Demand for Nurses in Canada

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US or UK does not have a nursing shortage, both and limited immgration to almost nothing.

First impressions are critical. When the first question one asks about a home country is how much money one can make, it gives the impression one only cares about money. Not the people, not nursing or the community.

I am sorry your home country is bad, but to make a community a good one, it takes work. A good citizen has to participate in the community. When the impression is only how much money one can earn, it brings a very taste in my mouth. Most employers value employees who are committed employemt at their institution. Awards are given for length of employment. When an employer employes you it is with the hope it will be a lasting relationship, something like a marriage. You don't enter a marriage with the attitude to leave when a better mate comes along.

Silverdragon102, BSN

1 Article; 39,477 Posts

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

I have only just started the process with Nova Scotia board of nursing but I can say moving here was worth it and I will be looking for work and haven't even thought about pay although I do hope I get paid something for my experience. It doesn't help when we hear vocally from people that they are only using some countries as a stepping stone to the US. I have heard it when in the UK that they only came to the UK to improve their English skills before continuing to the USA and that did get to me because I knew how much money the hospitals put into bringing the nurses over including their families. Unfortunately it will not stop but would be nice if people wasn't so vocal about it. They should use it to enhance their experiences and they never know they may enjoy the move to a new country and forget about the USA. I know we have

Silverdragon, I have read your blog, I can feel you verbally embrace your new home. I will look forward to reading your experiences when you get a position.

felisa

53 Posts

So you didn’t work in the UK. But you must have weighed and considered several things before you decided to leave your country and find better opportunities in another.

Just because one is poor and want better income does not mean that he is incapable of caring or making a better community. We do know about what employers value. And we know about commitment. In our country we are also given awards for length of employment. That is precisely why you should not generalize when you hear a few nurses who talk about making stepping stones out of countries. I am only saying that these nurses are just trying to find a better future and I don’t think they mean any harm to one country when they leave and find better opportunities eslewhere. If they are more vocal than other nationalities, it doesn’t mean that others are not doing it as well.

Specializes in Peds.

It's true that there are other individuals and even groups who do things like this, but they're not quite as obvious about it. I worked with a nurse, another Canadian, who took a job in our unit only to gain experience in a certain facet of what we do. She was planning to leave after a year, but never gave our management any clue about it. They, and the rest of the nurses on the unit, thought she was there for the long haul. When she handed in her resignation 11 months into her employment, everybody was stunned - except me. I had been watching her and the kinds of assignments she insisted on (to the point of having a tantrum when, while on orientation she wanted a patient who would only be assigned to our most senior nurses and wouldn't back down until the assignment was changed) and how she kept herself separate from everybody else during breaks and didn't enter into social conversations. I knew she had an agenda. Her actions caused people to feel disrespected and betrayed. They felt like they'd been used and I have to agree. They were.

I don't think anyone would argue that getting ahead and making a good living are intrinsically bad goals. What they're upset about is the idea that they're being used to further someone else's agenda without any consideration of how it will impact on them when the person moves on. Units where there have been significant numbers of people who have done that will develop a dislike for the whole process, and who can blame them for making their opinions known?

Commitment and community never enter into this sort of thing. There is no commitment if you take a job with the intention of leaving once you've gotten what you want out of it, and why bother getting involved in the community if you're not staying? How are the people who have welcomed you with open arms and tried to make the transition easier for you supposed to feel when you turn your back and move on? It eventually becomes like a form of aversion therapy.

Someone else here has said that Canada is a nation of immigrants, and that's very true. Other than the aboriginals here, everyone has come from somewhere else. My own ancestors came here in the 1800s from the UK, Scandinavia and eastern Europe. They left behind parents, siblings, friends and all that was familiar and comfortable, and they didn't have long-distance, text-messaging, webcams or high speed internet to help them stay in touch. My great-grandfather left behind a wife and daughter who refused to accompany him across the ocean until he got himself set up, and then his wife died before he could send for her. His daughter married and remained in England. But he never turned his back on his adopted country and neither did the rest. They made their homes, lives and livelihoods here; they fought in both World Wars for Canada and were glad to do it. They helped open up the west to the future and we're very proud of that. They came and they stayed.

