the surfing nurse

Category: Nursing

  • New Zealand Nursing OSCE: My Preparation Journey

    I’m happy to share that I’ve taken another step forward: I’ve been invited to sit the OSCE.

    This is the final examination on my path to becoming a registered nurse in New Zealand, and I’m really excited about it. Nervous, of course – but this is very different from the practical examination I passed in Germany in 2022: one setting, one patient, in a neurological ICU.

    What the OSCE involves

    The OSCE consists of 10 simulation stations. Each station lasts 12 minutes in total: 2 minutes to read and prepare, 8 minutes to complete the scenario, and 2 minutes to move to the next station. The stations are:

    1. Mental health assessment.
    2. Physiological assessment.
    3. Specific physiological assessment.
    4. Professional responsibility.
    5. Emergency management.
    6. Clinical skills.
    7. Medication administration.
    8. Communication and teamwork.
    9. Planning nursing care.
    10. Managing the deteriorating patient.

    For me, the best preparation is working on a hospital ward. That is one of the reasons I have extended my current service aboard the Africa Mercy in Madagascar.

    I’m also practising the different stations with Kiwi Nurse Academy. This is helping me understand high-scoring approaches, avoid common mistakes, and prepare for New Zealand’s expectations around cultural safety, Te Tiriti o Waitangi -the Treaty of Waitangi- communication, and patient rights.

    Cultural safety is an important part of nursing practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Nursing Council’s updated 2026 guidance places particular emphasis on relationships, power-sharing, accountability, reflective practice, and addressing bias and structural inequities in healthcare.

    Why New Zealand?

    Some of you may wonder why I chose New Zealand over Australia (for now).

    First, I turned 45 in June, which affected my migration options for Australia. Second, the cost of sitting the exam in Australia is exorbitant, with preparation courses costing roughly the same as the examination – around AU$4,000 each.

    Some people argue that the price difference between the two countries reflects the difference in income. But I’m not in for the money but rather for peace and quiet.

    Costs (OSCE exam & OSCE prep): 3,500.00 NZ$ & 499.00 NZ$

    Test day: 16 December 2026, Christchurch (New Zealand)

  • Bringing hope and healing aboard Africa Mercy

    Bringing hope and healing aboard Africa Mercy

    Serving Through Mercy Ships

    I’m volunteer as a ward nurse (pediatric ICU) caring for patients after maxillofacial surgery on the Africa Mercy in Madagascar. For me, nursing is more than a job – as colleagues at Charité would joke, I’m not in it for the money. It’s a calling to stand with children and families when they need hope, care, and a chance to heal. I’ll be offering my time, skills, and heart to provide follow-up care and nursing support where local resources are limited.

    Mission from 12 July 2026 to 12 September 2026 (preliminary end date)

    What Mercy Ships Does

    Mercy Ships partners with host countries to bring free, life-changing surgeries, dental care, and medical training to people who would otherwise have little or no access to safe healthcare. In Madagascar, the Africa Mercy is serving patients in Toamasina, with thousands of free surgeries and dental procedures planned, alongside training for local healthcare professionals to strengthen long-term surgical and nursing care. As a pediatric nurse, I’m honored to be part of a mission that combines immediate healing with long-term impact.

    How You Can Help

    I’m asking for your help to cover my volunteer expenses. Any contribution helps. To give you an idea of what donations can cover, here are some of my costs:

    • TB skin test: 20 US$
    • Diphtheria and tetanus vaccine: 28 US$
    • Malaria prophylaxis medication, required from 2 days before travel to Africa until 4 weeks after departure: 170 Malaysian Ringgit
    • New set of appropriate clothing, since I’ll be setting aside my “bikini kinda live” style for the next two months: 300 Malaysian Ringgit, 28US$
    • Entry visa: 35 US$
    • Monthly expenses for recreation
    • Expenses during time off

    My application process started at the end of last year, and my first assignment could have begun in March 2026. However, progress in my Australian and New Zealand registration process allowed me to postpone my mission. That is why the costs are listed in different currencies, since I was preparing for service while in Cambodia and Malaysia.

