Title used for "Quality Assurance Nurse" in Canada

First of all, CARNA has nothing whatsoever to do with work permits. CARNA issues permits to practice nursing in Alberta, or in other words a license. Work permits are issued by Canada Immigration and Citizenship.

Quality assurance is typically an additional responsibility of nurse-administrators, nurse-educators and nurse practitioners in Alberta. There is no position for quality assurance nurses generally speaking. You won't see postings through Alberta Health Services (AHS) for such positions and even if you did, all postings through AHS are for existing AHS employees. In recent months many of AHS's administrators have been let go or had their responsibilities drastically increased. And AHS is talking about laying off 3% of the current work force - approximately 2700 employees. For the foreseeable future there will be no new jobs in Alberta for health care workers, if our government and the CEO of AHS are to be believed.

Much has been written here in this forum on Alberta, read this link Alberta Health Services and check this link out CBC News Alberta health cuts

Regarding SEC there are also threads for you to read and Jan made one a sticky in the International forum FAQ SEC

We DO have a shortage of nurses, but our government has decreed that we don't. In April there were about 1400 full-time equivalent vacancies in Alberta. In May, Ron Liepert, the Minister of Health and his sniper, Dr. Stephen Duckett (PhD in economics, not MD) issued a statement that Alberta does not have a nursing shortage, we have a shortage of nurses working full time and to full capacity. So they instituted a "slowdown" in hiring - their description of the sudden disappearance of every single RN and LPN posting in the province. Each and every vacancy was then examined to determine if the position was necessary; eventually some postings began to trickle out but every one of them is open only to current employees of Alberta Health Services. This means that they're simply moving the pinch-points around, taking nurses from one ward and moving them to another. Any position that cannot be filled with an existing employee must then be personally scrutinized by Dr Duckett to ensure that it is necessary to fill it and that the only alternative is to hire externally. They also reorganized administration and management, paying out tens of millions of dollars in severance. They are the ones holding all the cards and they have decided that since at least 70% of health care expenditures go to salaries, that is where they can cut spending. They ignore the fact that health care is a human-resources intensive endeavor and that there has been no mechanical replacement invented that can replace the human intellect. A couple of weeks ago Dr Duckett announced that AHS was going to look at offering voluntary severance to personnel whose jobs are expendable or whose jobs could be filled by someone else whose job is expendable. The package is not nearly as generous as those provided to the administrative and management personnel received, but of course it wouldn't be, since front-line providers of care are not nearly as valuable as those working in offices with large staffs to help them with their work. As of today there has not yet been an agreement made with the unions as to what sort of package would be acceptable to unionized employees, so the voluntary severance only applies to those not providing direct care. The intent of the voluntary severance plan is to reduce the number of personnel who could potentially be laid off in the coming months. The United Nurses of Alberta will be entering contract negotiations in January and the picture is looking very grim.
Yes, you will have a lot of trouble finding a quality assurance position in Canada. Unless you have a Master's degree in nursing or business, it's unlikely you'd even be considered. If you're determined to come to Canada you may have to lower your sights and accept something farther down on your list.

Canada PROVINCES not states.

AHS controls the majority of healthcare jobs in the province.

You need to decide if you even want to come to Alberta and face being unemployed.

Why have you selected Alberta?

Where are you coming from?

AHS is only responsible for Alberta and no other province. Ontario is having difficulties financially as are several other provinces.

Depending on when and where you were eduated, along with how much work experience you have, you probably are eligible for licensing in other provinces. You would just have to contact the appropriate governing bodies. The BScN is the required level for ENTRY to nursing in Canada for a new graduate. I've worked with several diploma educated nurses from the US and UK who moved here with years of experience under their belts.

Despite hearing about the "nursing shortage" our provincial health board has decided it just doesn't exist. Local new grads used to be able to get jobs as soon as they graduated. I can count on one hand how many new grads my service has hired since April.

You have to bear in mind, getting the practice permit is no guarantee of employment anywhere in the country and if you chose to move to another province you are required to have your documents reassessed in that province. It's not a quick, cheap, or easy process. I moved due to my husband's job and it took nearly six months and $$$ to get a practice permit in my new province.

To the OP: Diploma nurses who are not new graduates are accepted in other provinces as well. The info you got is wrong.

5cats