Full time in Canada 36 or 40 hours/week?

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Hello Canadian nurses,

I work in San Diego, California, but am considering a move to BC. Can you tell me what is normally considered full time in Canada? I work for the government, so we do a 40 hour week. What do most hospitals/clinics consider full time in your beautiful country?

Thanks so much.

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In BC hospital setting full time is 4 shifts on and 4 shifts off. And that is rotating shifts so depending on your line it's 3 days 1 night then 4 days off or 2 days 2 nights then 4 days off. Also, it's always day/night rotating. For nurses at my hospital once a month people do get 5 days off as well. Anything less than 4 on 4 off (0.7, 0.5) is considered part time. Nursing home/residential care facilities are different as they have 8 hours shifts and it's a bit difficult to explain but they also have day/evening and day/night rotations week after week and my friend had a line that involved working 6 shifts straight as well. (when I worked in residential care I had 5 on 3 off 5 on 2 off schedule rotating) I am not sure about clinics but it would vary based on the individual clinic operating hours.

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That's very helpful. From what you say, it seems you are working 42 hours/week over the course of 30 days doing 12 hour shifts. In USA the standard for full time is 36 hrs/week. For government hospitals, it is 40 hours. So you guys are working harder than us! It must be very difficult to switch between nights and days. We just have night shift or day shift nurses. I really appreciate your input. I would like to learn as much as possible about how nursing REALLY is in Canada.

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I also practiced in USA and studied my nursing there. The biggest difference I found was how there are not as many care aids (cna) in acute care. Standard ratio is 20-40 pts to one care aid. Now I know some people will say in Alberta they have a broader scope but in BC they do not do routine vs and cannot check glucometers. It varies between hospitals but in most places they cannot officially document except for behavioral charting. I helped in the icu and the ratio of the care aid is pretty much the same, one care aid for the whole unit. (My hospital is medium sized hospital) So pretty much you are expected to do a lot of bedside care here more than you are to do in USA.

The other major difference is that the lpns work in acute care units. Their scope varies acorss the country but they have less broader scope in BC. We as 1 rn and 1 lpn take 8-10 pts as a team with only one care aid on the floor. I do my lpn pts' iv meds and manage picc lines and trachs. Like I mentioned the lpn in other provinces as well as in remote areas in BC have a broader scope of practice but since you are interested in BC in particular I wanted to let you know.

With patient ratios in BC you are looking at 4-5 in med surg or any acute care setting (8-10 as a team with lpn or rn depending on assignment). High acuity (similar to IMCU in usa) take 2-3pts and ICU in big hospitals take 1 but my friend working in the ICU at a smaller hospital take 2-3 depending on workload.

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Thank you so much for your very informative reply! This really helps me envision what nursing might be like in a similar setting (acute rehab) in Canada. I work in a Veterans hospital, spinal cord injury unit. RNs take a max of 3 patients (direct, full care, NO care aides), and we cover an LPN for an additional 4 patients, we do all the IVs, PICCs, vents, trachs. So our ratio is slightly lower, but not much. I really appreciate your help - I'm gathering information in order to make the big decision to move.

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.... I'm gathering information in order to make the big decision to move.

Do you have a nursing license in any of the Canadian provinces? If not, I would recommend that while you are doing your information gathering, you may want to research and read some of the forums on US-educated and experienced nurses attempting to become registered in a Canadian province. A forum on this site called "NNAS experience" will be most helpful.

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Thank you for your reply. I have prepared the NNAS form for BC, but the cost is $600, then another $500 for the BC license. So I was trying to get a "feel" for how nursing really IS in Canada before taking on this large expense. From what I can gather from this forum, there are the same staffing issues in Canada as in the USA (running short staffed), and the hours in Canada seem longer. I will go to the NNAS experience forum on this site, as you suggested. Very grateful for anyone's input. Thank you!

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Specializes in Neuro-Psychiatry,Cardiac ICU,ER/Trauma,.

37.5/wk hrs in British Columbia (paid hrs). I cannot speak for other provinces sorry.

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Specializes in Neuro-Psychiatry,Cardiac ICU,ER/Trauma,.

How funny I was actually looking to move to Monterey,CA and wondering given your user name are you from Carmel valley? You don't have to answer though...;)...wanted to see how is it to work at Community Hospital of Monterey peninsula.

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Thanks. Right now I work 40 hours/week.

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My Carmel Valley is actually in the San Diego area, but I know the Monterey Carmel Valley well and it's beautiful. I don't know about the hospital there, though. You will probably double your salary if you work in California. But you might want to think twice about moving in this political climate! Depends on your political views LOL. All the best to you :)

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... I have prepared the NNAS form for BC, but the cost is $600, then another $500 for the BC license. ...From what I can gather from this forum, there are the same staffing issues in Canada as in the USA (running short staffed), and the hours in Canada seem longer. I will go to the NNAS experience forum on this site, as you suggested. Very grateful for anyone's input. Thank you!

Then there will also be a cost associated with further testing as it is likely your NNAS Advisory Report will say "non-comparable"

I work in the US and definitely there are similar staffing issues in Canada. I agree with the above forum participant who said that we have a lot less aides in Canada. So RN's are doing everything--bathing, etc, especially in hospitals. I don't think it's a bad thing, but it's definitely a major difference between the two countries. In Canada nurses are not deemed an "essential service" nor is it a federal offence to assault a nurse as it is in the US. A lot more facilities use paper charting here in Canada in comparison to the US. No mandatory flu vaccines, which is too bad really, as our nurse vaccine uptake rate is low and outbreaks are high. Another major difference is that in the US hospitals, staff get really high quality training, paid for by their employer. There are always opportunities to increase skills and knowledge. For example, most hospitals would pay for a staff member to take ACLS in the US, but in Canada the RN would have to pay for it themselves and take the course on their own time in most cases. That training piece is huge.

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