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by carz

I was reading the paper today and there was an article on the shortage of nurses. ( big suprise....) The paper said that the shortage was to be discussed at the Banff summit, I will get to the point. They went on to say that the college enrollment would have to be increased , and fees waived for a period of time.
What I wish to propose is uniting all lpn,s who are eager to up-grade to r.n status to come together and write a petition to the minister of health suggesting why we would be excellent candidates for a bridging program. I do not feel we should have to complete the program from the beginning, I feel that it is a slap in the face for many r.p.n's who have worked active hospital for any lenght of time. This is not to say that I dont realize the r.n scope and study is more in depth, of course it is, but I feel we should be given some recognition for experience gained. Does any one out there share my opinion or the desire to make this happen? I would love to hear your response. I am hoping this reaches the ears of nurses practicing in canada. I feel a little more flexability in our colleges would go a long way.

[healthyone]

Canada is full of CRAAAAAAAAP!!

it is the ONLY country that now makes bsn entry to practise. that is ridiculous. i, too, have years of experience and university credit. i simply cannot financially afford to go back to school for 2 years even in an accelerated program. i was accepted and turned down the admission. one of the administrators asked me 'why?'

why?

what the hell do you think? M-O-N-E-Y. I am almost 30, i can't afford to 'play school' with a cdn. university to learn 'nsg process' . there should have been consideration for my experience, consideration, for previous university credit, as well as for my continuing education.

thank God i have pursued another avenue to get my nsg dip. i will never forgive canada for making it so difficult for me to get a nsg education.

when they are stuck with highly educated 'nurses' that went through a 4 year program and come out treating patients in a very technical manner i think they will truly be sorry. nsg is a caring profession; not a career-substitute for would-be doctors, pharmacists, etc.

they need to recruit people who are already in a related field who can easily learn the skills, and get going at easing the stress on the h/c system.

4 year programs are not needed to be a skilled nurse. neither are 2 year accelerated programs for those of us that hold univ. degrees already (me included). what we need are nurses trained similarly to those in the states who get the whole thing done in 2 years, or bridge from another health profession in less than a year. and then and that point the gov't can pay for all of us to go back and get the univ degree if it is such a big deal.

PATHETIC!!


signed, frustrated with cdn. politics.

[carz]

frustrated

wow healthly one you sound even more frustrated then I, there has to be a avenue nurses like ourselves can pursue. For the most part we all have many financial commitments,and certainly not the disposable income needed to pay for a four year degree.
England did a very interesting thing years back, they no longer utilized practical nurses but they gave them the option to up-grade. If I am not mistaken they assisted with the up-grading this would be a wonderful option here and it would help to reduce the nursing shortage greatly.

[pebbles]

Here in Manitoba, the gvmt "phased out" LPN's in all but chronic care and nursing homes.... now they are phasing them back in. The government does not know what the heck it is doing...
I think LPN's ought to have a lobby group. Mind you, I think nurses as a whole need better communications with government and with media....

As far as making it easier to get a BN.... our grads get "forgivable loans" if they agree to stay in the province for 1 or 2 years after graduating. It's not like the government is doing nothing....

PS I come from the much-maligned 4 year BN - and I do not treat patients in a "more technical" manner than my co-workers. More education does not mean we must necessarily be lacking in something else. The politics about how to educate more nurses in this country is separate from the BN vs diploma RN debate...

[carz]

i JUST LOOKED IN TO THE COLLEGE PROGRAM HERE IN ALBERTA RE UP-GRADING TO R.N, WHAT A JOKE THEY OFFER 25 SEATS A YEAR FOR L.P.N'S WITH OVER 5OO A YEAR APPLYING THATS A LITTLE SLIM. THIS IS IN CALGARY BY THE WAY,ON TOP OF THAT THEY WILL ONLY GIVE A PRACTICING L.PN TWO CREDITS FOR HIS OR HER EXPERIENCE! tHEN YOU WILL NEED TO COMPLETE 3 POSSIBLE FOUR YEARS OF PROGRAM.THAT'S ONLY IF YOU ARE ACCEPTED, PRIOR TO THIS YOU CAN TAKE COURSES AT ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY IE BIOLOGY, ENGLISH PSYCHOLOGY, ETC,AND TRY AND MAKE YOUR CHANCES A LITTLE EASIER. IF NUMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HIGH THEN YOU WILL BE ASKED TO SUBMIT HIGH SCHOOL GRADES! DID I MENTION THE ONE BIOLOGY COURSE THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY IS 900.00. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE SO HERE I REMAIN VERY VERY FRUSTRATED!

