Painful Journey of H4-Visa Holder in the United States

America has always been the land of opportunity for the people around the world, but at the same time it has been curse for the spouses of the H1B visa holders. More than 65,000 caps for H1B visas are issued each year who can work and stay inside the country for six years. Although the spouses of H1B visa holders can come and dwell inside the United States in dependent status (H4 visa), they are not permitted to make any form of earning during their stay. None could have imagined the dependent of H1B will be required to limit their talent inside the household chores for six years. Especially, in that country who always takes initiatives to uplift the life of people across the world and who discuss humanitarian, justice, equal opportunity and diversity on a daily basis. There are no cultures in the world that is against for living married couple together. H1B visa holders are the qualified and educated alien helping America to enhance their economy with their extraordinary skill. Are we doing justice by abandoning H4 visa holders to live productive life, despite their higher qualifications?

Some people argue that it will not be prudent to provide work permission for H4 visa holders, particularly at this critical period of recession when many Americans are jobless. However, there are also other temporary visas given to foreign workers to work inside the country. L1 and J1 are the examples of those visas whose dependents are allowed to work. Additionally, each year 55,000 diversity visas are granted to the people of lesser represented countries through lottery, but it is not apparent that anybody has calculated the number of job they are taking from American's hand. Furthermore, what about the cost for the time of adjustment needed due to language and cultural barriers? In contrast, H1B visa holders are educated and qualified and they are supposed to marry an educated partner. Consequently, their spouses can enhance the economy of the country by creating job through small business and can contribute in the under-served areas where there is shortage of skillful workers. More importantly, as they are already living in the United States there is more probability for them to understand the culture and environment of America. Indeed, providing opportunity to work for the h4 visa holders is like decreasing a drop of water from the ocean of country's job. If a spouse who is qualified, but needs to ask even for a penny with their partner because in the United States he/she is not allowed to have any sort of income, then this does not only paralyze his/her dream, but also make them victim of the domestic violence which may ultimately affect them psychologically and physically. Since most of the H4 visa holders are women, domestic violence is the serious issue that need to be addressed in order to protect the women from being abused. United States Citizenship and Immigration services (USCIS) revealed that Victims of domestic violence who suffered physical or emotional abuse can obtain a Green Card through  Self-Petitioning Process and the other one is through U Nonimmigrant Status (U Visa). Even though immigration law provides immigration relief for the victims of domestic violence, as always prevention is better than cure. For detail information please visit USCIS website.

Moreover, rather than abandoning them from any sort of income, United States can enforce certain limitation and can take advantage from H4 visa holders who are qualified and skillful to uplift the nation's economy. For instance, legalizing them to work in those occupations which have shortages of qualified workers, those under-served areas where no qualified person want to work and giving permission to open a business which can create job for Americans. In America, there is shortage of nurses and there are no visas which allow foreign nurses to work temporarily. Of course, bringing nurses from the other country is not a long-term solution. Nevertheless, allocating those nurses who have passed licensure exam of the state and residing inside the country can relieve this shortage even in a smaller amount. United States can develop strategies side by side in order to produce more nurses. Likewise, inhibiting dependent visa holder to open their own business can help create more jobs.

          Among all of the H1B visa holders, if only half of them are married, then also every year more than 30,000 H4 visa holders enter inside the United states and within six years it will be more than 1,80,000 who are compelled to live non productive life inside the states. If appropriate policy is made to utilize those qualified individuals who are already reside in the country, this will not solely provide justice to the sufferer, but also boost the economy of the country. 

