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👩⚕️ Interested in working as a nurse? Learn about ...
🚑 Interested in working at an emergency department (ED)? Read about ...
Thank you so much for having me, Frances. My name is Divya. I am originally from India. I have been in Australia for almost four years. It's going to be four years in February next year.
And I came as an international student. I did a Diploma of Nursing, and now I am in my final year of Bachelors of Nursing.
So yeah, international student experience, that journey is what brought me to Melbourne, and that's where I'm based. And currently I am in my final year, like I mentioned, and in my final rotation, the clinical placements that we have to do.
And yeah, so that's pretty much it, and next year I'll be starting my full time job.
Fun fact about a typical day is that I work as an enrolled nurse in emergency department.
So no two days are similar. But typically in ED, we have different kinds of presentations and we work as a team with the doctor to hopefully treat them and nurse them back to health.
I started my journey during COVID. So this is much better now. Because I came in 2020 and three weeks into my journey, we went into lockdown in Australia. So my first job was doing COVID testing and COVID screening. So that was interesting. That was full blown, wearing your PPE and all of that.
It's still there, obviously we haven't gotten rid of COVID completely, but now I have more clinical responsibilities and things.
There are two different kinds of nurses in Australia. There are enrolled nurses and registered nurses.
You do a diploma of nursing to become an enrolled nurse, and then you can keep on continuing to study, and become a registered nurse. That's why I am a nurse, and I'm also studying to become a nurse.
Yes, of course. A few years, not few, a lot of years ago, enrolled nurses were not allowed to give medications. So it wasn't in their scope to administer medications. It has only been a few years ago that it has become a part of the education.
So that's why they say endorsed enrolled nurse. I'm endorsed to administer medications as well. I can give them oral, I can give them through the veins. I can give them vaccines. I can give blood and things.
In medical field, you really need to get signed off for things that you're competent. Even as a full competent nurse next year, who's qualified, has a degree, has a license, there will be things that I will still need to do competencies for me to be like, okay, she can do it now. So it never ends. The cycle never ends. You still have things you need to take, get ticked off.
Ages ago, enrolled nurses were only looked at as, people who actually just look after the patients, looking after their personal caring hygiene and things, and helping them with their daily activities. And registered nurses were the only ones who could give medications, but they incorporated that.
So a lot of times people do question, what is the actual difference between an EN and an RN? So I'm like I couldn't help you because honestly, I do most of the things that an RN can do as well. But RN education is much more in depth and it is much more about nursing diagnosis and really understanding the patient treatment so that we are not just doing what we're told to.
We are also using our critical thinking to ensure that, oh, whatever the treatment plan that has been put in place for the patient, because nurses are the one who spend 24/7 with the patient while the other healthcare team members only see them for a couple of hours maybe, or a few minutes.
So you really need to understand the patient treatment plan to its core, to ensure that it's actually working. Sometimes they would put something for the patient, but we as nurses would realise, you know what, this might not be the best pathway for the patient. So that's where that further education really helps you develop that critical thinking.
So my diploma was two years and those two years were credited into one year of my bachelors of nursing. So two years of diploma and then two years of bachelors, so four years in total. If you don't want to choose this pathway, people can directly go to bachelors and that's three years of bachelors in Australia.
So if you're doing the diploma plus bachelors, it's four years. If you're just doing diploma, it's two years. If you're just doing bachelors, it's three years.
So this is how I like to explain, and this is how my experience has been. When I studied Diploma, we touched the outside surface of nursing enough to understand and care for a patient.
But in bachelors, you actually go deep into it. It's like thinking about a cell. You're learning, what a cell has and this is what a nucleus is, blah, blah, blah. You're going deep to understand patient care. So that's how I like to put it.
Oh so one time, I don't know how in-depth I can go here, but I was working in ED and this is when I was working as a student in the emergency department. So prior to working as an EN I was a student in the ED.
And we had someone come in who was working in a construction site. And the electric saw went through their foot enough to hit their artery. You know how there's a lot of blood pressure in the artery.
So I was unwrapping it and the nurse next to me, she's I feel like it might have hit the artery. Let me prepare some gauze for you. In case there's blood flow. As soon as I unwrapped it, you know how they show the blood flow in the movies? Like literally somebody's pumping it and it's like coming up. That was the case. And I had to hold it down, wait for the surgeon to come.
