Getting Started As A Nurse in Australia FAQ’s

Upping sticks to nurse in Australia can be a daunting prospect, but rest assured the team at Bower Healthcare have got the answers to your questions – no matter how big or small. Here we talk through some of the FAQ’s when it comes to starting out as a nurse in Sydney.

Roughly, how long does it take for APHRA to issue you your license once you have registered?

Providing AHPRA has provided provisional acceptance, registration is usually finalised within a week. We can provide a provisional offer of employment letter at interview for nurses to take to the office when attending to finalise their registration and we have found that this can speed up things by a few days.

How important is it to have been registered for at least 12 month before applying for work in Australia? Are there ways around this if you’ve only been qualified for say, 6 months?

Sydney public hospitals will only accept agency nurses that have completed a minimum of 12 months post-graduation experience, as will the larger private facilities.

As these provide the majority of hospital agency shifts, it is really important that the threshold is clearly met before travelling. Although this ruling may not necessarily be the case around the whole country, Bower’s sister company, YNA,  applies the same requirement throughout all of its offices.

The rule is to compensate for the new grad year that nurses who qualify here are required to complete, which is (supposedly) supported by educators and regular coaching and assessments to ensure full competency is met before the nurse moves on with their career in their ward/area of preference.

Some small private hospitals may accept nurses with less experience, as may aged care facilities, but we do not recommend that nurses coming here to work rely on these potentially limited opportunities. Irish-trained nurses need to take note also that their time spent as an intern does not qualify as post-graduate experience when the hospital calculates hours.

What are the main hospitals nurses working in Sydney can expect to work at?

We service the main public and private hospitals in Sydney, all with easy access to public transport, as well as smaller facilities at times. Some of these hospitals are close to the main backpacker accommodation areas in the eastern suburbs and inner-west of Sydney.

Want more information? Visit bowerhealthcare.com.au

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