My Especial Message for H4 Visa Holders

The majority of people throughout the world have a dream to come America. Since it is the country of immigrants, everybody feel safe to be here. Despite this fact, if you are the one like me in H4 status, it must be heart wrenching for you to pass even a single moment in the United States. This country is set up in such a way that whoever comes here carry a big dream. Yes, I was one of them, but unfortunately for a moment my dream was totally broken into pieces because of my status. Although I knew that coming United States in H4 status would prohibit me from working and earning even a single dollar, I never took it seriously because I believed in myself. My ambition to achieving more induced me to assert that those narrow words cannot bind my vision of life. My pursuit of experiencing American dream made me unsighted for a moment. After coming here, there was a moment when I was panicked, frustrated and depressed because of not being able to make my life self-sustainable as I had wished for. However, later on I realized everything happens for a reason. In fact, coming America was not an accident, but was a privileged opportunity for me.

It is a human nature to expect more than what we have already accomplished in our life, which is obviously not a negative aspects of being human being. Your willingness to achieve more will help you explore more opportunities in your life. If you look back towards happy and sad moment or successes and failures in your life, then this will provide the clue for what you have achieved and what things are still left to be achieved. If you are prudent, you can use the lesson from your past which will assist you to climb one more step in the ladder of your life. I was not stable kind of person who liked to sit in home doing nothing. Even though, I was not sure where I want to see myself after certain year, I always know that what I will or what I am going to do next after finishing my present task. My journey of America begins by achieving driving license, which I had mentioned in the initial post of my blog "My Journey to America I". After, I passed RN licensure exam from Texas Board of Nursing, I started researching articles related to nursing and shortages of nursing in the United States.

During this journey, I began writing my blog, which helped me realize that I enjoyed writing and researching. Additionally, I engaged myself working as a volunteer and participated several free seminars/training related to healthcare and nursing. I got opportunity to meet really the incredible people who had inspired and appreciated my work. However, after certain time I felt like what next? I cannot deny the fact that I will not be able to spend my whole life by doing volunteering work, somewhere the feelings of not having productive life used to kill me. I was slowly understanding how it felt to be dependent and not allowed to work (because of H4 status) despite your expertise in the most demanding field. Initially, I did not take seriously for the crisis that I was going through and questioned myself why I am thinking like this?, Is it only me in such situation?, why even a small thing irritates me?, etc. Then, after seeking helps from my former teachers, friends, family, relatives and similar interest groups, I made determination to pursue master degree. At this time, when I turn around and look back for each and every phase, I feel that these moments of ups and downs matters a lot to me and these experiences have been lucrative to me.

Despite whining for what you cannot do in your H4 status, you can make your journey of America worthwhile by engaging yourself in some sort of activities which you really enjoy doing most. Indeed, blaming yourself that you cannot do anything because you are not given permission to work is just an excuse, but not a reason for impeding your potential. You just need to set broad horizon to open the door of your own scope and to enlighten the prospective of being you.

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."

                                                                      -Albert Einstein

Five Places to Find Nursing Jobs for New Nurses Except Hospitals

If you are new graduated  Registered Nurse, then you may be facing hard times to find the jobs in Hospital. Especially, Hospital seeks experienced nursing candidates and they may not hire you. It is better to think about the alternatives instead of wasting more time in applying and worrying for not getting hired.
There are some places who may hire you right away faster than you think. Instead of feeling overwhelmed start applying jobs in the following areas, where you will get trained and will gain confidence to work. Later on after having some year of experiences you can apply for Hospital jobs.

I found this info from http://scrubsmag.com/top-5-places-to-look-for-jobs/. Hope this would be helpful to you. Good Luck!

