Bringing nurses into Canada

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Specializes in Recruiting.

Our company is looking at bringing nurses into Canada. I am wondering if there are any nurses who have done and what their experience was. What were some of the positive things and what were some of the negative things?

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How about recruitng from the Canadian universities first? The Canadian nursing profession does not benefit from agencies that bypass Canadian grads to recruit outside of Canada.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg..

I read an article in June of 2009 in The Star that many new grad nurses are having a tough time finding employment in the hospitals in Toronto. How is bringing in more nurses going to help this?

I am not against immigration but why not hire those from Canadian Universities first as stated by the poster above.

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Specializes in Periop.

I am currently in nursing school in Texas, will get my associates degree. Very interested in Vancouver, what is required to nurse there? Thank you

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, educator.

Or make the situation attractive to have those nurses (new and experienced) that are having troubles finding a job to move to those areas of Canada that are lacking in available nurses. THEN, if a shortage still exists, worry about recruiting from outside.

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Specializes in Surgery, Tele, OB, Peds,ED-True Float RN.
I read an article in June of 2009 in The Star that many new grad nurses are having a tough time finding employment in the hospitals in Toronto. How is bringing in more nurses going to help this?

I am not against immigration but why not hire those from Canadian Universities first as stated by the poster above.

May be the case in Toronto but my province is 1000 RN's short. They have recruited some from the Philippines. My provincial regulating body now accepts BN or BSN as the minimum education for RN's now. We are very much in need for nurses!

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Specializes in Recruiting.
May be the case in Toronto but my province is 1000 RN's short. They have recruited some from the Philippines. My provincial regulating body now accepts BN or BSN as the minimum education for RN's now. We are very much in need for nurses!

Exactly and it's only going to get worse. I will recruit from universities and nursing programs, but from what I have heard they all have jobs before they even leave the programs because the shortage is so drastic. I just read an article that in the states there will be a 200,000 nurse shortage per year and this will only increase as the baby boomers grow older.

To work in Canada, you will have to get a job and then you will have to get a TN visa (Trade Nafta). Right now, the province has put on a hiring freeze so it will be hard to get on with a hospital at this time. It will probably take a year or two before it opens up again.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Perhaps they need experienced people more than they need grads. That is the way of the nursing world, unfortunately.

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this post sounds a lot like the one i posted recently.

i love, love, love canada (it sounds weird, but from a very young age i have always dreamed of being canadian - such a beautiful country)!! i could only dream of working there (i love vancouver, toronto, and montreal)

having said that, country residents/citizens should be hired first then if needed look outside. from personal experience, i know how frustrating it is to go through school only to apply to dozens of jobs (my count is now up to, i think, 78) with nearly every door getting slammed in your face or when the words "new grad" comes out of your mouth they roll their eyes and brush you off. how discouraging is that?

anyway, back to the point.....i am a strong believer of hiring residents first, then go elsewhere, if needed. citizens are trained in that country - why (if not necessary) would you hire a person trained elsewhere? that doesn't make sense to me....:twocents:

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the Canadian forum

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Coming into Canada and being successful in Canada is not the same thing. Some foreign nurses immigrate here as skilled workers full of CIC-inspired promises just to find out they can't even fulfill the CofNurses requirements and land nursing jobs. It's even more complicated when they bring their families.

What I find contradictory: There're recruitments programs for international nurses but there're few resources for the IENs who already live here.

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There are several challenges faced by Internationally Educated Nurses in Canada. Go to PubMed or Cinahl and search for Blythe et. al. (2009) and Baumann et. al (2009), also search for Jeans et. al (2005 - Navigating to become a nurse in Canada- on Google. Also search Tregunno (2009) on pubmed or cinahl search for Tregunno (2009).

All this articles points to the challenges to workforce immigration. Also, a document was released by the Canadian nurses Association in 2009, that is seriously against in migration of nurses. Look up google for "Tested solutions to eliminating Canada's nursing shortage". Also search the CNA position statement on ethical nurse recruitment. There is a very strong ethical issues with recruiting nurses from overseas. Where-ever you will be recruiting from, there will be a shortage of nurses in that country. There is a nursing shortage all over the world and its like you are making the nursing shortage worst elsewhere by recruiting nurses overseas. The best solution to Canada's nursing shortage is developing our workforce internally through increasing access to nursing educational programs.

So, why dont you help the ones in canada get a job in Canada. A better area you can channel your business idea to is to help people who are currently internationally educated nurses already in Canada for diverse reasons, maybe they married canadians, their husbands immigrated here, they are refugees or whatever reason. You can create a business opportunity where you help them integrate more into the system. Maybe offer CRNE examination preparation courses, or introduction to Canadian nurses. Also you can help new grads find a job in Canada and help seasoned nurses who want to change their careers to other specialties in Canada.

What Im saying is, there are sooo many business ideas in Canada. Hiring nurses from overseas is considered unethical. WHO, ICN, CNA etc are all against it. If I were you, I would sit back more, read this articles, do a thorough needs assessment and create a business idea involving internationally educated nurses from Canada.

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