And I was holding it down, putting an enormous amount of pressure to make sure that patient doesn't bleed to death and literally holding him down until he was ready for surgery. So yeah, that was pretty cool. We do a lot of cool things and we get to see a lot of cool things.
I still don't feel that way, but a lot of people, especially the families, when they come up and they're like, thank you for looking after my dad and my mom, that brings so much joy to me.
But yeah, I haven't worked at trauma sites, so I don't get that feeling that I'm actually saving lives.
So I've always been interested in healthcare. It's one of those things, as a kid, when you're playing with your sibling.
Doctor was the thing that I used to play a lot and I still remember writing prescriptions whether it was just for paracetamol. My mom probably somewhere does have that prescription that I signed. So healthcare has always been my passion and back in India, I was a pre-med student and I was studying to get into medical schools, but unfortunately I wasn't able to.
And Australia was that one place that I really wanted to study because my uncle lives here and I'm very close to him. I visited here a couple of times as a tourist and I was just blown away – the environment, the culture, the vibes. And I was like, it doesn't matter what I study. I really wanted to study abroad and that has to be Australia.
A few things fell into place and I decided to start my healthcare journey through nursing. And, perhaps medicine is still on the table for me to think about after I start working, to get into that pathway as well.
But yeah, healthcare has just been my passion. And yeah, I never saw myself working or being anywhere else rather than hospital, but yeah, so that's how I ended up studying nursing.
So beside the doctor path I was introduced to nurse practitioners who are again, you do your postgrad after undergraduate, and then you gain experience and then you can do a course that is for nurse practitioners, and they are nurses who can work independently, they can also prescribe medications and tests and things.
I was like, Oh my God, that's amazing, to develop that clinical skill and experience that you can actually independently look after patients. That's something I can actually consider, working towards.
At the moment, I really want to focus on my graduate year. I'll be working next year in two different clinical settings. So I really want to focus and see what kind of nursing I actually want to pursue for the longer term. And maybe go from there.
Oh so many. So many. So first of all, there's hospital based nursing and that I don't even know if I'm completing the whole list, but I'll tell you as much as I know is some are hospital based nurses, which are working in hospital.
But then within hospital, there are different kinds. There are ward nurses who work in different kinds of wards in that there are different specialties as well. There'd be cardiac nurses, paediatric nurses, your general medical nurses, surgical nurses. And then if you are going into a specialty, they are like ICU nurses.
Then there are emergency nurses who work in theatre and then you have your nurse educators who look after the nursing students like myself. There are nurses, immunisation nurses who work in pathologies. Then you have something called hospital in the home, which is where nurses go to patients' homes and give care to them. Hospital in the home nurses, outpatient nurses, and then there are community nurses who work outside of hospitals, for people in remote areas, maybe who can't, who don't have hospital, in their nearby area.
There are community nurses, school nurses, there are forensic nurses, psychiatric nurses. So honestly, so many, you can just go anywhere your heart desires.
Yes. At the moment, yes, I'm not set, but I think that's where my interest is. I really enjoy the fast paced setting and the different kinds of presentations that you get. So you really have to be awake and you really need to make sure that you have your cup of coffee before entering the hospital.
So at the start, it was quite difficult for me to find a job, given that the whole of the country was in lockdown and for international students, the usual jobs that we can do in like hospitality were all closed.
But then I was like, you know what I'm in the field, which is the most in demand. Surely I can be of help as well, even though I'm not qualified yet. I've just started but surely I can be of help. So I started applying for these places called nursing agencies, which are independent organisations that hire nurses, and you can pick up different hospital settings or different healthcare settings to go work at.
So I started my role as a personal care assistant, which is PCA or you can also call patient services assistant, PSAs and PCAs. So they're basically like nursing assistants. So you can work in different healthcare settings and you don't have that much clinical responsibilities, but you can help in overall patient care.
So I signed up with this agency and it was really good and flexible. I could choose wherever I wanted to work. If I'm free today and I'm like, Oh, you know what, there's work available. I can just pick up a shift. So that was really convenient in balancing my studies and my work as well.
So I started off working as a PCA in aged care. Then when the new role of a COVID screener and a COVID tester was introduced, COVID also created new jobs. So I started working in drive through testing sites. Gowning up the whole PPE and testing people for COVID. I did a few shifts there.
