Thinking twice before moving to Calgary from UK

[cocoy2go]

Hi

Is there anyone from the UK planning to go to Alberta or any other province in Canada? I had a job offer from one of the hospitals in Calgary while i was on holiday there. The hospital condition is that i have to pass the RN exam and i have the choice to work as a graduate nurse( A grade) while i wait to write for the exam.

I have received a letter from CARNA ... nursing board for Alberta that i am eligible to take the RN exam soon. Now i am thinking first to go there and work as an A grade then take the exam or do the exam which is due in Oct 2008 then move there.

I wonder if there is anyone at present thinking of moving to Canada or in the process ...any suggestions or ideas welcome.

Bye

Cocoy2go :wink2:

[RGN1]

I'm sure!! :)

Go on rub it in a little more - To think if my original plans had worked out I'd be wishing the same - NOT!!!

Mind you the views of the mountains are truly beautiful & the sky is blue - well not now as it's dark but you get my drift!

[cocoy2go]

Hi Rebecca

How are you? Good to hear from you again. How are things on your side? How about the exam? Was it Ok ?

I am hoping to come by January to start on the 5th. I will definitely need your advice. I will be giving my notice at the end of this month. The house was to be sold but I changed my mind cos of ridiculous prices so i will rent it instead.

I am gathering previous work experience from work colleagues. Is it possible to know approximately the first month salary so that I can budget. It will be hard financially as the house has not been sold. i need to count every penny. I dont think you are allowed any extra to top up your salary. I mean exta shifts is that possible?

Anyway I am doing the 8 week rota for my wards to cover for the Xmas and New year period. Many staff are leaving from my ward. Its too heavy at present. I dont mind the heavy workload but being understaffed all the time is annoying. It means I have to do everything like coordinating the wards, take a group of patients and do all the paperwork like referrals, phone calls, daily audit for infection, etc....

Enough of that ...lets look forward for a better future thats the reason we are all leaving the UK. I am worried cos my OH has not received anything from the embassy. Her application was sent in August. She has written to them today and also email them too.

Rebecca, you take care. Is it really cold now? I missed the snow.

Bye for now

Ibs

[RGN1]

Actually it's really warm today, as it was yesterday. It's 11.14am & my deck is already at 70F! It turns a litle colder for tomorrow thru Friday then the temp gets back up for the weekend. Even the cold days had bright sunshine though, so it felt good.

The exam was horrible - check out the Oct 2008 CRNE thread!

I hear you on the heavy ward thing. Although I have to say that my unit here is very busy too & sometimes the staffing level is short (sickness etc) but you will, at least only have your own patient's to worry about, at least for a while! :-) However, it's busy in a different way to that which I know you're going through in the UK. You're busy here with meds, new doc orders, IV pumps etc. There's less in the way of making beds & washes as the CNA's help with that side of things. Just as well because it would be impossible otherwise. I've worked a couple of times where CNA help has been less than willing & that was tough! Luckily it was when I was with my mentor, so there were 2 of us.

On balance I'm finding it nicer here to work than the UK but maybe I'm just lucky with my unit because it's also really, really interesting. I'm doing stuff I've never done before & working with pts much sicker than I have before. The staff around me are being nice (read understanding) too & helping me if I get stuck with anything (it's usually computer related with me!) Also I have a to die for view out the window to cheer me up as well!

I have a lot of evening shifts (15.15-23.30) & they are a bit slower paced on the whole, so that's also been a good thing while I'm learning the ropes.

I hope your wife hears some good news soon -you know the embassy can be slow!

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I agree it is hard to express how hard you work and I am sure it is difficult for the UK nurses sometimes to comprehend how we work hard when we have a smaller nurse pt ratio. Somedays I work so hard I cannot believe it would be possible to say that when I only have 4 pts. Then I realise these pts go for multiple tests in a day, you have to do bucketfuls of paperwork, phone the docs a trillion times. Deal with sometimes up to 7 doctors a day for one pt and each doctor makes new orders which have to be carried out. Then they order blood, multiple IV's conflicting times, multiple pain meds and you must never ever miss one thing LOL

[RGN1]

Yes, nursing is busy, busy for sure, wherever you are!

[cocoy2go]

Hi Rebecca

Good to hear from you. Thanks for the PMs about the money aspect. Your advice is well appreciated by both of us.

I am just inquiring about the uniform...I saw all the nurses wearing scrubs and trainers. I could not tell who is who there in the unit. Did you buy yours in Calgary or did they tell you where to go and get it?

I may buy the trainers here but i just want to know from you in case its the wrong pair. Do they have to be white pair of trainers? I hate trainers but if that the dressing code..so be it.

You mention that you finished at 11:30 pm so i assumed that you drive there. How easy to get a driving licence ...I got my UK paper one changed to a photo one...is there any special form I need to fill to get a driving licence in Calgary.

I have handed my notice as from today. Its 8 week notice for me as I am Band 6 or Charge Nurse as we used to be called. I am starting to feel resentment from my ward manager. She cancelled my study day as she said that as I am leaving it wont benefit the ward so no study day for me. Shame you have given them 13 years of your life then you cant even get 7.5 hours as a study day. Thats another story...

You take care ...Bye for now

ibs

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Generally speaking, unless you're working in the OR or on OB, most nurses wear either their own scrubs or those provided by the hospital. You can buy scrubs in a lot of places and the prices vary from inexpensive to very pricy. One of the managers in our unit wears Baby Phat scrubs, that run about $75 a uniform, right down to the gold embroidery. For more practical people, you can get scrubs at WalMart, Mark's Work Wearhouse (they have a discount for employees of health regions), Sears, specialty uniform stores and online. I have a variety of tops with cartoon characters on them, some with flowers, some solid colours and some with geometric patterns. As for trainers (here we call them running shoes) you can probably wear whatever kind of shoes you're most comfortable in, in whatever colour you want. I'd stay away from Crocs though because some hospitals have banned them.

[RGN1]

Jan's nicely answered the scrubs question - I have got most of mine from Marks (where I also picked up my very comfortable shoes) but I did get one set from a small shop right near the hospital - for halloween wear! Well, I was working the evening :-) Jan is also correct about no shoe code - whatever you're comfortable in!

It is difficult to tell whose who but I have found that its nurses who tend to wear the patterns! I don't think people here realise that we find it so strange because we're just so used to unifroms in the UK!

As for your driving license you just pay $30 in person at your nearest registry here (there are hundreds of them) & they take your UK license & issue you with an Alberta one - it takes a few minutes!

To start you have to park at the children's hospital & they shuttle you in on a free bus to FMC. However, evenings & weekends you can park on site. It costs $32 per month for that. I think the waiting list for on-site parking is 5 years! It's more expensive too.

Don't worry about the study day, it won't matter anyway! Once you get used to things here I think you'll be happy, I know I am!