NURSING JOBS

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pastel
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:55 pm

NURSING JOBS

Post by pastel » Thu Jan 03, 2013 6:29 pm

My name is karware from kenya,i would like to come to finland and do a
degree course in nursing and most likely look for a job there. I would like
to know how much are nurses paid and if job availability is guaranteed

Thanx!the information would be really helpful



NURSING JOBS

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maurine
Posts: 315
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Location: Atlantic Ocean

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by maurine » Fri Jan 04, 2013 4:21 am

nurses pay is about 2300euros/per month. job availability is guranateed but only with knowdlege of Finnish language.
If you wish to convince people of something, it is more useful to be entertaining than to be right

Amandine.K
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Location: Helsinki

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Amandine.K » Fri Jan 04, 2013 7:50 pm

Let me add with perfect knowledge of spoken and written Finnish! Let's just say that it's impossible to be fluent in the time you will complete your degree. Even for agency work, they are very strict with Finnish nowadays. Finding placements is also getting very hard as the wards want Finnish speakers.

Adrian42
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Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:13 pm

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Adrian42 » Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:39 pm

Amandine.K wrote:Let me add with perfect knowledge of spoken and written Finnish! Let's just say that it's impossible to be fluent in the time you will complete your degree. Even for agency work, they are very strict with Finnish nowadays. Finding placements is also getting very hard as the wards want Finnish speakers.
The Filipino and Spanish nurses that are recruited to Finland usually start working after a few months of training, so it can't be that bad.

The nursing university degree takes 3.5 years, and when someone wants to learn Finnish he can become pretty good at it in that timeframe.

Amandine.K
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Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Amandine.K » Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:36 pm

No they don't! They are recruited, go through language training and if they reach sufficient level will work as practical nurses, which is very VERY different from RN work. Not to mention that these nurses are sent to work in middle of nowhere and that everybody heard about them but they have never been seen...

No you cannot study full-time for 3,5 years and be fluent enough to work as an RN. You would need full-time Finnish and high motivation for 3,5 years to have an acceptable level in Finnish, so let alone take a nursing degree!

Are you a nurse? If you make a search, you would find a few posts from me but also another nurse who tell you exactly the same. One of my colleagues is finishing her nursing degree, and she never worked even as a temp. Because of the language. It's a catch 22, they offer the degree program in English but you won't work here unless your Finnish was fluent before you started your studies...

Adrian42
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Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:13 pm

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Adrian42 » Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:16 pm

Amandine.K wrote:No you cannot study full-time for 3,5 years and be fluent enough to work as an RN. You would need full-time Finnish and high motivation for 3,5 years to have an acceptable level in Finnish, so let alone take a nursing degree!
Don't make Finnish worse than it actually is.

I have seen cases like where someone came for his PhD studies (that didn't require Finnish) to Finland, and (besides doing PhD studies) reached after 8 months a level of Finnish that Finns said "OMG, I thought he was a Finn." That's obviously an extreme case.

Usually a person needs around 1000-1200 hours of learning for reaching a C2 (near-native) level of speaking a language.

Over 3.5 years, that's an average of 1 hour per day. It surely needs high motivation, but over 3.5 years that's an amount of effort that can be done besides studies (and even "fluent after 8 months" requires only 4-5 hours per day of learning Finnish).

pastel
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:55 pm

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by pastel » Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:37 am

Thanx guys,

So learning finish is that hard!!!! and after 3.5yrs i might not be that gud
it if i dont try so so so hard to learn it. If i manage to do i end up being
paid 2300 euro? I mean is it worth it in the end

Adrian42
Posts: 1119
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:13 pm

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Adrian42 » Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:54 pm

pastel wrote:Thanx guys,

So learning finish is that hard!!!! and after 3.5yrs i might not be that gud
it if i dont try so so so hard to learn it. If i manage to do i end up being
paid 2300 euro? I mean is it worth it in the end
Registered Nurse is one of the few qualifications that bring you job opportunities virtually everywhere in the world.

And countries like Sweden or Australia pay nurses more than the low salary nurses are paid in Finland.

Get your nursing degree in Finland. Learn Finnish during these 3.5 years - if you try seriously you will be pretty good after 3.5 years. And then you will have very good job opportunities no matter whether you decide to stay in Finland, or decide to leave Finland.