I also worked as a COVID screener in hospitals. In Australia, they had people sitting at the front of the hospital, at the entrance. And you had to sign up the QR code and we used to check their temperatures and, asking them if they've been at an exposure site because we really wanted to limit the number of exposures in the hospitals because of really sick patients.
Those kinds of jobs were introduced. So I was able to find a job. It took me six months, but I was able to find a job and then the pathway was made for me. I got into these roles. Then I started coming to the emergency department where I work right now.
I started to come as an agency PCA and I used to do COVID testing. And then they were like, you know what you've been working here for almost six months. Might as well hire you. I wasn't fully qualified at that time, so they hired me as a student. And then eventually when I was done with my qualification, they hired me as an enrolled nurse.
So yeah, that's how I, starting from nursing agencies to now working in a hospital, that the pathway was clear.
My message is that you have to start somewhere. To get somewhere you have to start somewhere. And it doesn't hurt to ask people as well like, how did you find a job and you know what did you do, because everyone is in the same boat.
Whether it's COVID or not, even people right now might be struggling to find jobs and they might not know of different pathways, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Yeah, that was really good. Nursing agencies do give that flexibility. And I think that's why a lot of nurses are choosing that side. And it's the same way, you can choose to work in different specialties and they'll send you to that hospital or different areas in that hospital.
Unfortunately, when you're like a part time or a full time nurse with one hospital, it is hard to find that flexibility. As considerate as the hospitals are trying to be, there is a real shortage of staffing in every area in healthcare.
For example, I wanted to work a morning shift or an afternoon shift and just be done with my New Year's. I'm working New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I'm working night shifts because of that real shortage.
So I'll be doing my countdowns from the hospital. But, that real shortage is there. So that's why I think nurses are choosing to work with agencies to have that flexibility.
I think it really depends on the requirements of the staffing agencies as well because they also want to make sure that if they're sending someone to a different hospital that nurse or that person is confident and competent. I would want to gain some experience working in a certain field first and then go to that agency because I'll be well equipped.Not everybody knows everything, but you need to create that basic knowledge working in healthcare first.
It's really great to be like a PCA or a nursing assistant. Yeah. And I think that's a really good point, because you have to be consistent with the agencies.
But I think when you're a qualified nurse, I think just for safety, it's important that we gain experience from one area, and then you can go on and work wherever you want to.
It was difficult at the start with, even with the nursing assistant positions, they were like, Oh, do you have experience? But then I was like, but I'm new and the whole COVID is new to everyone. So how am I supposed to have experience? So that was like a difficult conversation to have at times.
And I was like, No, I don't. And at times it'd be like, Oh, we really are looking for someone with experience. And then it was also difficult because once I graduated from my diploma of nursing to have that flexible job while I'm doing my bachelor's, that was a little bit difficult.
It was convenient because during that time, they removed the restriction of working hours, the working hour cap, from international students who are working in healthcare. So I could really, if I know my week is not going to be busy with uni, I could pick up more shifts without having to worry about how many hours I'm working.
So they removed that cap during that time, so that was convenient. But yeah, trying to find that flexible balance was a little bit tricky and they reintroduced the cap after a certain amount of months.
No, they didn't. Obviously, that was something they asked for.
Because they're also aware that international students have a certain amount of hours they can work. But when the government was like, they can work however much they want to during COVID. So they asked you for it, but they were like, we don't care if you're an international student.
I never came across any employer saying no to me because I'm an international student. So I've been lucky in that sense.
Even in my hospital, they are getting so many nurses from overseas. It's amazing. A lot of nurses from Singapore, Philippines, UK, Ireland, a lot of nurses from overseas. I see so many new nurses and they're all on different kinds of visas.
So there's a real shortage. So I don't think anyone's going to be like no, your visa status. I don't want you to work for me.
I think every country has their own sort of requirements that they want. I'm not too sure like how it would be for me to qualify in Australia and then go out and work because everybody from all over the world's coming to work here. So I'm not too sure how it works but I do know that every country have their own requirements so I'm sure if you want to move somewhere, you can just look into the requirements that they want.
I do know that a lot of nurses within Australia do travel nursing. They get contracts for like regional areas and then they would go work for eight weeks there and then they would go work somewhere else.So if you're into travel and you don't want to settle into one place, this is something that you can do.
Those roles do require experience. So a newly qualified person can't go and do that, but yeah, like something that I have also considered, traveling all around Australia, you can just get a contract somewhere, go work there more than often, they also provide accommodation and things so you can just go live, work and then earn money and then, travel.
