So let me start this off by saying that I, Jenna, have always been handed jobs on silver platters. At age 15 I started working at the Olathe Public Library, I got the job because my best friend was already employed there. At 16 immediately after I finished my lifeguard class I went with ratty chloriney hair and wearing my swimsuit to see if I could get a job at Prairie Village Pool, while my Mom waited in the minivan. About 5 minutes later I was handed a whistle and a swimsuit and told to come back Monday morning. At 19 I worked for my Dad's college roommate's wife in her ice cream shop, PJ's. At 22 I applied for 3 nursing jobs before graduation and I had my choice between the 3. All of this to explain that I have never had to go through what I have in the past year in trying to be employed.
Summer 2008
I had looked in to getting a nursing job in the UK a tiny bit and all I could find to do was to take the International English Language Test (IELTS). I applied to take it in Dallas on one of our free weekends, but the test ended up being cancelled. I figured it wouldn't be a problem and I would just take it in London when we got there.
Fall 2008
Shortly after arriving I contacted the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to make sure I applied to take the correct IELTS, there are two. I applied to take the IELTS required on October 11th. The day came and went, the test was pretty simple, however when the results came two weeks later, I was sad to realize I did not get 100% on the test! I was in the passing range but I thought I should have done a little better on the test that was testing me on my knowledge of my native language! I called the NMC and let them know I was done and I had the results. This is where they informed me that I took the wrong test and I needed to take the other one. Needless to say this was a very sad day for me!
So the next day, after a lot of consoling from Aaron I took myself down to apply for the next test. The earliest I could sign up was November 15. I took the test, pretty much the same thing. Two weeks later I received my results. I was happier this time, I did do a little bit better on the test, but still not 100%! I notified the NMC that I had my results and they informed me that they would send a packet in the mail.
Winter 2008
I received the packet in the mail about mid-December. I had to send specific forms to my school, Olivet's, registrar, the head of the nursing department at Olivet, the Texas Board of Nurses, and two references. Then they had to fill out this specific form and mail it back. Luckily we had friends, Eric and Anne, that were going home for Christmas and they agreed to take the forms that I had preaddressed and stamped home with them and mail them from there to 'speed the process along'.
Also I had to send the NMC a notarized copy of my nursing license, birth certificate, passport, work visa, and marriage license. Well come to find out they don't really have notaries here. I had to make an appointment with a lawyer to notarize my documents, which wasn't the cheapest. So I complete all of that and mail it all in and wait on all of my documents from the States.
In February I went home for two weeks for one of my college roommates weddings and also to visit my sister and brother-in-law and to meet my newborn nephew Kale. While I was home Aaron called me and let me know that the NMC had mailed me a letter. My notarized passport copy was not stamped, one of the references they received did not have my start and end dates of employment, my school transcript was not yet received.
While I was home I was able to get a copy of my passport notarized. I also contacted my reference and asked them to resend their form with the start and end dates of my employment. I thought this would take care of all the problems. When I got back to the UK I sent my passport and contacted the NMC. They hadn't received my recent reference yet but they had received my school transcript. Unfortunately the way the US records school credit hours is different from the way the UK and most of the rest of the world records them. For example my Intro to Nursing class was 3 credit hours. In the UK they count credit hours as how many hours were actually spent in the class or in a clinical setting. It took several months to figure out this difference and several more weeks to get in contact with my schools registrar and the head of the nursing program at Olivet to get all of this straightened out! Very frustrating! Basically I ended up talking with the department head and we guessed how many hours each clinical and class time consisted of and she filled out the form and mailed it back to the UK.
Summer 2009
Finally in the middle of June, after numerous phone calls back and forth to the NMC, figuring out which paperwork they had lost/misfiled and finding again, all my paperwork was finally in! Finally I was able to sign up to take a Nursing Certification class! Basically this class was to educate you on how the UK health system worked. Unfortunately for me there were not a lot of class options and most of them were taking a summer holiday! At this point I was feeling like I was never going to catch a break...
I did sign up to take a class that started at the end of August. It was in Bournemouth, England, about 90 minutes away via train. However I only had to go 3 times over a months time and it was on the southern coast of England. It was also rumoured to have a nice beach. Things were starting to look up!
I started the class the end of August. It was a painless train ride to Bournemouth. The class was supposed to start at 9am and last all day. We were sent home with homework at 1pm. So I headed down the street to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach. Now we're talking...:) In my class there were several Austrailian nurses that also had to complete the IELTS test and had to take this class. That made me feel a little better that people in the commonwealth still had to go through what I had just gone through! They also had some of the same horror stories of the NMC losing documents and having to start the process over again!
While in the class I heard of a nursing agency located in London called Pulse. When I wasn't doing my homework or going to class over the next month I went and interviewed with them and got a job as a nursing assistant. I was cleared to start working in that role about the same time I found out I passed the class, September 22nd 2009. Once I passed the class there was of course more paperwork to be sent in before I actually received my license back. While waiting on my license I worked as a tech. I worked in a few different hospitals which wasn't the greatest but I mostly worked for a home health agency which was pretty good.
