future for Alberta nursing students?

Fiona59 · Dec 12, 2009

It's not looking good for the next 2-3 years. But then again who knows how long the Stelmach/Duckit regime will last?

It's only the last few years that new grads automatically expected full time lines upon graduation. Back in the late '90s - early 00s it was common to start off as a casual or part time and just wait it out. When I was a new grad, I had three casual positions and rarely reached more than a .6 FTE. Others in my class started out as .5s and picked up as many as they could.

Only you can decide to enroll or not. Nursing employment runs in cycles. We just happen to be in a slash and burn phase right now, just like the early '90s.

I will tell you that the 40% hire of new grads is a figure floated by CARNA and remember it is their time to bargain and scare the public (which they are very good at). They could care less about PN students and new grads. There is a wonderful memo posted on all the units at RAH that the 40% figure has been misquoted and that fearmongering is running wild.

We keep hearing that a package will be offered to older staff close to retirement but it is yet to filter down to the nurses on the floor. CARNA is supposed to have seen it as has UNA and is considering it. AUPE which bargains for the LPNs has rejected it, or so the story goes.

There aren't enough bodies on the floor as it is to go laying off people. But who really knows what evil lurks in the hearts of the poisonous twosome?

Look through this thread for the Alberta Health Services thread and have a read.

petethecanuck · Dec 12, 2009

I can't speak for the LPN students but morale is pretty low at the U for us nursing students. Folks who are graduating this spring are feeling very uneasy and anxious about their chances of working in AB.

A few numbers to you to ponder.

Earlier this year, AHS hired 77/108 of the (April '09) Spring graduating class (just before the hiring freeze, aka vacancy management).

Conversely, only 10/60 of the (September '09) Fall graduating class were hired and I believe of these, 8 were already working internally with AHS.

-Source: University of Calgary Undergraduate Nursing Society

I am sure some grads will get hired in Spring '10, not very many though.

I don't graduate until 2011 and if things haven't improved....well... being an unemployed nurse isn't so bad. LOL (have to keep some sense of humour about all of this)

I would say that if health care is your passion and if living your dream life entails being an LPN/RN then by all means go for it! It's not like AB is never going to hire another nurse. It's just going to take a few years for this mess to get sorted out.

Best of luck!

cheers

HB88 · Dec 21, 2009

I just graduated a few weeks ago, I've been applying and am internal but nothing came up so I'm heading to Saskatchewan. I got the mentorship program at the CCU and a permanent full time position. It's bad right now, I hope it improves but because they're focusing on hiring more LPNs maybe you have a better shot at employment?