I see so many people on TikTok and they're sharing their experiences and travelling and I'm like, Oh my God, I want to get experience and then do that.
Basically going on Seek, which is used a lot in Australia. Seek is a really great platform. Funnily enough, LinkedIn sometimes helps as well because some nursing agencies reach out to you if you have nursing experiences on your profile. I've had a couple of nursing agencies reach out to me via LinkedIn.
And yeah, a lot of hospitals post their jobs on LinkedIn as well. And I'm a big advocate for LinkedIn. I got my student job. So it's really good. But yeah, I think seek is the best one or you can just type, nursing agencies and you can sign up for an agency and they'll just show you jobs.
So a bit of background is that nursing, when you're studying nursing, as a part of your semester, you do clinical placements, which is unpaid hours but you work in a hospital for certain amount of hours, and you can go in different hospitals or you can get a fellowship program with one hospital where you do all your placements.
So because you are getting exposed to so many clinical areas, ask them if they're looking for a nursing assistant or a student nurse role, you might be able to get a job once you're done there. It never hurts to ask, ask them if they're looking for a job and collect references from those places because when you're applying for a job ,your references are not your teachers, they are the people that you worked with.
So a big tip is when you're going on clinical rotations, get the number of the nurse that you worked with, two, three shifts, and it doesn't wouldn't harm in sending her a message, this is me, this is how I look like because they meet so many nursing students, I know my friends, they've sent a picture of themselves with a mask on to remind those nurses what they look like, and have them be their references. So you really need job references. And if you're like applying for the first time, you don't have job references, get those people to be your references.
And then my other tip would be if your university or your TAFE or your institution has fellowship programs for nurses, which is where you do all your placements with one hospital, sign up for that because my fellowship has really helped me because during the pandemic when a lot of hospitals weren't taking students in, there was a delay in clinical placements and because without those placements, you can't get the degree, a lot of people who were doing both diploma and bachelors had to delay their bachelors because their diploma wasn't finished on time.
But fortunately, because I was a part of a fellowship program, my placements were done on time. And, I was the only one of two students to graduate from my class on time. Yeah. So if you're a university, I don't know about other states in Australia, but Victoria, a lot of universities and TAFE, they do fellowship programs.
You'll be able to get a job because I did placements for four years at this hospital. I'm working at this hospital and I have got a job next year at the same hospital. So I know it sounds like one sort of one off experience, in that job security and, really setting your foot in the door, it's really good.
Exactly. Make great use of placements, build connections, and ask for a job. Don't be hesitant. Just be like, Can I work for you?
Yeah, exactly.
I think the favourite part is getting to see people go home with their family after they've spent a long amount of time and they get to go home and they really appreciate the technological advances in medical science, but they also appreciate the nurses who looked after them.
I think my favourite thing is people and my least favourite thing is people as well. There are people who are really appreciative. There are people who are quite rude and overlook the hard work that you do. Very entitled and the people who make you want to go away.
But yeah, unfortunately there are people who are not very appreciative. So sometimes I've also encountered people who have said mean things to me and have also been physically aggressive. They're in a very vulnerable position when they come to a hospital, but again, doesn't give them a right to be that way, but yeah, I think my best and the least favourite thing would be people.
I think patience and also I think working in ED has really made me prepared to be alert and really think fast because things can change so quickly that you have to be really alert and act fast, but also make sure that you're keeping yourself safe and people around you safe as well.
So there's a lot of things, and I think it has also made me really good at multitasking. It surprises me at times how many things I can remember when I'm at work. I would usually have three patients and I'll be like, okay, I have to do this for them and I'll do this.But I can't remember my schedule. I have to look in my Google calendar. What do I have next? Tomorrow, if I have a meeting for the day, it amazes me that when I'm at work, I can remember so many things without writing it. And when I'm outside of work, I'm like, Oh, what am I doing? So I think it has really made me a good multitasker and have patience and also remember that I'm only human and there's only so much I can do, I need to be a little forgiving to myself as well.
So basically all they want is your resume and a cover letter usually. And they would ask you some questions depending on this job that you're applying to. And then they would invite you for an interview. Depending on the role that you're applying to them, they'll ask you questions.
And make sure that cover letter aligns with the goals and missions of the hospital or the agency that you're applying to. And yeah, all you have to do is start with one place and you'll just be fine.
