can RPN work as PSW??

miisz · Apr 25, 2014

My question is did you pass your cprne? If you did, that's great. It's your choice if you'd like to take the psw job just cause you're inexperience yet. Since you're from an agency, i would take that psw so you know what the bedside care would look like. if you decide you don't want the psw, you can ask your employer if you could shadow a nurse to see how a routine of a nurse goes. Just not sure how that's gonna work with agency.

FutureRPN · Apr 25, 2014

Where do you find a nursing agency? Sorry if I sound dumb or anything. :-)

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 25, 2014

Don't do it. It won't count as experience when you're applying for PN positions, and it could be one of those situations where you're taken advantage of because you're not "from here". By that I mean you might be expected to work split shifts, say 0800 to 1200 for one client and then from 1600 to 2000 for another. FutureRPN, there are lots of agencies that hire for private home care or staff relief in local facilities. The pay is usually a lot less than the agency charges the home care client and the amount those same facilities pay their regular staff. They usually don't hire people into regular full time positions, it's all casual work where they call you at 0530 to see if you can work a day shift or wake you up while you're sleeping off a night shift to ask you if you can work a shift one day next week. They also will make you sign a no-compete contract which means that you cannot obtain employment at any of the facilities that they supply relief staff to - even if you never set foot in any of them - for a period of time after you leave THEIR employ. I know because I worked for one as a new grad desperate for work. Never again. I'd rather starve.

You also have to be careful of recruitment agencies (head hunters) that do the screening for private nursing homes or clinics. They're being paid to fill a position and they're also going to skim a percentage of your pay off for themselves as well. I know this because my husband was hired through one of those. She owned him for 3 years. It's funny that he was absolutely suitable for the contract position she placed him in and renewed for him for the three years, but when the company decided to make his position a permanent one, suddenly he wasn't suitable and lost it. You really have to be careful!

loriangel14, RN · Apr 25, 2014

Why would you? If you have your RPN license it wouldn't make any sense.

jrcbtst · Apr 26, 2014

an agency actually called me and asked me if i wanted to work as psw first because he said i dont have canadian nursing experience yet and said after a couple of months they can try to give me rpn job placement... im an internationally educated nurse and i did not practice RPN for 2 1/2 years... ive been applying for almost 2 months with about 100+ resumes sent and this is the only one who contacted me so far... i was thinking this might help me land RPN job after a few PSW work... i only have until december to practice RPN or else i need to apply for reinstatement next year.. whats the best thing to do? any advice? thanks for your suggestions :)

Silverdragon102, BSN · Apr 26, 2014

As mentioned it will not count as experience as I wonder how they can say after a few months they will give you placement as a RPN if your only experience is as a PSW. Have you tried LTC and sent resumes looking for casual work. This may be the only way you can get your foot through the door. Another option may be to consider moving

loriangel14, RN · Apr 26, 2014

Like SD said, PSW experience will not help when looking for a RPN job.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 26, 2014

So now you've heard the same thing 3 times from 3 different people. Agencies make a lot of 'promises' to get the unsuspecting to go along with them and then when the time comes, they'll tell you either that the position they were hoping to offer you didn't materialize or that they made no such promise to you. IENs who arrive in Canada with no work lined up and no real prospects are these agencies' targets. They know that desperation will drive people to do things they know aren't in their best interests just to have a pay cheque. Then later, when reality sets in and the exploitation is recognized, the person says, "Why didn't anybody warn me this would happen?" We've seen it quite regularly in this forum. That's why we all advise IENs who are exploring a move to Canada to be sure they have a job before they make their move. Even then, there still could be exploitation. A coworker of mine came to Canada a little over a year ago with a position already waiting for him. He had two years of experience as an RN, English is his mother tongue and he was eligible to write the CRNE before he left his home country. Our collective agreement has provisions for accepting documented experience from other parts of the country and the world and for retroactive payment to the place on the pay scale that provides them once they pass the CRNE. He's still waiting to see any of that, despite multiple submissions of his documentation. So you see, we're not telling you any of this to hurt you or to see you fail. Quite the opposite. We don't want to see you make the same mistakes so many others before you have made.

jrcbtst · Apr 26, 2014

sorry but its my first time aplying forn rpn job in ontario so i dont have experience how rpn staffing agencies operate, and if i work with the agency do they usually require a contract like you have to work for them for specific number of months and you cant leave anytime if ever you found rpn job from other place? thanks for all your answers i learned a lot :)

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 26, 2014

We're aware that this is all new to you. This is one of those situations that arises every time provincial health care budgets are cut and facilities stop filling their vacancies to save money. When I graduated 20 years ago it was just like this. And like you, I HAD to have a job, any job, because at the time I was the main wage earner in our family of five. (I am now again, but we won't go into that...) So I took a job with an agency very much like the one that is recruiting you. Agencies hold all the cards and we're like puppets that they can jerk around to suit their needs. Some agencies have very good staff relations and their employees are very happy. But those ones don't tend to advertise on Kijiji, or offer qualified and licensed professionals work that doesn't match their qualifications. The good ones staff their vacancies through referrals from their current employees, people who want their friends to work with them because they're treated well and love what they do.

As I explained in my first post to this thread, agencies who provide staff relief to hospitals and LTC homes to cover sick calls or scheduling gaps will require their people to sign no-compete contracts. In plain English that means that the agency employee cannot accept employment from ANY of their clients, be they hospitals, LTC homes or home health patients for a minimum amount of time after they leave the agency. So let's say you work for the XYZ Nurse Staffing Solutions agency (I made that up for the sake of this example) and they send you to the Shady Lane Seniors Home to work for two weeks while one of Shady Lane's RPNs is on vacation. You find that you really like working at Shady Lane. The workload is very reasonable, the other people you work with are friendly and helpful and the residents are well cared for. A few months later while you're still working for XYZ because nothing else has come up, Shady Lane has an RPN position become vacant and you decide to apply. Shady Lane remembers you and wants you to have the job. XYZ will then block your hiring because they have a contract with you that says you have to quit working for them for 6 months before you can work at Shady Lane. Now do you see what I mean? They won't prevent you from quitting but they WILL prevent you from working somewhere else if they can. That too has happened to me and to my husband.

jrcbtst · Apr 27, 2014

oh my goodness you just gave me the answer that really im looking for :) thanks. i hope you can give me an advice about this one... here is my situation: ive been registered as RPN since 2011 but i still dont have safe practice until now (i never worked as RPN for the past 2 years) anyway i called CNO and they told me i need to have safe practice RPN before january 2015 to avoid any reinstatement or revocation or whatsoever... so what can you advice to me? been looking for jobs for two months now but that PSW job is the only im being offered right now... i really appreciate your suggestions .. thank you :)