Air National Guard
If you’re attracted to the rush and fast pace of the OR and critical care — you may want to consider being an Air National Guard nurse. You may find yourself in the middle of the action during a natural disaster, civil emergency, or homeland crisis – situations where your skills are critical and your character can make all the difference. If you thrive on getting an adrenaline rush, here’s your chance to care for patients being airlifted out of disaster-stricken areas or saving lives in a field hospital in the aftermath of a hurricane. The Air National Guard has a variety of opportunities that allow nurses to stay close to home and serve their community, assessing the health needs of individuals as well as the population as a whole. You’ll even have the option of part-time service allowing you to gain new skills and experiences while keeping your civilian job.
Nursing Homes
Even if nursing homes weren’t your favorite in nursing school, you shouldn’t be quick to rule out this option. Nursing homes also hire utilization review registered nurses and case managers—positions that require an RN degree but don’t involve the drudgery of nursing home work. It’s true that some of these jobs require experience, but others don’t. Some nursing homes, especially smaller ones, are happy to train you on the job to fill these roles. Apply for MSDS, utilization or case management nursing home positions if you’re in need of a job right away.
Clinics
In the rush to get a hospital job or possibly a job in a doctor’s office, you might have forgotten that there are a ton of clinics out there. With the wait times at hospitals, and with some insurance companies refusing to cover emergency room visits, patients are increasingly turning to clinics for medical attention.
A clinic is a great place for a new nursing grad to get a foot in the door. Also look into clinics for pain management, stroke survivors, heart attack victims, etc., that might be in your area and looking for help. Sometimes places don’t advertise an opening, so call and see if you can talk to an HR person. The worst they can say is that they have no openings.
Drug Rehabilitation Centers
Many drug rehab centers have to detox subjects, and guess what? They need an RN on duty to make sure the patient doesn’t seize or go into DTs, and to give meds. You might have overlooked places like this—who would think a drug and alcohol rehab center would need a nurse? Some places may require experience, but others won’t require anything more than your nursing license. It pays to be proactive: Bust out the yellow pages, look up all the drug rehab centers in your area and call them to see what their nursing status is. You just might get an interview.
Dialysis Centers
Many large companies perform dialysis treatments on patients seven days a week. These companies, such as DaVita, need registered nurses to man the dialysis machines and make sure the patients don’t go bad. You would need to monitor vital signs, the dialysis machine and the port to ensure it doesn’t clot off. If you have some experience in nursing, you’ll stand a better chance, but some dialysis companies take new grads and train them to run the machines. If your city is large enough, you may find many dialysis centers around to target for your search.
Rehabilitation Centers
After some patients are done at the hospital, they are quickly sent out to rehabilitation centers to recover. (In fact, you’ll sometimes find that insurance companies facilitate shipping patients out a little too soon.) People in rehabilitation centers can have trachs, vents, external fixators and a host of other interesting diagnoses for you to experience. Of course, they all need their meds and their therapy, and you would have an assignment, just as you would have on a medical-surgical floor. Although their status will be a little less acute, the patients will still be significantly ill. Most rehab centers prefer that you have experience, but don’t actually require it. Interview well, and you just might have a job.

Some Strategies for memorizing Medicines in NCLEX-RN Exam

Are you able to figure out in which area you are staggering while preparing for your NCLEX-RN exam?

If it is in Pharmacology, then this post is for you. Most of the students may find difficulty in memorizing the name of medications, its side effects and indications. Indeed, it is really heard to memorize all the stuffs at a time. You have to manage your time very smartly because you are not supposed to dedicate all of your time for the medications. You also need to distribute your time to understanding the reduction risk potential, physiological adaptation, basic care and comfort, effective care environment, health promotion and maintenance and psychosocial integrity.

Planning your time is very crucial in the exam preparation. I am telling you this because I already implemented this strategy and succeeded in this NCLEX-RN exam. While I was preparing for the exam, I struggled in pharmacological area. I tried to memorize all the information about medication as I can. After I knew I was struggling in this area I spent my week just reading about the medications. Next week after studying other topics instead of pharmacology and I came back again to recall medications but I did not remember as I expected. Then, I realize this method of studying is not going to work for me. Despite my great effort on that area; I was not able to memorize it, that made me frustrated

However, I did not give up enhancing my knowledge on medications. I started seeking advice of my seniors for the improvement. If you are struggling for anything, it is okay to ask for help. If you have any relatives, friend and family who have already experienced that situation, then they can help you to find the easy way for you. I also did the same and till now I do not afraid to ask for help and do not hesitate to say ‘I don’t know’ if I am unaware of situation. Usually, if you ask anything with your seniors, they will love to provide you good advice than the friends. Also, it is you to determine which style will work for you. Every individual is different with their own way of doing and thinking.