If you're coming to Canada to make a lot of money and then move on to 'greener pastures' you will just have to accept the reactions that come with it. No matter where you're from originally.

purple_ylem

29 Posts

H'lo. I'm also planning to work as a nurse in Canada and stay there for good. I agree with Libie...most Filipino nurses plan to make Canada as their stepping stone to the US. But I believe that it's a great country with one of the best health care systems in the world, and so if you're an internationally educated nurse and you get the chance to practice there, more often than not, you'd stay for good in beautiful Canada.

lenjoy03, RN

617 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care.

You know dear friends, its really bad to generalized. Like on the above post, I dont want to go to US. Yes its a nice country but I do prefer Canada. My boyfriend is a american citizen who wants me to go there, but I still prefer to work in Canada.

Its a matter of choice. Some people want this and some people dont. So its not right to generalized. Peace everyone!

felisa

53 Posts

I totally agree with lenjoy when she says it is a matter of choice. A few years back, while I was visiting the US, I met an employer at a party who was willing to hire me and bring my family over. I seriously considered his offer until I visited Canada. I then decided that Canada was the place to be and declined the job offer. Until now, relatives from the US wouldn’t stop bugging me to go there. They even offered to pay for NCLEX even if I had no plans of working there, in the hopes that passing would make me change my mind. And I did pass. But I’m in Canada and plan on staying here for good. My family is here now. I’d like my kids to have a future here. As a Filipino I feel what the nurses there are going through. It’s tough and some may not make the right or ethical or moral decisions. But I wouldn’t want a working environment where I feel that I am being scrutinized in every move I make just because of what a few nurses are doing.

Felisa,

Sounds like you are putting down roots. Have you found a position? Have you taken the CRNE?

How are working conditions compared to your motherland?

Must be good to have your kids with you?

How is the cost of living? Are you able to live comfortably?

wannab06

25 Posts

US or UK does not have a nursing shortage, both and limited immgration to almost nothing.

First impressions are critical. When the first question one asks about a home country is how much money one can make, it gives the impression one only cares about money. Not the people, not nursing or the community.

I am sorry your home country is bad, but to make a community a good one, it takes work. A good citizen has to participate in the community. When the impression is only how much money one can earn, it brings a very taste in my mouth. Most employers value employees who are committed employemt at their institution. Awards are given for length of employment. When an employer employes you it is with the hope it will be a lasting relationship, something like a marriage. You don't enter a marriage with the attitude to leave when a better mate comes along.

There is a shortage of nurses in USA, and statistics show it will be worst in coming years. Many hospital are always recruiting nurses from overseas because of this. The cool thing about being a RN or PN in USA is that, once you take the NCLEX and pass in one state, and maintain a valid license...you can go anywhere in the USA and work without the hassle...because the NCLEX is a national exam, every RN or PN taking the exam take the same thing. NCLEX-RN , NCLEX-PN.

There is even a something that call COMPACT STATES, it's a group of states (13 now) that are members of the COMPACT that allow nurses who got their original license from one of these states to work in any of those states without having to applying for that particular state board license. Eg. say I live in Virginia now and got a job offer in Maryland, I can start working tomorrow without applying for a License for the state of Maryland.

Right now I thinking of relocating to Canada....In Ontario or Calgary, AB area. Looking at the cost of real estate there against the wages..i'm saying, why is it so expensive overthere?

Could you site your source of the nursing shortage? In fact the US has been in the state of retrogression and immigration has trickled to near zero.

You are partially correct about the NCLEX, if you have trained in a standard US program, you will have no issues. But if you are foreign trained or attend Exclesior transferring is not as easy, even with the compact agreement.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist

NotReady4PrimeTime, RN

5 Articles; 7,358 Posts

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
Right now I thinking of relocating to Canada....In Ontario or Calgary, AB area. Looking at the cost of real estate there against the wages..i'm saying, why is it so expensive overthere?

Ontario has historically been the industrial heartland of Canada, with high wages to go along with the skilled work performed. It is also where the federal government is seated, in the nations' capitol, Ottawa, and where many multinational corporations have their Canadian head offices. There is a high population density so even small towns have high real estate costs because of their proximity to the big city.

Alberta has oil. Oil=$$$ People who work in the oil patch make $$$. Executives make $$$, and the companies that support the oil patch make $$$. Therefore, everything out here costs $$$.

Nursing is considered a public service although the provincial governments usually try to buffer themselves from contract negotiations by having several layers of bureaucracy between them and the front lines. And as such, nursing isn't valued for what it provides to the province's economy. My plumber makes more than twice what I do and I'm at the top of the scale.

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