Australia trained OR RN looking to move/work in toronto

[firecat777, ASN, RN]

Hi,

I’m a US educated RN who moved to Australia and now is a perioperative nurse for almost 10 yrs now. I’m looking to move to Toronto, Canada. Can anyone provide me with any advice on the way things are done in the OR in Toronto compared to Australia? I’m also wondering if i should do the graduate cert in perioperative nursing here in Australia or wait to take a similar course in canada. I also work as an ANUM which is associate nurse manager or floor coordinator in the OR. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[xmaaay, BSN]

Im an OR nurse in Toronto,

I can't really tell you what is the difference between here and Australia is but, I would say its really hospital dependent as well. Some OR nurses here are trained to work in all services that the hospital provides, whereas some hospitals will only orient you to only a few services.

Theres usually two nurses in a room (sometimes 3, but rarely). As an RN you're either circulating or scrubbing. If there is no RN (you may be working with an RPN or scrub tech), you HAVE to assume the role of circulating nurse.

[firecat777, ASN, RN]

Here in Australia there are public hospitals and private. I currently work at a cancer hospital where our surgeries are more geared towards cancer related surgeries and treatments. I’m looking for a similar hospital. I am currently in a scrub/scout role plus ANUM (associate nurse unit manager) role and floor coordinator. Do you have something similar? I’m going to take a grad cert in perioperative nursing next year and wonder if that is of any value in Canada?

[Fiona59]

In my province, the major oncology surgeries are performed in the larger regional hospitals, the dedicated cancer centres are chemo, radiation, minor procedures.

There are no private hospitals. There are surgical centres but they are for smaller, more cosmetic type cases.

Nurse Managers exist but ours are rarely in the OR. More scheduling and liaison type roles. Prefer to promote from within the system, 10 plus years service and a good working relationship with surgeons, etcusually request

[xmaaay, BSN]

On 9/15/2019 at 4:27 AM, firecat777 said:

Here in Australia there are public hospitals and private. I currently work at a cancer hospital where our surgeries are more geared towards cancer related surgeries and treatments. I’m looking for a similar hospital. I am currently in a scrub/scout role plus ANUM (associate nurse unit manager) role and floor coordinator. Do you have something similar? I’m going to take a grad cert in perioperative nursing next year and wonder if that is of any value in Canada?

All our hospitals here are public!
All OR nurses are trained to take on a scrub role, Im not sure what a "scout" is though, we don't use that term here, is it the nurse that works outside the sterile field?(That's called the Circulating nurse here).

And yes, They'll only hire if you take the course, its a requirement for 99% of the jobs.