Hello everyone!

I came here just a month ago, and I really need some help.

I am a nurse, though I was not licensed here in Switzerland at all. I speak English fluently, and I am still trying to learn high German.

Does anybody among you here know about where I should start to get a job, even temporarily, and how to acquire a nursing license here, because I was licensed in the Philippines.

Any help and information would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much and have a wonderful day!

I can unfortunately offer discouraging comments (and a glimmer of hope maybe?), my partner is a nursing student and I can say from experience that most of her collegues and the nurses at the hospitals are very swiss oriented (and born) and maybe 20% speaking english, with even many struggling to speak in high german. I have never met anyone that is not either swiss or a few Germans (mostly doctors) and one Dane...

All that said, there is a *dramatic* nursing shortage and this may work in your favor, but one of the causes for the shortage might be problems accepting foreign credentials, mainly non-EU. Switzerland is also in the process of changing their entire nursing educational system which doesn't help you find out where you fit.

All that said in order to find out more information, I would start by going to "Careum" (if you are in ZH), which is the nursing school located just behind the Unispital, on trams 5 or 6, a collection of red brick buildings (looks like bad 1980s north american high schools to me, but I have no taste anyway!). They should at least be able to provide you with information on where to go next or what qualification exams you might be able to take. Expect some hesitation from their side and don't be surprised by a first few "Its impossible"s (seems the common answer from beurocrats who dont know the real answer!).

Good luck, anbd welcome to Switzerland!

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

It looks like you ve some infrmation about nursing, do you think there might be a great posibility to find a job faster if one did there nursing here Switzerland. would you know where i can study nursing n if they conduct there lessons in english.
I will appreciate .
Thank you advance.
cheers

Hi Andrew. Thank you so much for all the useful information. I have talked to the Red Cross here in Switzerland, and they have had a look on my papers and credentials, and they said that I am educated with General Nursing and seems hopeful to get a job here. Just that they have to reexamine the validity and the length of time, like number of hours of clinical exposure, etc. and they said it might be possible that I will take an exam.

My question is that, do they have a licensure exam here as well? If so, what is the name? And is it given in German?

Anybody who knows... please do answer. It would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Hello All

I wonder if there is any nurse in the forum and would like to share their experience of getting their Nursing Diploma recognize here.It seem to be a long process in spite of it should take only 3 month because you need to pass a german exam level B2 (new since last year) and then...
may be you need also to attend a Red cross training such as pratical training(in hospital for 6 month) and a course.
Any feedback about it will be really helpful?
Thank you in advance.

3 months is only for getting your qualification converted to a Swiss equivalent. It does not include the time you need to acquire one of the Swiss national languages (german, french or italian). Your application for Swiss recognition won't be granted until you have the necessary language skills.

My wife went through this though she was already fluent in German having taken A levels in German and French so it took 3 months after proving that she had the required language skills.

I am a nurse from Philippines too. I am on the process of learning the language and I will soon take the language exam.
Have you done the registration of your license with RED CROSS?
As for me, I recieved their recommendation and I need to take a six months course on PRofessional Practice in Switzerland.

Hi Brave intrepid! I' a Filipino nurse too and planning to return to Switzerland (I was born there). Just wanted to ask you if the process of registering with the Red Cross was complicated and did you apply from the Philippines or were you already in Switzerland?
Thanks for replying...

Steps taken to have foreign nursing qualification recognised - 2011

I applied for the '' Reconnaissance de diplome'' recognition of the diploma or bachelor degree in October and got the result in January. I earned my diploma in Philippines. They recommended that I pass the language B2 for DELF, do 6 months of apprentissage or OJT as we call in Philippines (it's like working as a nurse already with salary and all) and I need to take the courses that they recommended as well. It's a 22 days in total course conducted by several nursing organization here in Switzerland. I have two places as options, one in Geneva and the other one in Lausanne as I live in a French speaking canton. I am working on my French and will take the test in June. The course will start in October this year.

