Are there work opportunities for LPN's in Canada?

[Davidsch1]

Hi,

I am from Victoria, Australia.

I am from a big family of 10 children, with ages ranging from 33yrs to 15yrs - six of us are currently nurses (in Australia, we are known as Endorsed Enrolled Nurses or EN's). We have varied nursing experiences as follows:

33 yr old sister - has been nursing for 4 years (72 hr/fortnight), rotates between Aged Care and Acute nursing (which covers general, medical, postoperative, orthopedics, cardiac, respiratory, palliative, etc)

Myself (David) - 30yr - have been nursing for nearly 5 years (72yr/fortnight), I used to rotate between Aged care and Acute, but I now work 72yr/fortnight in Acute nursing and Urgent Care/Emergency (which covers general, medical, postoperative, orthopedics, cardiac, respiratory, palliative, etc)

23 yr old sister - has been nursing for nearly 5 years (72yr/fortnight), used to rotate between Aged care and Acute, but now works 72yr/fortnight in Aged Care, with Team Leadership role on a number of shifts per fortnight (which includes the overseeing of 10+ personal care workers on a shift.)

21 yr old sister - has been nursing for just under a year (72yr/fortnight), works in Aged Care.

20 yr old brother - has been nursing for just under a year (72yr/fortnight), works in Aged Care.

19 yr old brother - has been nursing for just under a year (72yr/fortnight), works in Aged Care, with Team Leadership role on a number of shifts per fortnight (which includes the overseeing of 10+ personal care workers on a shift.)

We all have what is known as a Diploma in Nursing, which is 18 months full time study (not including practical placements). We would look at migrating as a family.

We have looked at migrating from Australia to Canada quite some time ago, but at the time, too many of the children were quite young, making the immigration process quite complex. However, moving on, we have been considering it as a possibility for the future.

My questions are:

1. What are the work opportunities for us in Canada? We would be particularly interested what opportunities exist in the "warmer parts" of Canada - :), such as southern BC or southern Alberta. In particular, Vancouver and surrounding cities, Kelowna/Kamloops and surrounding cities, or Calgary and surrounding cities. (The reason I say Kamloops, is because my father has an Aunty and cousins who live in Kamloops).
   
2. Is there a demand for LPN's at all?
   
3. Are there hospitals that would offer sponsorships? Particularly, are there hospitals that would offer sponsorships that accomodate for six overseas nurses from the one family!
   
4. How difficult is it to make the conversion from an Australian EEN to a Canadian LPN? The duties of an EEN here include, general nursing care, documentation and assessments, catheter insertion/care, general and complex wound care, surgical wound care (R/O sutures/staples, drain tube care), NGT insertion/care, Tracheostomy care, medication administration (including SC and IM), intravenous administrations, including IV meds and blood/iron transfusions, IV cannulation where appropriate training has been undertaken, syringe pump administration and care (Niki T34). This is just to name some of the duties within our scope of practice here in Australia.
   

I would be glad to hear from anyone who has relevant knowledge or experience regarding my enquiry.

Looking forward to your replies!

David

[loriangel14, RN]

LPN would not qualify for a work visa. Nursing is also no longer on the Federal Skilled Worker list. your only route would be to get a license and go the Temporary Work Permit route, which requires a license and a job offer first.As I said, you would need a BSN to get a work visa.

Generally there is no demand for nurses in Canada.Hospitals have no need to sponsor nurses from outside of Canada since we already have plenty that are looking for work.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Let me add to what Silverdragon102 says. My whole extended family lives in BC; Mom, Dad, brother and one sister live in Kamloops, second sister, brother-in-law and niece in Comox. My brother and sister in Kamloops currently do not have jobs (neither is a nurse, but in Kamloops the economy is quite depressed and people just aren't hiring) and my brother-in-law has not worked in nearly a year for similar reasons. My sister in Comox works for the federal government and my niece is a housekeeper at a hotel. The hospitals in both communities do not have vacancies or I might have moved to be closer to all of them. It's a pretty bleak time for nurses in Canada at present and that doesn't look to be improving any time soon.

[Davidsch1]

hmmm, that sound rather bleak. Is it like that across the whole of Canada?