[linzz]

Re: calling all l.p.n's \rpn's

I realize that this is a very old thread but things haven't changed at all in five years. I am going back for my BSN. I am an LPN and I have not been able to find any sort of reasonable work. I would even take regular part time at a nursing home, full time, I have given up on. You see, where I live, if you are not an RN, you will be lucky to get casual at a nursing home, you could work at a retirement home where you will be assigned at least 80 - 90 residents, half of whom should be in long term care. If you do home care, you will earn $17./hr. So now, at great expense to my family, in order not to starve and stay employed, I will do my BSN. The sad part is that I could be fine as a LPN but the opportunities are so limited. In my area, you have to be an RN to work at a clinic or Dr. office. To say that I am angry is an understatement. Nursing in Ontario without an RN is near impossible.

[carz]

Re: calling all l.p.n's \rpn's

Wow LINZ I cant believe you found my old post. Where in Ontario do you live? I use to live in Ontario, and always retained full-time hours. With the nursing shortage they are crying for both disciplines every where. Keep looking I am sure you will find work. I will up date you from 2002 I have only just started taking LPN_BN bridge courses through Athabasca. I will probably finish by the time I am 5o!

[linzz]

Re: calling all l.p.n's \rpn's

Hi Carz, I see you are in Alberta. I am in southwestern Ontario. Right now, our area is crying for RN's. In fact, at a nursing home where I worked casual, I only was scheduled for a few days a month but got call ins quite often, decided to actually lay off RPN's and replace them with RN's. The RPN's that got to stay had their work load doubled. In my area, there is a huge demand for RN's only. However there is tons of work in Toronto, but I am almost two hours away. I am sure I will find work that is even regular part time' but I have decided that in order to survive where I am, I will need to become an RN. If I want to work in any of our hospitals, I will have to become an RN as they have decided to phase out LPN's. I think this is crazy but I am just doing what I need to.

[Talia_vde]

Re: calling all l.p.n's \rpn's

TO ALL THE RPN'S WISHING TO BECOME RN'S WITHOUT GOING THROUGH 4 MORE YEARS I HAVE A SOLUTION!!!

I'm speaking from experience. I got my RPN in Sarnia, Ontario and I wanted to upgrade to RN. I seen that the schools were not recognizing the work I did as an RPN so I looked in the USA. Just on the other side of Sarnia, Ontario there is a college in Port Huron, MI. At that college they have a 1 year bridging program. The only thing I had to do was send my transcripts, write MI NCLEX LPN, and prove I had 1,088 hrs of work experience as an RPN. I did one semester of pre-reqs and I will graduate this May after a full year of studies. The school does everything for you regarding the student visa. I still live in Ontario and I just drive over the border each day. The only problem is that you can not come back to Ontario unless you upgrade more in the USA to get a BScN. Usually hospitals in the US pay for that though. If anyone is interested you can see for yourself at www.sc4.edu. GOOD LUCK

[linzz]

Re: calling all l.p.n's \rpn's

Great suggestion, Talia vde, lots of us had no idea you could do this. This is a bit off topic but I just got a mailer from my prof. association and they were offering all sorts of nursing seminars to attend and the very first one is entitled:"Nursing in Ontario, good reasons to stay here." I almost laughed my a** off. Duh, why do they think nurses leave after they make it near impossible to become a nurse and then when you do become one, with a degree no less, you get offered part time employment. Unbelievable.