    Donate by Bank Transfer

    Any donation goes to Mercy Ships:

    SozialBank

    IBAN: DE85 6012 0500 6000 7000 80
    BIC: BFSWDE33STG

    Purpose of Bank Transfer: Sarah Degethof 7775 + your address

    Your address is required so Mercy Ships can create a donation receipt, allowing you to deduct the donated amount from your taxes.

    Love, Sarah Simone

  • Nursing Council NZ registration: My TruMerit journey

    I started my registration in New Zealand a little later than my AHPRA process. While preparing to leave Germany I sold most of my things – my speakers were bought by a friendly guy who lived and worked in New Zealand and suggested I register there because the process is easier and less expensive. Surf and nature didn’t hurt the argument either.

    TruMerit verification and initial submission

    The Nursing Council only accepts applications approved by TruMerit, an outsourced non-profit based in the USA. Their document-authentication process differs slightly from Australia’s. I submitted my TruMerit application in August 2025. Same as for Australia, they have never received bachelor nursing qualifications from Germany and after a quick review, they asked for further proof to be sent directly from the University Clinic of Cologne and the Cologne Department of Health.

    Coordinating documents from abroad

    In September 2025 I was in Indonesia and coordinated with both the Department of Health in Cologne and the ‘Institut für Pflegewissenschaft‘ at the University Clinic of Cologne to obtain the additional documentation TruMerit required: confirmation of my substantial nursing education and a valid license to practice. Both documents required my original signature and date, which I prepared in Bali and sent to my father, who coordinated the process for me in Germany.

    The Department of Health quickly sent my licence confirmation directly to TruMerit by mail after having received the first page from my father. The university needed more time: they had to provide detailed study content with theoretical, clinical, and laboratory hours. Multiple departments and staff were involved, which slowed the process.

    I tried to speed things up by arranging express FedEx from Cologne to the U.S., but that turned out to be a mistake. I learned I mustn’t be directly involved in the verification chain — my involvement would raise questions about the documents’ legitimacy. That meant re-signing and dating the first page and sending the original from Cambodia back to Germany. Fortunately the university was helpful; once they received my accompanying page they re-sent the completed, signed form by regular courier. My transcript of record was not included initially, so I requested it again; it arrived and was approved by mid-March 2026

    Tracking down a delayed delivery

    As my registration status hadn’t changed, I contacted the Department of Health to find out what happened to the documents. There was still a chance the mail hadn’t cleared customs for whatever strange reason, given the current political situation. My contact eventually confirmed the packet had been delivered back in December. I could hardly stop myself from calling and shouting down the phone, so I restrained and sent an email with the proof of delivery instead. By April I finally received the final report to be approved and submitted to the Nursing Council of New Zealand.

    Registration and the IQN

    I applied for Nursing Council registration, completed a foundation in cultural competency and the Ngā Paerewa Te Tiriti o Waitangi course, and in May I was invited to register with Pearson VUE to take the IQN (theoretical exam).

    Money invested so far: € 890

    The IQN is a computer-based multiple-choice test consisting of two parts: Part A — Medication Safety (12 questions in 30 minutes) and Part B — Nursing Knowledge (108 questions in 135 minutes). Unlike the NCLEX, the IQN questions are not adaptive; every candidate receives the same difficulty level.

    Test day: 29 June 2026, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

  • My AHPRA registration story

    I began my Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration in March 2025 while living in Berlin and working at Charité Universitätsmedizin. The AHPRA website estimated up to six months for processing, so I figured I’d have everything sorted well before my 45th birthday in June 2026 (yes, that’s the cutoff for filing and migrating – not exactly subtle).

    Eight months of waiting and a strange notary request

    Eight months passed before AHPRA reviewed my documents. When they finally looked, they told me my documents lacked adequate authentication by a notary public. That felt odd -a German notary can hardly confirm the origin of every certificate ever produced in German- but AHPRA insisted, so I complied. My translation office found the request just as strange; we revised the order and wording of translated documents several times. Big shoutout to Mr Erichsen from Erichsen & Partner for juggling the original bachelor certificates between the notary, me, and AHPRA.

