Chances of a registered nurse getting a job in Japan?

[Cheb]

What are the chances that a registered nurse (able to speak Japanese conversationaly) could get a job in Japan? I'm sure in the larger cities, hospitals are in need of a billingual nurse, incase of tourists getting hurt or something similar.

Thank you!

[銕不死身]

What are the chances that a registered nurse (able to speak Japanese conversationaly) could get a job in Japan? I'm sure in the larger cities, hospitals are in need of a billingual nurse, incase of tourists getting hurt or something similar.

Thank you!

Hey,

Sad to say, I would say your chances of getting work as an actual nurse are minimal. You would need a Japanese nursing licence, and medical level Japanese. Japanese medical institutions do not seem very concerned about providing service in English, and most larger cities deal with any such need though the services of volunteer interpreters.

Hopefully others will chip in soon with advice and such, and maybe somebody will prove me wrong.

Here's hoping, anyways.

[Mandrake]

Working in a Japanese facility...a licence is needed. Gf is studying for them now...not for the faint hearted!

[Glenski]

Have seen this question fairly frequently. Same answers as above.

Besides, conversational Japanese is probably not enough. So you could talk to English-speaking patients. How well could you communicate their symptoms to the attending nurse or doctor, and then relay back any technical explanations or further questions?

Imagine a Japanese nurse who speaks "conversational English" trying to get work in your own country.

[Mandrake]

Have seen this question fairly frequently. Same answers as above.

Besides, conversational Japanese is probably not enough. So you could talk to English-speaking patients. How well could you communicate their symptoms to the attending nurse or doctor, and then relay back any technical explanations or further questions?

Imagine a Japanese nurse who speaks "conversational English" trying to get work in your own country.

In the UK it happens...some of them didn't even speak, just grunts, when I was at my local University Hospital the other day.

One nurse had handwriting on par with a 7 or 8 year old on my visit. I took my father's chart to an Italian lady in charge of the ward and asked her to talk to the nurses about their awful handwriting.

[paulh]

Working in a Japanese facility...a licence is needed. Gf is studying for them now...not for the faint hearted!

AFAIK

Foreigners are not allowed to treat Japanese patients, as well as needing a licence to practice nursing.

Your best bet is with a foreign doctor practicing in Japan. Many Japanese hospitals have English speaking doctors on staff.

[kangoshi]

If you can pass the Japanese certification board exams - written in Japanese, you may be able to find a job as an RN.That's not likely with conversational ability.

If you're truly interested in living and working in Japan, you might establish some relationships with Japanese nursing colleges and consider teaching English to Nursing Students.

Good Luck!

[Richo Rosai]

Anyone read that article about how most Japanese people would prefer bedside robots to foreign nurses? No time to re-find the link right now, but it sounded pretty accurate.

[definiendum]

About a year ago I wanted to leave the U.S. to live and work in Japan like yourself... but I had concerns with my career, etc. I didn't want to just leave nursing behind and become a translator (though moonlighting in another career path would be nice) like most of my friends. Everywhere I asked people had vague explanations of what the process would be like and made the whole thing seem like a relative impossibility.

I researched by asking a few of the American nursing organizations with chapters in Japan (like the AACN -- The American Association of Critical Care Nurses), embassies, etc. and tried to figure out what being a nurse in Japan would really entail. I got the following results:

1. To be a registered nurse in Japan, you have to pass boards in Japanese. And, like someone mentioned in an earlier post, doing so takes more than just conversational level Japanese -- try saying "So you want the vent on assist-control with a pressure support of 22, peep of 5 and rate of 12?" three times fast. I'd probably waste a good 30 minutes just figuring out the sentence structure on that one!
2. Before even passing boards, most people are saying you'd need to go to an acredited Japanese school of nursing to hold a degree. I can't imagine going through clinicals and exams again...
3. It is possible (as an American) to obtain a job at an American hospital in Japan (most of which are military) and practice as a registered nurse there. This is providing you have current licensure in the states, territory, or DC. Job opportunities, however, are few and far-between and require at least some varied or specialized experience in nursing before you're even considered. Since you're in Canada, you could seek to have your license moved to the U.S. by endorsement (if it's possible) so that you could hold American licensure. What I'm not sure about is the citizenship issues of applying for a civilian job at a U.S. military hospital... I think for that you *have* to be a US citizen.
4. Travel nursing is a great opportunity to see other countries (because of the problems with licensing in Japanese, a travel placement in Japan may not be an option if your fluency level isn't at the native level). You would just have to find an agency that does international placements -- there are plenty out there that will; especially to the UK and Australia. The issue with travel nursing however, is that for an agency to even consider you you'd have to have some varied or highly specialized experience before you apply. For medical-surgical nurses you'd need between 4-5 years on the floor, and for ICU nurses you'd need a year. Specialties like cath lab also require at least a year.. In addition to these experiences there are other requirements like advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) and pediatric advanced life support (PALS).

As for me, I've decided to take the American hospital route and work as a nurse there. At least I'd be able to be in a country I love. If I get the job I'll hopefully be able to study Japanese while I'm in the country and eventually try to pass boards there and be able to work in other hospitals. Now my issues are more like, "Will this job take me?" "Where am I going to live?" "Who can I get to live with me?" "How do I even rent out a place?" etc.

I hope this post helps you out. I know that if I'd known some of these things a little earlier on, I would've felt less discouraged about trying to pursue the whole thing. Best wishes to you with your future, and don't hesitate to e-mail/message me if you have any more questions I can try to answer. Or hey, if you need a roommate once you land that job; let me know.

[trip_hop]

In the UK it happens...some of them didn't even speak, just grunts, when I was at my local University Hospital the other day.

One nurse had handwriting on par with a 7 or 8 year old on my visit. I took my father's chart to an Italian lady in charge of the ward and asked her to talk to the nurses about their awful handwriting.

I always remember a scene from my junior years in a UK hospital, where a junior Pakistani doctor who spoke poor, heavily-accented English was interviewing an old Yorkshire woman to try to diagnose her psychiatric problems.

20 minutes of "I cannot be understanding you," frequently interspersed with "eh!"

Even the babelfish would have had trouble with that one.....