A Little Advice Please!!!!

[Jossie]

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!!!

It has been awhile sinc I have posted anything on this forum, this has been mainly due to moving into our new home in Canada (Okanagan region) As you can imagine it has been a crazy whirl wind time!!! but now we are settled it is time for me to return to the "Land of working for a living" I have gained employment in our local hospital as a RN working casual and this is not because I am a lazy so and so and I am really enjoying the great out doors (which I do) but more to do with juggling work, three kids, a house and husbands working hours all at the same time, at times I think it would be easier for me to work full time. Anyway I was so excited that all this fell into place and then today I received my contract which states that I will be paid as a first level nurse, this felt like a kick in the teeth!!! has anyone else eperienced this!!! does none of the skills or experience count???? I have coped with starting a new life but to start again with the career again!!!! I am going to be retired before I reach the top of the pay scale. Any advice at all welcome and I would really love any advice at all on the CRNBC exam take mine June, I have the revision guide but the more help and information the better Thank you so much Jossie

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Most provinces will pay for skills and experience, but not without proof. If you were to provide them with a notarized or official letter from each of the places you have worked as a nurse documenting the number of hours you worked for them as a nurse, they would be taken into consideration. For example, when I moved to Alberta from another province, I obtained a letter from the human resources departments of each of the hospitals I had worked for over the preceeding 8 years. The total number of hours I had documentation for amounted to 5 1/2 years' equivalent to full time (I worked 70% of full time for those 8 years), which placed me on the 6th step of Alberta's 9 step scale. I also worked as an agency nurse for 7 months but the agency had closed and I was unable to provide proof of those hours, so they didn't count.

For tips on passing the CRNE, you can look at the related threads on this forum. There are a bunch of them. Find out as much as you can about how health care is delivered in Canada, how Canada educates nurses, and what internet resources there are related to health care in Canada. That will go a long way toward helping you pass.