    Uploading headaches and Stream B classification

    After a few upload headaches in my online profile and back-and-forth with my AHPRA case officer in Australia, we finally collected all requested documents and made them compliant with the guidelines. Because a German Bachelor of Science in Clinical Nursing hasn’t been assessed before, I landed in Stream B – which means my qualification is relevant but not considered substantially equivalent to an approved Australian nursing qualification, or international nursing qualification for that matter. Transaltion: I’ll have to retake theoretical and practical nursing exams.

    Money spent so far: €1,150

    NCLEX‑RN: registration, format, and test day

    On 22 April 2026 I got the go-ahead to register with Pearson VUE and booked the NCLEX-RN exam accordingly. The NCLEX uses computer-adaptive-testing: each question adjusts in difficulty based on your previous answer. You’ll answer between 85 and 150 questions in up to 3 hours. The challenge is to remain above the passing standard. Topics cover physiological adaptation, safety & infection control, pharmacology, psychosocial integrity with areas either not covered in the German nursing curriculum or not in such details as internationally required. ever covered in German nursing education or not in enough depths to be internationally qualified. I have been studying since April.

    Test day: 23 June 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

  • It’s my last week in Sri Lanka

    It’s my last week in Sri Lanka

    Maternity clinic, Elvis, and a perfect ending

    It’s my last week in Sri Lanka and the local travel4med team has arranged visits to the maternity clinic. Maternity was on most students’ bucket list, but as cesarean births and labour can’t be scheduled, some spoiled students got really upset and did not follow through with their assignments. However, us regular students still had a great time learning and observing in a smaller, more intentional group.

    Assigned to the gynaecology ward, we followed the gynaecology god (we lovingly called him “Elvis” because of his swinging gait, full black hair and sunglasses he was wearing during rounds) and he started to notice us on the second day. We made it our goal to stay in his visual field during morning rounds – quick on our feet as he moved from one patient to the next, flipping through charts and performing routine exams. It eventually paid off: after rounds he invited us to follow him to the surgical ward. Here too, students had full access to patients’ medical records and imaging, and questions were welcome and expected:

    The first client diagnosed with PID underwent a laparotomy for abdominal examination. Most women on the ward that morning were being treated for PID. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease is a severe complication of sexually transmitted infections (commonly chlamydia or gonorrhea) and affects women. Luckily, Elvis did not find any pelvic abscesses or severe scarring and tubal blockage in this patient.

    Another client -a 32‑year‑old woman- underwent surgery to remove a 7 x 5 cm mass from her uterus. Well, these were the measures from her chart… As you can see, it is much bigger!

    I kept the picture uncut so you can get a better idea of the real size with the thumb on the bottem right of the picture.

    Mass dissected from a uterus

    I finished my last shift of medical training in Sri Lanka with an elective caesarean birth and joined the midwives for the newborn examination. Both mother and newborn are well – a beautiful end to my surgery observations.

  • Preparing for the OET: fears, mistakes, and passing

    I spent the last couple of months preparing for my Occupational English Test (OET), which is required for overseas nursing registration. Scoring at least a B is a prerequisite before applying for registration and the first of many hurdles on my journey to becoming an internationally certified nurse. The test has four parts -speaking, reading, listening, and writing- and I focused my study around those skills.

    I had no doubt about my speaking ability. Still, some parts even my boyfriend (a native English speaker) had difficulty with, which made me more anxious. To avoid being surprised by the exam format, I researched a learning platform that helped me practise the different question types so I could focus on nursing English rather than getting thrown off by the layout.

    Test day: 23 August 2025, Colombo, Sri Lanka

    I travelled to the capital on Friday and intended to stay over the weekend. I had researched some activities that I was considering doing as a treat after the exam no matter how good or bad I would score. But my fears the next day came true: I somehow ignored the format of the listening part and messed up the first bit by not reading the questions properly. I ended up answering randomly, picking up only a few words I heard. The writing test went sideways too – I lost track of time and realised with five minutes left that I had written 240 words instead of the 180–200 required. I felt terrible and was certain I’d have to resit the exam.

    But no – I passed all parts of the OET and can not submit my registration documents to TruMerit!