Canada NOT the US

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This thread is about Canadian nursing. Yup, we do it slightly differently up here.

So there are some things that you need to know. Fellow Canadians, I know we are percieved as a polite, quiet crowd, who don't like to make waves, so add in what you've discovered from newly arrived nurses.

One of my favourite memories is of a nurse who had just arrived from Texas. Apart from the language difficulties (nobody could understand his accent). We have snow a lot where I work. Not unheard of to have the odd flurry in summer. But I digress. It's November, he looks out the window and sees a few flakes and immediately looks stricken. He needs to know if he can go get his snowtyres on his truck. He drove an F150. We had to explain that this wasn't unusual and he had plenty of time to get the snowies on. But the look of panic was pure gold.

So, don't panic about snowflakes, don't assume that Mounties wear red serge at all times, and not everyone speaks French.

Don't tell us how you are only going to be here long enough to move to the States.

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Specializes in med/surg.

Oh dear I wondered how long it would take some of you, very patient & lovely Canadians to get fed-up. Retrogressions going to mean a lot more silly questions & comments like you've mentioned above I'm afraid. Retrogression will soon become your latest swear word!

Personally I'm really looking forward to starting my new life in Canada. I have great friends there & I promise not to say ANY of the above mentioned words :lol2:

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

RGN1, you're coming here FROM the States, so I doubt you'll be running back anytime soon. Especially given all the hassles you've aready endured to get here.

We've had two nurses come into our unit from the UK in the last couple of years. They both have fairly thick accents and of course they used different words for common things so there have been some funny moments. The snow always evokes a funny reaction.

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Specializes in med/surg.

No I'm coming from the UK - hope you don't hate me now!! I was going to the USA but retrogression plus a few other things have changed my mind!

I'll be impossibly excited to see the snow - at least for the 1st couple of days anyhow!! However, I will keep my house in Florida to escape it occasionally too!

I don't have a regional accent though - just watered down Queens English - which will cause abject hilarity amongst my Canadian colleagues no doubt (& patients too of course!)

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Erasers NOT rubbers. Most nurses I know would give you a condom before an eraser.

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Specializes in med/surg.

OK, here's a couple of others that might give you a giggle - although I have to admit to these being US terms that I may be assuming wrongly that you use in Canada:

NBM means "nil by mouth" here in the UK & not "no bowel movement"

BM is short for peripheral blood glucose measurment & not "bowel movement"

I'm sure there's plenty of others too! A similar thread to this on the UK forum ran for ages & was really funny.

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Nah, we use NPO for nothing by mouth.

Most of the time we forget to chart BM's and wind up hoping the patient remember the last bowel movement. Though in our defense, we were supposed to be a short stay surgical unit (3-7days)

BGM==blood glucose monitoring. But usually we say chemstrips or sugars.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
No I'm coming from the UK - hope you don't hate me now!! I was going to the USA but retrogression plus a few other things have changed my mind!

Hmmm... house in Florida, nursing license in New Mexico... that suggests to me that you've "been there and done that", no matter where you are now. We'll welcome you anyway...

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.
Erasers NOT rubbers. Most nurses I know would give you a condom before an eraser.

:roll Yep, "has anybody got a rubber??" Typical warcry in our place...of course meaning eraser!

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Specializes in med/surg.
Hmmm... house in Florida, nursing license in New Mexico... that suggests to me that you've "been there and done that", no matter where you are now. We'll welcome you anyway...

Nope here's where the confusion started - holiday home in Florida, license in NM because that's the route many nurses take to get their US license, as you get a hard license that lasts a couple of years between renewals without a SS#

I was going to the USA & actually have a job there but I can't get to it due to retrogression. We're fed-up with UK, have wonderful friends in Canada so have decide to go to there instead. NO regrets, except for the money we've blown on the USA!

Does that make sense? I honestly didn't ever mean to confuse you!

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