Canadian Nurse Practioners...

lalaxton · May 31, 2004

Hello,

I am an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in Ontario. There are about 500 Primary Care NP's in Ontario who work mainly in community health settings and about 200+ ACNP's who work mostly in hospital settings. Hours worked depends greatly on the need. I am the only ACNP working with 3 Cardiologists in a small community hospital so my hours are Mon-Fri 9-5 with no call. ACNP's in Ontario cannot practice independently so cannot admit and so being on call would be difficult. Some Primary Care NP's take call as they can practice indepentdently to a greater degree.

Hope this helps

beausud · May 31, 2004

Hello,
I am an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in Ontario. There are about 500 Primary Care NP's in Ontario who work mainly in community health settings and about 200+ ACNP's who work mostly in hospital settings. Hours worked depends greatly on the need. I am the only ACNP working with 3 Cardiologists in a small community hospital so my hours are Mon-Fri 9-5 with no call. ACNP's in Ontario cannot practice independently so cannot admit and so being on call would be difficult. Some Primary Care NP's take call as they can practice indepentdently to a greater degree.
Hope this helps

hello, thank you for your reply. this certainly does help. if you dont mind, i have some more questions. do you think that this is a rapidly growing segment in the health care field in Canada? will the hospitals/MD's note their continuing importance? (i know that in the US there is a place for NP's.) i am assuming that the NP's that work in a hospital setting, NICU, ICU etc.. have to take call, is this accurate? is there a difference between the roles of NP's in Ontario vs Quebec? what are the main advantages of working as an NP in a community setting vs hospital setting; you mentioned one in the previous post. thx again for your help. :)

lalaxton · Jun 1, 2004

do you think that this is a rapidly growing segment in the health care field in Canada? will the hospitals/MD's note their continuing importance? (i know that in the US there is a place for NP's.)

-Do I think this is a rapidly growing segment of the health care field? Looks like it to me. How fast is hard to say but the government seems to think so, they are still talking about funding new positions. Hospitals? Anything that will help their bottom line, they will go for. My hospital is certainly seeing benefit, they have just hired another NP for our rehab department. Doctors? As in the US some docs see benefit some only want to stop anyone from what they see as moving in on their turf!

i am assuming that the NP's that work in a hospital setting, NICU, ICU etc.. have to take call, is this accurate?

- Not necessarily, as I mentioned in the last post, I don't take call. I cannot admit patients under my own name so the docs have to make their own judgement on admission and original plan of treatment, also they cannot bill for the admission unless they have developed a "significant relationship" with the patient. So it makes more sense for them to be on call in a small community hospital such as this one. In larger centers NP's may take call but most that I know of do not. Primary Care NP's do sometimes share call with other Family docs, as they are able to practice independently to a certain extent.

is there a difference between the roles of NP's in Ontario vs Quebec?

-As far as I know NP's are not regulated yet in Quebec. Last I heard they were looking at specialty designations for NP's such as ER NP or Cardiology NP versus Primary Care NP and Acute Care NP here in Ontario. Ontario has legislation and regulation of NP's.

what are the main advantages of working as an NP in a community setting vs hospital setting; you mentioned one in the previous post. thx again for your help.

_ It all depends what kind of patients you like to see. I found that I prefer the more complex type of patient that you would find in hospital. If you prefer prevention and non-urgent medical type patients (colds, sprains, strains etc.) across the life span (babies to elderly) then the community setting is for you.

beausud · Jun 1, 2004

thank you so much for your input. right now i have a contact, a friend of a friend of a friend etc.., who works in the NICU in Montreal as NP's, i have yet to speak to them about their experiences. althought i think that i might do better w/ adults, we'll see. thx again for your time. :)

globalRN · Jun 8, 2004

NPs are in demand in Canada....the health authority I work for has a hiring initiative for more NPs.

I work in a hospital as an adult specialty area NP, all my colleagues are required to have a masters degree. I am a FNP but would say the demand for FNPs is likely better in Canada than in the USA. Specialty area NPs are more in demand in Canada because the Canadian system tends to churn out more primary care NPs then acute care or specialty area NPs. The position I have was vacant for quite some time before I applied. Other specialty NP positions have been vacant for 2+ yrs.

Hours are somewhat flexible ...overtime is nonbankable

nor compensated.

Benefits are generally not as good as the RN benefits(union negtiated).

Bonus: we have a onepayer system

thank you so much for your input. right now i have a contact, a friend of a friend of a friend etc.., who works in the NICU in Montreal as NP's, i have yet to speak to them about their experiences. althought i think that i might do better w/ adults, we'll see. thx again for your time. :)