I think it was easy for me to get a job as a student because also during that time new jobs, new job roles were coming up because of the COVID. It was a little bit difficult for me to find a job as a qualified enrolled nurse because I didn't have any experience.
I wanted to apply for required experience and everywhere that I wanted to apply required experience and I couldn't do a graduate year, which is the year of work experience that you do with a hospital because I couldn't work full time and study as an international student, I couldn't work full time. So I couldn't do that graduate year and every hospital, every place that I wanted to apply required that graduate year experience and I kept on telling them.
How am I meant to have experience? If you won't give me a job, I have to start somewhere. So that was a struggle before I landed the job that I do right now. And that wasn't, it just happened overnight. I worked there as a student. First, even though I was qualified, I worked there as a student first to really prove to them that I can handle the fast paced emergency experience.
And then eventually after a year, I've got my role. So it was tricky because everywhere, even in like everywhere, international students see that they always require experience, but how are we meant to have experience? If we are entry level graduates. So that was a struggle and I know a lot of students end up pursuing something, working in a different field.
I know my friends worked in a different field, even though they were qualified and known nurses, just because they couldn't work full time as nurses. So they had to choose a different kind of job while they study.
Because they couldn't work full time as a graduate enrolled nurse. to gain that experience and nobody was ready to give a part time job or a casual job just to someone who was freshly qualified. They were like no, we can't hire you because you don't have experience. But in order to gain that experience, you had to work full time, but you can't because you're an international student.
So that was like a loophole that everyone was stuck in. Because, people who are doing diploma, who are doing bachelors after the diploma, because you're studying full time, you can't work full time. That's the, as on student visa, you can't work full time. So that's the condition. So while you're studying, you can't work full time. So you can't do a graduate role, which is like a standard experience requirement for most of the places. So that was a bit tricky.
I know graduate sounds a bit high level, but they were enrolled nursing jobs. I wasn't applying for a job higher up to my skill, but because I didn't have any work experience, they weren't ready to give me a job.
No, so they can do a graduate year because after their diploma, they can work full time. Because they don't have any work restrictions upon them, so they can work full time and study full time. And they gain that experience, they only have to do a year of graduate nursing role, and they have that experience on their resume, and then they can work wherever they want to.
But when I was applying for jobs, they were like, Where is your experience? And I was like, I can't work full time. So I don't have experience. So that was the tricky bit.
I don't think so. I think all of them were pretty standard. As expected, they were like, why do you want to work with us? Why do you think you'll be a good fit? And very specific clinical questions as well. It really depends. On the person. I would say just, brush up your basic clinical knowledge before you sit in an interview.
I think the clinical questions because you want to make sure that you remain. The scope of your job that you're applying to, and you also know how to escalate in a situation where you don't know what to do.
They don't expect you to know everything, but they expect you to know what to do. In this case, you don't know what to do, so what will you do if you don't know how to handle this situation. So you really have to think and make sure that in conveying the message, you'll be safe and the patient will be safe.
Oh, a lot. Like from surgeons to doctors, speech pathologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, anyone who's involved in patient care. Some, not every day, but in a hospital, it's like patient centred care.
So every healthcare male member is involved and they work collaboratively to make sure we reach those patient goals. You talk to different people, make sure, dietitians and all of those people involved in a patient's life you work with them together.
Surprisingly, no, because I think in emergency, people are just there and we investigate why they're there.
And once we find out what the problem is, if they're well enough, they go home. If they're not, they go for surgery or they go to specialty caring areas. So we are there to make sure they're well enough to go to those specialty areas. And once they're in the wards or, once they're back home, that's where the further care comes in.
So I've realised during my clinical placements that when I go to different areas, I've realised that, maybe like in the cardiac ward, nurses interact with different kinds of specialty areas and different kinds of healthcare workers.
But you're, if you're in ED, We don't see as much because usually the doctor would be like, okay, I've involved that kind of specialist and they'll come and see the patient, but they usually come and see the patient in the ward. So surprisingly no, we don't interact with them as much as other specialty areas interact.
How much clinical responsibilities they actually have, it's not just about following the doctor's orders, it's also about you making sure that, like I said, nursing is 24 seven.
Even during the night when there's no other health care workers, nurses are there to look after patients. You can tell how much clinical responsibilities nurses have and how you want to make sure you're competent to look after patients. Because things can change and things change very quickly and you have to know what to do.