Amandine.K
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Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Amandine.K » Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:26 pm

No he won't! He needs more than pretty good Finnish, he will need fluent spoken AND written Finnish. As for get your degree and go somewhere else after, way to abuse the system... :roll:

Adrian42
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Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Adrian42 » Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:02 am

Amandine.K wrote:No he won't! He needs more than pretty good Finnish, he will need fluent spoken AND written Finnish.
That can surely be achieved, that's what you achieve when reaching level C2 after roughly 1000-1200 hours of learning a language.

CEFR C2 (in Finnish that's YKI 6) is the highest possible level - much higher than the CEFR B1 / YKI 3 level you need for Finnish citizenship.

And when you are seriously about learning Finnish it's definitely possible to reach C2 when spending 1 hour per day learning Finnish for 3.5 years.

Most of us don't have the discipline to spend 1 hour per day for 3.5 years, or 5 hours per day for 7 months, learning Finnish besides everything else we have to do in studies and/or job.

But when you have the discipline, it is possible.
Amandine.K wrote:As for get your degree and go somewhere else after, way to abuse the system... :roll:
Nurses are wanted all over the world, and the salary in Finland is really crappy.

maurine
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Location: Atlantic Ocean

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by maurine » Mon Jan 07, 2013 4:29 pm

for 3.5yrs you can be able to speak and write Finnish, i am not fluent in Finnish and my writing is very bad but i have job, All my foreign friends who studied nursing in English have jobs here, Nurses are needed in Finland, the pay is not very good but you might get a job.
If you wish to convince people of something, it is more useful to be entertaining than to be right

Markmywords
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:46 pm

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Markmywords » Fri Jun 20, 2014 5:26 pm

Hello all,
I was wondering if there was a consensus opinion on nursing in Finland (?!). Say, after the 3.5 yr of study, willing to work in most cities/town in Finland, having learnt a good standard of Finnish, would it be possible to get a job in Finland as a nurse? It is obviously a large investment of time and money so was just wondering what the chances are? Cheers

ps. according to this article there should be plenty of work, but I realise the situation may be different on the ground: http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=160050

biscayne
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Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by biscayne » Sun Jun 22, 2014 12:20 am

Hi, I am a nurse, from western europe, educated to masters level (2 masters), and as Amadine K, another nurse on the forum will confirm, I never found employment as a RN in Finland, even after really improving my Finnish. I did a stint for a private IVF place as I had special skills in a specific area, but it was a short sick-leave fill in. I sent cv's all over the place, even dumbed down ones, made clear that I just wanted a job - nothing. I'm not weird or deformed or anything that would instantly put off employers, had worked in Germany, USA among other countries.

The Spanish nurses were recruited to a remote area, found Finnish life/language difficult, they were RNs employed as ass wipers, and found the salary low as relating to the cost of living. They got jobs in England. Doing real RN work. My best friend is a director of nursing in the English midlands, some of them work under her now- they were not very complimentary about their time in Finland. Finland, like many european countries faces a shortage of nurses to work in elder care, thing is, you don't really need to be an RN for that, they need a few RNs in each elder-care home to give out medications and for legal purposes, but it is tough work and not very challenging, most proper nurses don't want to do 4 years in university, plus masters etc. to hand out pills and change nappies on old folks. But for foreigners, that is where the work is.

maurine
Posts: 315
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Location: Atlantic Ocean

Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by maurine » Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:37 am

Some schools offers nursing courses in English e.g Metropolia, Laurea, Arcada etc. with the practical placement you have to book them via the internet during the opening session which unfortunately its very competitive, lets say over 100 students looking for 1 -2 spot, and of course Finnish language matters.
If you wish to convince people of something, it is more useful to be entertaining than to be right

Rosamunda
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Re: NURSING JOBS

Post by Rosamunda » Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:28 pm

Presumably it is also possible to take degree courses in Nursing in a Swedish-speaking environment eg in Vaasa: http://admissions.novia.fi/Degree-progr ... rsing.html

I have no idea if it is any easier to find a job in Finland with good Swedish (as opposed to mediocre Finnish) but if Finland is that desperate to find medical professionals, then something is going to have to give.


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