Fall 2009
The home health job had me working 15 hour days, navigating neighborhoods in Camden, Hampstead Heath, Chalk Farm and Belsize Park. I mostly helped elderly people that had been sick or were recently home from hospital prepare a meal or wash for the day. I always prepared a cup of tea and biscuits. A few times I sat with an elderly confused man at a nursing home while he watched tele, and ate his dinner. He would get angry with a few of the other residents and start yelling at them to "Shut Up!" I filled my time working hard as a nurse tech for the next month. I was thrilled to get out of the flat and start making money again! I'd had a year off and I didn't know it at the time, but I think I was depressed. I always thought I would like to not work, but it turns out that watching t.v. all day can be a little depressing!!
I finally got the letter on October 28th 2009 that I could start working as a nurse. I let my agency know that as soon as I could! I was ready to start doing what I was licensed to do! :) From there on out I mostly worked in the PACU at one hospital, Chelsea and Westminster. I worked with a great group of people from all over the world! The manager was Austrailian and there were staff there from the UK, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Holland, New Zealand, Austrailia, the Philippines, and me the American! Working there was very similar to working at home. The patient:nurse ratio was 1:1 which is better than it is in the US. The hardest part was getting used to the generic names for drugs and figuring out what the doctors preferences were. (As an agency nurse that is always the challenge.)
I had a great time working in the UK once I was finally allowed to do so. C&W was a short bus ride across the Thames, if it was a nice day I would walk, which was sometimes faster than the bus. I met some great people working there and I am so thankful that I stuck with the long paperwork process and that I was finally gainfully employed!
While I was home I was able to get a copy of my passport notarized. I also contacted my reference and asked them to resend their form with the start and end dates of my employment. I thought this would take care of all the problems. When I got back to the UK I sent my passport and contacted the NMC. They hadn't received my recent reference yet but they had received my school transcript. Unfortunately the way the US records school credit hours is different from the way the UK and most of the rest of the world records them. For example my Intro to Nursing class was 3 credit hours. In the UK they count credit hours as how many hours were actually spent in the class or in a clinical setting. It took several months to figure out this difference and several more weeks to get in contact with my schools registrar and the head of the nursing program at Olivet to get all of this straightened out! Very frustrating! Basically I ended up talking with the department head and we guessed how many hours each clinical and class time consisted of and she filled out the form and mailed it back to the UK.
Summer 2009
Finally in the middle of June, after numerous phone calls back and forth to the NMC, figuring out which paperwork they had lost/misfiled and finding again, all my paperwork was finally in! Finally I was able to sign up to take a Nursing Certification class! Basically this class was to educate you on how the UK health system worked. Unfortunately for me there were not a lot of class options and most of them were taking a summer holiday! At this point I was feeling like I was never going to catch a break...
I did sign up to take a class that started at the end of August. It was in Bournemouth, England, about 90 minutes away via train. However I only had to go 3 times over a months time and it was on the southern coast of England. It was also rumoured to have a nice beach. Things were starting to look up!
I started the class the end of August. It was a painless train ride to Bournemouth. The class was supposed to start at 9am and last all day. We were sent home with homework at 1pm. So I headed down the street to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach. Now we're talking...:) In my class there were several Austrailian nurses that also had to complete the IELTS test and had to take this class. That made me feel a little better that people in the commonwealth still had to go through what I had just gone through! They also had some of the same horror stories of the NMC losing documents and having to start the process over again!
While in the class I heard of a nursing agency located in London called Pulse. When I wasn't doing my homework or going to class over the next month I went and interviewed with them and got a job as a nursing assistant. I was cleared to start working in that role about the same time I found out I passed the class, September 22nd 2009. Once I passed the class there was of course more paperwork to be sent in before I actually received my license back. While waiting on my license I worked as a tech. I worked in a few different hospitals which wasn't the greatest but I mostly worked for a home health agency which was pretty good.
Fall 2009
The home health job had me working 15 hour days, navigating neighborhoods in Camden, Hampstead Heath, Chalk Farm and Belsize Park. I mostly helped elderly people that had been sick or were recently home from hospital prepare a meal or wash for the day. I always prepared a cup of tea and biscuits. A few times I sat with an elderly confused man at a nursing home while he watched tele, and ate his dinner. He would get angry with a few of the other residents and start yelling at them to "Shut Up!" I filled my time working hard as a nurse tech for the next month. I was thrilled to get out of the flat and start making money again! I'd had a year off and I didn't know it at the time, but I think I was depressed. I always thought I would like to not work, but it turns out that watching t.v. all day can be a little depressing!!
I finally got the letter on October 28th 2009 that I could start working as a nurse. I let my agency know that as soon as I could! I was ready to start doing what I was licensed to do! :) From there on out I mostly worked in the PACU at one hospital, Chelsea and Westminster. I worked with a great group of people from all over the world! The manager was Austrailian and there were staff there from the UK, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Holland, New Zealand, Austrailia, the Philippines, and me the American! Working there was very similar to working at home. The patient:nurse ratio was 1:1 which is better than it is in the US. The hardest part was getting used to the generic names for drugs and figuring out what the doctors preferences were. (As an agency nurse that is always the challenge.)
I had a great time working in the UK once I was finally allowed to do so. C&W was a short bus ride across the Thames, if it was a nice day I would walk, which was sometimes faster than the bus. I met some great people working there and I am so thankful that I stuck with the long paperwork process and that I was finally gainfully employed!
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