

Some 6,000 users will be able to access the system across the full range of administrative services from patient registration and referral, through waiting list management and bookings to inpatient attendances and outpatient scheduling.

Western Australia is set to become the nation’s first state to run iSOFT’s entire iSeries suite of solutions. There is also a possibility of the health department implementing the upgrade across as many as 68 rural sites.

Source  :  www.futuregov.net

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WA flu man cleared as cases top 400

WA’s only confirmed case of swine flu has been cleared after a week in quarantine, Ten News has reported, while the nation’s swine flu tally has passed 400.

The  man, who tested positive last week after going to hospital with mild flu symptoms, was in home quarantine with his wife and their eight children.

Australia’s Eastern States has been particularly hard-hit by the flu and Victoria has recorded a massive surge in cases, most of them children.
 
By this afternoon the number of confirmed cases in the State had risen to 306, a rise of 94 in 24 hours.

Most of the new cases in Victoria also involved young people aged five to 18, prompting a twelfth Victorian school to be closed today.
 
According to Federal Health Department figures, there were 64 confirmed cases in NSW, 18 in Queensland, six in South Australia, four in the ACT, and one each in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
 
However, Queensland Health officials say the State now has 22 confirmed cases, the latest being teenage girls.
 
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the Government was assessing whether to elevate the nation’s response to the disease from the contain to the sustain phase.
 
Victoria is already preparing to move into the sustain phase, under which quarantining is limited to those who share a home with a confirmed swine flu patient.
In the contain phase, anyone who has had contact with a swine flu patient is quarantined voluntarily and given antiviral drugs for a week.
 
The nation’s chief medical officer, Professor Jim Bishop, said the advice to people with flu-like symptoms may change as swine flu evolved.
 
At present, people who come down with flu-like symptoms, especially if they have recently travelled to an affected country, are being advised to seek medical advice.
 
Professor Bishop said in the future, fit and healthy people may be told to stay at home and only those in at-risk groups, including those with seek medical advice and asthma, will be advised to visit their GP.
 
“A lot of people that have these sorts of symptoms of course will, as this thing progresses, stay at home and not necessarily seek medical advice if in their own case it is a at-risk groups— and that we expect to see more of,” he said.
 
“As we move along in this marathon race, what we will need to do is obviously identify those people that we’re concerned about.
 
“If there is large numbers involved, we want to make sure the system is looking after people we most want to look after.”
 
The swine flu-affected ship Pacific Dawn docked in Sydney this morning after NSW Health authorities gave it the all-clear.
 

The P&O ship was forced to cut short its trip to the Barrier Reef last week when three crew tested positive for the virus.
 
A senior NSW Health doctor and 25 nurses boarded the ship in Brisbane on Saturday, testing all 2500 people on board during the two-day voyage to Sydney.
 
While disappointed the cruise didn’t go to plan, passengers said they still enjoyed the journey.
 
David Geers, from Brisbane, joked it was the perfect place to be quarantined for seven days.

 “If you had to be quarantined somewhere I couldn’t have thought of a better place … because we got fed, the drinks tasted the same and the staff were fantastic,” he told reporters at Darling Harbour.
 
More than 15,000 people in 53 countries have tested positive to swine flu, with deaths totalling 99.

Source www.thewest.com.au

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Diver mauled by shark at Sydney Harbour is back diving

A Navy diver who lost a hand and a leg in a Sydney Harbour shark attack is back diving and walking, and says he wants to return to work at the scene of the attack.

Doctors said navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder was lucky to survive the mauling by a 2.7-metre bull shark off Garden Island Naval Base on February 11.

After seven weeks in hospital, Mr de Gelder has told 60 Minutes he is determined to put the experience behind him.

He is already walking with a prosthetic leg, driving high performance cars and confronting his fears head-on by swimming with sharks at an Manly’s Oceanarium.

The extremely fit 31-year-old appeared comfortable examining graphic medical photographs of his injuries taken just before doctors decided to amputate his leg and hand.

Asked whether he planned on being a Navy clearance diver again, he said: “I do, I’ve never stopped”.

After five years as a clearance diver and working on peacekeeping mission in East Timor, he said his goal was to get back to working exactly where he was before the incident.

“That will be something that I’ll have to do,” he told the Nine Network.

“It’s going to be a tough bridge to vivid savagcross, but you can’t show weakness.”

Mr de Gelder gave an account of the e 6.30am (AEDT) attack while visiting the scene north of the Garden Island docks.

“It’s all a little bit nerve-wracking really,” he said.

“I kind-of wish I didn’t come out that day but you can’t change the past. You have to look to the future.”

He said that during equipment testing sharks were “everywhere” off Garden Island and the thought of the predators circling came into his mind “every time”.

“You just put it to the back of your mind and try not to worry about it.

“You have an obligation, a role and a job that you have to get on with so you don’t let the things that scare you stop you from doing that.”

He said sharks were in his mind on the morning the attack.

“Then it was in my leg,” he joked.

“I remember it all.”

Mr de Gelder was on the surface when the shark began mauling his leg and hand.

“I was swimming on my back. I had my fins on and a wetsuit on, and I was just checking my direction and when I got halfway back from turning around I got hit in the leg and looked down and there was a big toothy grin.

“(It was) grey, white, toothy and beady.

“I’d never seen a shark up close before. To see it like that was not something you expect.

“You look down and there’s a big monster attached to you and your mind goes into panic mode.”

At one point, the shark’s head was just 50cm away from Mr de Gelder’s face.

“We were pretty much staring eye to eye for about three or four seconds.”

In one bite it took his “whole hand and the whole of the back of my leg”.

“It just felt like getting hit in the leg with a plank of wood, you don’t feel the teeth go in or anything.

“I think the adrenalin, the panic, probably puts a numb on the pain and you don’t feel it.”

Four navy colleagues dragged him onto a boat and got him to shore before he was rushed to St Vincent’s Hospital in a critical condition.

“I thought he was dead,” Navy colleague Lane Patterson said.

Doctors said he most probably would have died in the water if the main artery in his leg had been severed.

He is now living with his girlfriend in an apartment paid for by the Navy and is being helped by his life-long friend Brock who quit his job to care for him.

But he is still getting used to the new hi-tech leg and will soon have a bionic hand fitted.

I get out of bed and it’s a bit of a struggle,” he said.

“It takes all your strength to sort of roll yourself out and get going in the mornings, physically.

“Mentally, I just want to bound out of bed, go and have breakfast and run down to the water and go for a swim but … baby steps.”

http://www.ninemsn.com.au

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