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Yes it is. Alberta and BC are the two provinces that are the most well-off economically. Ontario is really struggling with a huge deficit and their health care system has seen cut after cut after cut. Québec is going through a very rocky patch politically and they're the province with the worst reputation for how they pay and how they treat their nurses. The Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island all have small populations and small provincial budgets. Newfoundland has a growing oil and gas industry but a small population spread out over a large area. And Saskatchewan has recently peaked in terms of demand for nursing human resources. There are hundreds of unemployed or under-employed nurses in Canada. That's not to say that there isn't a need for more nurses in our hospitals and care homes though... there's no desire to PAY for any more nurses. So we who are employed are working harder than ever. And if history is any kind of a teacher, I'd say we're approaching the nadir of an approximately 20 year cycle of boom and bust for health care human resources in general, not just nurses. It was much like this when I graduated as an RN 20 years ago only it's much worse now because our new grads have nowhere else to go, unlike in the 1990s when they still could go to the US.

[itsmejuli]

Considering that we're into our 6th month of winter why on earth would you want to come here?

[Trishrpn80]

LPN isn't covered under any work visa. Get your BScN and some experience and you can try in a fee years

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

What are the work opportunities for us in Canada? We would be particularly interested what opportunities exist in the "warmer parts" of Canada - , such as southern BC or southern Alberta. In particular, Vancouver and surrounding cities, Kelowna/Kamloops and surrounding cities, or Calgary and surrounding cities. (The reason I say Kamloops, is because my father has an Aunty and cousins who live in Kamloops).

Is there a demand for LPN's at all?

Are there hospitals that would offer sponsorships? Particularly, are there hospitals that would offer sponsorships that accomodate for six overseas nurses from the one family!

How difficult is it to make the conversion from an Australian EEN to a Canadian LPN? The duties of an EEN here include, general nursing care, documentation and assessments, catheter insertion/care, general and complex wound care, surgical wound care (R/O sutures/staples, drain tube care), NGT insertion/care, Tracheostomy care, medication administration (including SC and IM), intravenous administrations, including IV meds and blood/iron transfusions, IV cannulation where appropriate training has been undertaken, syringe pump administration and care (Niki T34). This is just to name some of the duties within our scope of practice here in Australia.

What are the work opportunities for us in Canada? Pretty tough as a LPN. LPN like RN no longer on the skilled list. Finding a employer willing to offer Temp Work Permits for everyone will also be tough as jobs have to be full time to meet TWP requirements and without seniority obtaining full time employment will be difficult as seniority is something taken seriously in Canada.

Is there a demand for LPN's at all? No I would not say there is a demand for LPN's at the moment especially with the government seeing as they have taken both LPN and RN off the skilled shortage list.

Are there hospitals that would offer sponsorships? I think regardless of province finding a hospital willing to sponsor you for TWP is difficult. Nothing stopping you from contacting the hospitals but with current job hardships for many nurses both LPN and RN expect the answer to be no.

There are other ways you could look at getting PR and then assess jobs at that time and starting point would probably be getting your foot through the door as casual. So options would be either getting PR via another route, check CIC out, getting a job and working seniority up or get your RN done, courses behind you making you appealing to employers and then look at the route you can take. Final option is probably expensive but come over as a student, once finished study obtain permit allowing you to live and work in Canada and then if criteria is met apply for PR enabling you to stay permanently in Canada to live and work

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/

[4_Sq]

I agree that there are more opportunities for Canadian trained nurses, and for RN's, however, according to the stats there is going to be a huge number of nurses retiring in the next few years

I looked at the Interior health LPN postings and there are about 10 casual positions at present

A person must hold a practising LPN license to work in Canada

Good Luck to your entire family!

If there is a will, there is a Way!

4_Sq

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

There will be a demand for nurses within the next 5-10 years, but there are already many locally educated nurses and IEN's who are already settled and looking for work across Canada. Employers have a wide selection of candidates.

Consider working towards your RN, but realize that your chances are very slim.

[Fiona59]

I think what everyone has missed is the fact that the OP can't migrate as a family group. Each sibling has to apply and be evaluated as an independent group and then are assessed on the point system.

So one sibling might get more points due to a spouse's employment, linguistic skills, etc.

What will they do if only one can migrate or all except one can migrate.

Also the areas mentioned all have highly competitive job markets and high housing costs.

[loriangel14, RN]

Plus I am pretty sure they would need their BSNs.