I have seen some amazing nurses who are so good to an extent where they tell the doctors what to do, I think this is the thing that we should be considering and things like that, and it just amazes me, how confident, competent, knowledgeable nurses are, and that's not really more talked about because they're more looked at, or they're, they just work in a hospital and they look after patients, but they do so much more and they have so other, so many other responsibilities that are overlooked. So that's what I was like, Oh, when I was a student and currently when I'm doing my clinical placements, I am just amazed with the amount of knowledge and the confidence that the nurses have.
At times I think I figured it out, but there are times where it's not working for me.
I think it's really important that you have some sort of system, whatever system works for you is good enough. You don't have to follow my words or someone else's words. I love to have my Google calendar and I have everything in it. So I make sure, I'm not overdoing it because I have learned the hard way that you really need to put some time just for yourself even if it's just you laying on the bed scrolling on your phone or binge watching your favourite show on Netflix.
I'm also learning the hard way that often when at work I'm doing the handover is when I'm finishing my shift, but the nurse like after me is going to look after my patients. So I hand over my patients to her. So at times there's the guilt where you're like, Oh I could have done this. I could have done that, but I was so busy. I have to remind myself that it is 24/7 for a reason. I can't do everything on my own. So it's really important to understand that.
And I'm also learning this, but leave whatever you have failed at work, leave it at work when you step out of the hospital, it should go away. That's what I've been taught.
And, people talk about this. I am learning because there are times when if I'm having a bad shift, I take that with me until I've whined about it to my friends and my partner. I won't stop talking about it. It's really important that you debrief with anyone that you want to get it out of your system. And, focus on the sleep, get a good night's sleep.
There are different kinds. So currently at my work, I do eight hour shifts. As for my clinical rotations, like last week I finished my cardiac rotation and I did 12 hour shifts. And then in a couple of weeks, I'll be doing my theatre rotation. So I'll be working 10 hour shifts. So it really varies.
It could be eight, 10, 11, 12. It could be varied. Yeah.
10. The best thing about it is that where I work it's team nursing. So you're not by yourself, you work as a team, even if you're by yourself, there are people around you.
And it's really important that the environment is good where you're working. It really makes a difference because then even if you're stressed, you can just laugh about it and, and de-stress in your own ways. So yeah, it is stressful, but at times it's just fun.
Besides team nursing, are there any other kinds of support systems in place like wellness programs, mental health support?
Usually most of the hospitals have employment assistance programs where if you require counselling services, you can also always reach out to your manager.
If you think you're struggling at workplace, if you have any conflicts, or you really need mental health support, you can also reach out to your manager.
Oh, so usually every department would have a nurse unit manager, which is the nurse manager for that unit.
So when I say my manager, it would be the nurse unit manager for the emergency department. And my manager is pretty great. She really is around, present around the ward around the department. She's really good with weekly wrap ups. So she sends us weekly emails and what has been happening at the department.
And she always reaches out to me. She's pretty great every time I have been wanting to chat with her, I can just email or I can just knock at her door and just pop my head in and be like, hey, can I talk to you about this and that? But yeah, they're quite good and they're on the floor most of the time.
That is a great question. I actually don't know. If people that work in that area, you can ask them and most of the time they will be genuine and they'll tell you exactly what they feel. No one is going to hide their true feelings. But yeah. I think sometimes you just have to dive in head first into the situation and see how you go.
I have been lucky. I didn't have to ask anyone because when I joined my role, the managers changed and both were amazing, the previous one and the new one. But I was able to talk to them before I even started my job because I was just working as an agency staff. So I used to go to that hospital.
But yeah, ask people there, there surely is your friend, their friend, somebody's nursing friend who works in that area. So you'll be able to talk to them about it.
Usually if you're applying for a nursing role, most of the hospitals follow that set pay guide that is set out by the government. Most of them will follow that you can also question it. If you think you're getting paid less, you can take it up with the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation.
They're pretty good because they are like the association that looks after the nurses and the midwives. With the nursing agency, they have their own set of pay. But again, if you think you're getting paid less, please don't hesitate. They should be paying you above the base rate, whatever the base pay is in each state and in each country.
But yeah, there is support. If you think, ask around people what they're getting paid and usually you get paid based on your experience. But yeah usually there's a set guide everywhere.