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by nurse on the move

Hi I am flying into Toronto on the 30/05 and flying out from Vancouver on the 13/06. I am coming to Canada as this is where my wife and I would like to settle with our 4 children.

I am coming out to decide on behalf of the family if this is the right country for us and upon the area to live. Hence starting in Toronto and ending in Vancouver.

Based totally on internet research we like the sound of Kamloops,BC. As is usually the way this might be a long way from where we end up.

I am a mature (early 40's) experienced psychiatric nurse and manager, with a BSc (Hons) Nursing from England. I would like either a position working with people under 65 in a community or hospital setting or a management position with LTC or dementia care services.

I will be hoping to meet up with some employers along the way as I am seeking work immediately.

I spoke with a lady from Alberta at a recent emigration fair in England and she told me that a temp work visa could be obtained in 3 months. This would be good as we would like to get the children in school for September.

I am happy to work in the state health system or private as this is where I have managed services for the past 6 years.

Any suggestions of people to talk to, areas to go or things to watch out for!!

[r0semar1e]

Moving to Canada

HI
I am hoping to do what you have done and move to Canada in the future when I get my degree. Have you found out anything useful since posting your message?
Did you find that the conditions for nursing in Canada are better than in the UK?
Reply if you have the time, I'd be very grateful! :-)
Rosemarie

[nurse on the move]

early days

I will hopefully have a lot more information when I return from my trip mid-June.

With regards to nursing conditions it is really hard to say. I would think you can find evidence of good and bad practice wherever you go in the world. It is up to us all to adopt the highest standards and adopt a research based approach to our professional work.

Our decision to move to Canada relates more to quality of life and a fear for what the future holds for our children if we remain in the UK.

I wish you luck with your degree and your career wherever it may take you

Michael

[lalaxton]

Micheal,
I would advise you connect with the provincial College of Nurses in both BC and Ontario before you leave as registration can take some time as well as obtaining a visa. You can find those contact #'s through an internet search. Good luck in your search! Kamloops is a beautiful area but may have less to offer as far as work goes than bigger centers such as Toronto or Vancouver. I am just outside the Toronto area and there are lots of opportunites around here if you would like to PM me.

[CelineNurse]

Ontario License

Hello,



I am a foreign nurse, and I passed the Canadian RN exam. I filled in the Initial Registration Payment Form for general registration and returned it to the College of Nurses of Ontario with a cheque one month ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my RN license yet. I called CNO but they didn’t tell me. Can anyone tell me how long it usually takes to obtain Ontario License?



Thank you.

[fergus51]

I came to Ontario from another part of Canada and it took almost 3 months.

[r0semar1e]

RN Exam

Hi,
where did you come from originally if you dont mind my asking, and did you find the RN exam hard?
reply if you get a chance, thanks
Rosemarie

[Nuru99]

Starting to get settled in Canada but still missing the UK

Hi all,

I must admit its kinda nice to see that more brit nurses are coming over to Canada. I moved here in January from London and it has taken me some time to get used to the system.

In response to the the question 'was the CRNE hard?' Not really. The only thing which I did find a bit difficult was that the exam appears to be designed for new graduates who generally have a wide generally Knowledge. I had been working in Adult ICU for 8 years when I took the exam so that meant I had to do major revising in things like peads, maternity and mental health.

In terms of qualifying for the exam. I think it depends on the province that you are applying to but I know for a fact that by 2005 all the provinces willl be requiring that you have a degree. I already had my bachelors so this wasn't so much of an issue for me. The proccess of registering did take a long time and I would advise anyone to do as much as possible before they got to canada (i.e send of all transcripts and appropriate references before you leave England).

Having passed the exams their may be some agravation in getting jobs, I don't think this is so much of an issue in the bigger towns though (I live in Nova Scotia).

If anyone wamts any info on preparing for the exams pm me. I have some web links I can pass on. Seriously though if you are coming from the UK and English is not an issue the exam isn't that hard. Do prepare for it though as some of the ethics and laws (e.g advance directives ) are different.

Hope this is helpful

[mini]

Hi, I have recently finished my degree in nursing in England and sitting for the Canadian RN exam this Aug. Just wondering and be v grateful if you can advice me on those helpful websites to help me prepare. Are there any specific books that I can get hold of here in England?
Ta

[Nuru99]

Hey Mini

A couple of things

1/ Make sure you get the Canadian RN exam prep book
It has about 360 questions and their answers with rationales that are similar to the ones which you will see on the main exam.

2/ I also used a web site called certinurse.ca. This has practice questions which are supposedly similar to the board exams

http://certinurse.ca/

I don't think its the greatest site because you tend to memorize answers and not always understand the rationale behind them. I thought I would give you the link anyway because there are some people that I have spoken too that do like it. It also is the only site where I could find the legalities of Nursing in Canada. (I must warn you thought I did find it a bit patronizing )

3/ Like I said in my previous post the main problem with nurses like myself (worked in adult ICU for 8 years) is that we tend to have specialized in one area and the exam looks at all areas of nursing. This may not be too much of an issue for you as you are fresh from your degree and thus you knowledge is still fresh.

peads
maternity and
mental health for example were areas I hadn't worked in since graduating so I had to do a bit of revising in those areas.
When I did eventually sit the exam the majority of questions were very psycho social orientated.

Anyways this is another website which may be helpful

http://my2.bcou.ca/register/zwskfcls.p_getcrse

The above website is a link to BC open learning university. They offer courses for nurses who were trained abroad and are planning on taking their board exams in Canada.

The one of most interest to you may be

NURS 371: Registered Nurse Exam Prep

You can do it online so you can start taking it now. It also doesn't cost as much as some of the other courses available.

Having given you all the above info I really feel that with your background the only thing you most likely will need is the prep guide (save your money for the move)
Just get acquinted with multiple choice questions.

I hope this info helps and let me know if you need any more help.

Nuru


P.S if you are going to Ontario check out the college of nurses website there’s a new item called the readiness test.
http://www.cno.org/reg/nonmemb/reg_exams.html

Also the CNA (Canadian nurses association) has some recommendations.
http://www.cna-nurses.ca/default.htm