The procedure itself is not complicated. It just takes time. Put together and complete all the documentation that they require you to submit. Have the documents translated into French, German or Italian, and pay the cost of the process. I paid 500 CHF.

http://www.redcross.ch/activities/he...d02a01a-fr.php

I link the site of the Red Cross here which you can visit and explore.

I can second some of this. My fiancee is also a nurse, native Swiss. She told me that they have lowered the standards to accomidate more nurses because of the shortage, and many of the new nurses speak horrible high German.

Strange thing is, she complains about that, but she said when they have German nurses, the Swiss nurses rarely speak High German to them, they just speak Swiss German. She said "well they need to learn it". :-O There are a lot of German nurses working in Switzerland due to higher salary and the fact that Switzerland allows them to do more on the job (draw blood, etc) than in Germany.

If people in the German speaking area, outside of St. Gallen/Appenzel have this attitude, it might be hard, but don't give up.

I would actually suggest, it might be easier to work in the Romande (French speaking region).

I know this is a point commonly complained about in Switzerland, but this is one situation where I wholeheartedly agree. A nurse must be able to interact with the patient in the most accommodating fashion as possible. I am sure it is a most irritating situation when in the hospital one has to switch from their comfortable mother-language, to another one just to accommodate the nurse.

hello. I came here 17 Years ago from Australia. I am working in an elderly persons home as male nurse. Got my qualifictions from Australia recognized by Swiss Red Cross. Was easy to do 17 years ago. Probably tightened up by now. Just takes time and patience. Make sure you have all your papers from homeland.First get your Geman under control. Ring up some elderly peoples homes-they are always looking for qualified people. Get a " B" permit. Its more difficult to get work in hospitals.Ring up the SRK and get informed of what you need.
There are many agencies around offering temporary work-call them up. They usually speak English.
In some cases you have to do some tests to get your papers recognized. The SRK can tell you all you need.

Hi all,

I'm bringing this topic up again as I would like to hear someones personal experience with the waiting times of the Red Cross. I have now passed my B2 german test and will send in my application for the recognition of my Australian nursing degree tomorrow.

My question is, does it really take 3 months for an answer???

Also, are there any other Aussie nurses out there who have recently been through this process and can tell me the likely response of the red cross? ie, were you made to work as a Praktikant/in before you were given the recognition, and for how long?

Thanks for your time and help!

Rell

As for my experience, it did took 3 months. I did my application in October and got their reply with recommendations in january. I had a telephone conversation with one of their telerepresentatives, when I asked her how long this process will take, she even told me up to 6 months.
That's the only idea I could give for now.

I just passed the DELF/DALF B2, and I can enroll now for the course that Red Cross recommended me before having my nursing degre recognized and at the mean time I can do the 6 Months of stages in a hospital or any place that are accredited by red cross for the completion of the recognition process.
Currently, I am working in a home for the aged as a nursing aide. When I start the nursing course in october, my position will change into a nurse.

But if I get accepted to do the apprentissage in a hospital, I would prefer it.
My target is to do it in CHUV or HUG.

You have a point there but the original comment was about communication between nurses themselves.

I also know a place where some of the Swiss nurses refuse to speak anything else than Swiss German to their foreign colleagues and just roll their eyes if they are requested to repeat something in High German. In my opinion this only compromises the safety of the patients and shows deep disrespect.

My sister is currently working as a nurse in Kuwait. She has 8 years of experience. She is interested in exploring job opportunites in Switzerland. She will need to take up language lessons but meanwhile would like to know how to get in touch with Red Cross like you did. Did you call them or email them the documents?

Thanks in advance

my friends fiance is from Sweden and also a nurse. she learned french in like 3 months and got a joboffer straight away. i am seeing them tonight and if you want I can pass on your email adress so you can discuss with her

Dear Antony,

That is great help.
Please do pass on my [details]
Hoping to hear from you soon.

Thank you.

send you a pm