Moreover, one of my senior gave me really a good suggestion to study pharmacology. After that I promised myself to study seven page of medicine every day and spent rest of the time of the day to other subjects too. After finishing all pages of pharmacology section, I repeated this process again. Surprisingly, by the end of three month, I was able to memorize all the medicine which I read and also did not miss to study other sections. Actually, I did not remember anything while I finished my first round but in second and third round I was comfortable and took less time in reading than before.

Keep in mind, in the NCLEX-RN exam they will not ask you the Side Effects, Contraindication, Uses directly. You have to use your critical thinking skills to answer all questions in the exam. For this, it is essential to understand the action of drug and its specific indications. Just imagine Hospital work environment while studying and try to see if I give this drug to that patient what I need to consider. This technique may help you to memorize the distinct feature of the drugs. In addition, herbal medications are also important for NCLEX-RN exam, so do not miss to read them too.

Thank you for reading.

Suggestions To Pass the NCLEX- RN Examination

NCLEX- RN examination measures the competencies needed to perform safely and effectively as a newly licensed, entry-level nurse in the United States. Every nurse who is educated in the United States and those educated from foreign countries should pass the NCLEX-RN exam in order to practice as Registered Nurse in America.

Before starting your preparation, I want you to understand what NCLEX-RN exam is and what are its requirements. Requirements varies according to the state, so the first step is to prepare all the documents and determine which state you are going to apply for. After that try to get familiar with the pattern of the question asked in the exam. Keep in mind that it is not similar type of exam which you succeeded in your Nursing school. However, do not get panicked, read thoroughly to understand the concept relating with your clinical practice. Do not try to memorize all the stuffs which you are reading because you will not be asked to explain. It will test your critical thinking skills to determine whether you will be able to successfully practice as a entry level nurse.

Planning

Preparing for the exam is always overwhelming if you do not plan your time appropriately. Planning the time is crucial for the success in the exam and significant step to achieve your goal. Make every day routine to divide your time fully in study. If you are going to appear in the exam after three months of preparation, see your book and calculate the time need to be given for each chapter and outline the daily routine accordingly. Always stick with your guns, no matter what the circumstances are. Daily planning is the core of short-term success that leads to long term accomplishment. Do not let personal commitments change your success in education, you are the only one who can supervise your own work, so stay focused and utilize your time in a productive way.

Learn to say ‘NO’

Learn to say no, especially when you are studying. I know it is hard to say no but think about your priorities and daily plans. Watkins and Corry (2010) compares monkey as the hindrances and responsibilities that all of us always carry on our backs. These monkeys, however, limit your success when others start passing their monkeys off to you and that will only slow down your success. Remember, research shows that those individual who take 2-3 months for NCLEX-RN preparation has higher passing rate in the first time than those of taking more than 3 months for the preparation.

It’s okay to be Nervous

Do not get intimidated by anticipating the exam questions and result. You can re-take the exam, it is not mandatory to pass at the first time. Nervousness is okay, you are not the only one who is afraid of it. I had already been through your situation, preparing for the exam needs more time and effort. Whenever, you feel restless and fatigued after continuous reading, just go for walk in the fresh air. Fresh air will provide oxygen to your mind and you will be able to concentrate more on your study. Instead of studying seven days a week take break at least once or twice a week, which can yield better preparation and result.

Practice, Practice and Practice!!!

Practicing more questions is the key for passing NCLEX-RN exam. There are various available resources in the internet and books to practice the questions. Personally, I practiced from Saunders and Kaplan. When you practice the questions, emphasize to find the rationale of the answers. Write down on your note for the rationale, so that you can recall and master on that topic. If you are facing difficulty in some area of study, then go back and study unless you are able to understand. Know your weak areas and give more effort on that area and practice more questions.

