Being Lured to the US

Wow, how did I miss this one?

I was lured to the US as a new grad, mainly because at that time in Canada they were laying off nurses in droves. If new grads wanted a job anywhere other than LTC, they pretty much had to leave. I wound up working at a hellhole in Washington state for a few months on a medical ward. It was beyond ridiculous. My orientation sucked, the ratios were not what I was promised, the pay was lower than it should have been (the differentials were not included in my paychecks), they never gave me my moving expenses like they promised, the nurses were mean and there were never any doctors around. Basically, it was NOTHING like they told me in the interview. I learned to NEVER take a job without looking at the hospital first. I think they thought that because I was coming from Canada, I would take whatever crap they dished out at me. I don't think the NM realized I had American citizenship because we lived there when I was a teenager (my stepdad is American), so I was not tied to the job for immigration purposes. I got out of there as fast as I could and never looked back. I think a lot of the problem with this hospital was related to the fact that nurses had no where to go to adress problems other than the NM. There was no union and administration was completely uninterested.

Thanks Fergus, I have pm'd you.:)

I moved from Canada to nurse in the USA. And now I'm looking at moving back to Canada. Travel nursed here for 6 years. Let me know if you need info!

My name is Pam and I am a second year RN student looking for some help with my research. I was wondering if some of you could give me some insight on why or why not to stay in Canada to nurse. If you have move I would appreciate hearing your reasons and whether you are happy with your dissicion and If you have stayed in Canada I would like to know why. I would also like to hear your opinions on what could be changed to keep nurses in Canada