English ER Nurse moving to Ontario

vickster · Jan 17, 2005

Hi everyone, my name is Debs and i am a registered nurse in England. i work in a busy ED dept seeing in excess of 128,000 patients per year , stressful at times but i love my job. My husband is Canadian and so i have just started the process of registering with the Ontario College of Nurses in order to sit the CRNE. Any info of any kind regarding nursing in Ontario would be gratefully received, i did the CD ROM exam in the back of the prep guide and did ok but some of the terminology and drugs are obviosly differant from over here. What do you think my chances are of working in ER? I have extended skills such as suturing, cannulation, plaster application, venepuncture, immediate life support and defib skills. Also tips on living in Eastern Ontario would be great. I know im asking a lot but i need all the help i can get !!! . Thanks

Hey, good luck on the exam. I live in Kingston, Ontario and work in Long term care. I am just beginning to work on my BScN. I am currently an RPN, (Registered Practical Nurse, called LPN's in some provinces where nurses are licsensed by the gov and not a self regulating body like the CNO.) I used to work with an RN from the UK. The CNO refused to register her, and she ended up working as an aide and then going into Real Estate. She had not worked while her kids were little, and the CNO wanted her to start all over! That shouldn't happen to you if you are active, esp. if you have a BScN (4year university nursing degree.) All Ontario RN's are now required to have them or prove that they are working on it. (You may sneek through if you are registered before Nov/05, I think that is the cut off...) Check out the College of Nurses of Ontario @ www.cno.org there is a bunch of info on the site.

However, SE Ontario is a great place to live, and Kingston is the best city by far. On the water, not too big, major hosp and uni-it's just perfect.

I should warn you, Canada is about 9mos behind in Coronation Street, if you are a Corie Junkie like me. Good luck, let me know if I can help!

Morning-glory · Jan 17, 2005

Hi Deb

Let me answer some of your questions. LPN is actually RPN here in Canada. Registered Practical Nurse. Your skills are in demand here. You do not need to be bilingual. Pay related to cost of living is reasonable. The Ottawa Hospital is looking for people.

http://www.ottawahospital.on.ca/

It is a 1 hour drive from Cornwall. From Ile Perrot it would be closer to 1 1/2 hours. Hard slog in the winter.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

Jacquie

GingerSue · Jan 17, 2005

Have you looked through some of the newspapers such as the Toronto Star or Globe and Mail? In both of these you can read the classifieds, the careers, and workopolis.com. There you'll find listings for healthcare.

debs_england · Jan 17, 2005

just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all their advice........really appreciate it :)

Fiona59 · Jan 18, 2005

Licensed Practical Nurse -- roughly UK's old SEN.

Four semester college programme for education. Carry their own insurance and license. Scope of practice varies from province to province. The provinces I've worked in have had self regulation and I've never had a licence issued by the government.