Alberta LPN

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Hi Everybody! I am not new to AllNurses, although this is my first post. I will be attending Norquest College this Sept for the full time practical nursing program. I am set to graduate on the spring of 2009. I was wondering if anyone has gone to Norquest and would like to share their experiences. I am especially interested in the clinical part of it. Also, does anyone here work as an LPN in Edmonton? What do you think of it? Where do you work and how much do you get paid? I hope someone can answer all of my questions. Thanks!

Specializes in Peds.
just a question..

would it be possible that we, the applicants hired by capital health via mercan would directly submit our credentials to clpna for assessment? although we also submitted the same requirements to mercan?

what are the outcomes for such action?

I'm surprised fiona59 didn't respond to your question since she's an LPN and is in Alberta. (Read some of her posts.)

I guess you could try that but I don't think it will get you anywhere because you don't have practical nursing education, you have RN education, and as it's been said before, this was a special arrangement with the health regions, CARNA, CLPNA and the government so that they could distract the public away from their failure to produce the promised results of hiring 500 registered nurses. The RNs who are working as LPNs were in Canada already before the problems with their education and competencies had been identified and the parties had to go into damage control mode. It's not likely to be continued for subsequent intakes of new IENs.

I didn't respond because it's not relevant to LPNs working in Alberta, which is what this thread was meant to cover. Per the red banner, questions concerning licensing and migration go in the international forum.

CLPNA is a world unto themselves. They do what they feel like and then let the membership know. Right now they are too busy processing the yearly renewals and pocketing our yearly fees to answer the phone quickly.

Oh and the grapevine has it that the new hourly rates won't come into effect until the last pay period in October. Which means roughly seven months of back pay to be taxed.

Where I work (acute care) I am considered senior staff after 6 years. I am an LPN, but the problem is that my employer has hired a lot of new staff (I would venture to guess 50-75% turnover in the last 4-5 months). The management has not lowered it's expectations and these new grads are "thrown" in, therefore putting extra pressure on the "senior" staff in addition to their own workload. Training is ongoing but there is not enough senior staff left to train new staff, especially with a full patient load in addition. When approached about the problem the employers response was "all the senior staff could leave and we would be just fine." With this attitude senior staff continue to leave, creating unsafe working environments and ultimately the patients are at risk.:smackingf

Most of the general public do not realize what on Lpn is or what they do. When I say that I am a nurse the response is oh, your a registered nurse, which I reply that no, I'm a Lpn and then have explain the difference. The postings may be more for Rn's that Lpn's but that is no reflection of nursing requirements, but more reluctance on the employers part to hire lpn's. At least where I work, Lpn's are not utilized to their full scope of practice and at times it seems quite ridiculous. For example I can hang a line of NS but can't initiate the infusion, or can insert ng tubes on adults but not on peds, or can't co-check blood prior to infusion. A lot of the time there are more Lpn's on shift than Rn's and trying to find an Rn to do these small things can be a pain on a busy shift. I am not dissing Rn's but lpn's are just as valuable and should be utilized appropriately, especially now with the current shortage.

I've worked with some of the Mercan nurses who are being permitted to practice as LPNs. We were told we were going to be working with skilled, experienced nurses. This has been a bit of an overstatement. The skill set appears to be very different in the Philllipines from Alberta. Several of the "new" nurses have required very long orientations on their units in addition to the time spent at Norquest.

Pedi-Gree, I don't know where you are working in Canada but in Edmonton and the Capital Health region there is a shortage of both grade of nurses. Every graduate of Norquest has a job to go to and there are still vacancies after each crop of new grads.

The new grads from Norquest are not getting as lengthy an orientation to their units as the overseas nurses and it is becoming a sore point amongst staff how differently "new" nurses are being treated. Yes, the local grads have had all their clinical time in the hospitals that hire them but the Mercan nurses were supposed to be experienced and require an adapatation course and the usual orientation to the unit. New grads get roughly five orientation shifts, while the overseas nurses are getting two or more months. Why should a local new grad get less time and consideration than an experienced, veteran nurse from another country? RNs arriving from the States don't get as lengthy an orientation either.

That is just wrong. As a new grad you need some time since the new grad role is so different than clinicals since you are limited in clinicals that you are not when you are a new grad with a license. We got about 5 weeks as a new grad in the US and I went to school in the US. That even seemed short but it is true what they said that you learn best once on your own. And as long as there are supportive peers it is OK. I was fortunate in that department and it has been a good experience but that could really vary upon location and unit.

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