Healthcare of the Unites States is a Privilege, not a Right

I believe current health care in the United States is a privilege, not a right.  The Health care system of United States is based on the private and public insurance system.  Private Insurance is based on employer sponsor and individual purchase, while Public Insurance is based on Medicaid which is for people over age of 65 and disabled people.  According to U.S. department of Health and Human services (2011, September), 55.3% of the population’s insurance is sponsored by employer and 16.3% are uninsured.  Even Health is the basic and universal right for human being significant proportion of American population could not afford the rocketed cost of health care and insurance.  It is not only a problem of uninsured individual but also of working and middle-class families who have health insurance but still struggle to pay for it.  If it were the right, people would access health care despite of their age, employment and income.

To ameliorate the present condition, the government should implement Universal Health care system rather than involving private sectors.  Private Organizations are completely based on profit.  So, those people with good financial conditions can only afford the expensive services.  For instance, Per Capita Income of United States is twice as much as other Industrialized Country, while the outcome is worse with higher mortality rate in comparison to those industrialized Counties.  If the government enforces the law of universal health care like in Canada, Britain and Germany, then it will bring better results and Health Care will be affordable to every citizen of U.S.

The top and renowned hospital and technology may not only differentiate the health status of people.  In America, we have the largest medical center of the world with more advance technology.  Despite this, many people get disadvantaged because of not being able to pay for insurance and struggle for their whole life fighting for the medical coverage.  Leslie Elder died because of Hodgkin Lymphoma at the age of 63, who gave up soaring and unaffordable insurance rates and got defeated while fighting decades for medical coverage (Stephanie & Nadia , 2012, September 2).  This is the overwhelming reality of American people.

Anuradha Koirala is Making the World a Better Place to Live

The name of person whom I greatly admire is Anuradha Koirala. She is the founder and director of Maiti Nepal, which is a non profit organization formed to protect Nepali girls and women from crimes like domestic violence, trafficking for flesh trade, child prostitution, child labor and various forms of exploitation and torture. She is also the winner of CNN Hero Award 2010 because of her extraordinary work against girl trafficking. Furthermore, she has not solely entailed to rescuing the girl from brothels of India but also created shelters by building Maiti Nepal as a better place to live for the victim of sex trades. 

         Koirala salvaged many girls from the village of Nepal from being sold to brothels of India for sex. These bawdy house owners repeatedly torture, enslave and make victims to face rape without leaving them any hope to escape out from that hell. Since 1993, Anuradha has rescued more than 12,000 young women and girls from brothels of India and 80% of them were HIV patients. Those extricated girls had no place to live and their family members, and society no longer permitted these girls to stay with them. So, she opened a non profit organization called Maiti Nepal (Mother’s Home), which is a place for them to heal, to go school and learn new skills, so that they can regain their spirits. Additionally, for those who were the victim of HIV, she opened a Hospice named as Snegriha (Home of Love).   

                      

         Moreover, she devoted her life to make trafficking free society because she took human trafficking as a misconduct and disgraceful activity to humanity. Often traffickers fascinate villagers with hope to get a good job in the city and have better life. To rein this activity, Koirala conducted several awareness programs and door to door campaigns in villages of Nepal. Additionally, Maiti Nepal started patrolling in the border between India and Nepal, which was the main conduit for trafficking. Her diligent efforts to stop this crime made her winner of CNN Hero Award 2010 with the sum of $100,000 to continue her work and $25,000 as a token of appreciation. She said "Being a CNN HERO doesn't make us proud but reminds us that the problem still exists and we need to join hands to fight it." I respect her work and salute her for her strength. Her words "Society rejects me and my girls, but they are the most important things in my life" always trigger my mind. 

        Today she is renowned as a social activist in the world. Koirala dedicated her life in combating the sexual exploitation of young women and girls. Those rescued girls are fortunate to find shelter at Maiti Nepal, and the girls infected with AIDS can die in dignity in her Hospice. In nutshell, she stopped and rescued many girls from being the victim of trafficking and created heaven on the earth by giving them wonderful place to live. She is the role model to lead change in the world.