Any RN's working in London, Ontario?

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I'm from Kitchener and would like feedback regarding the hospitals in London.

Where do you work? How do you like the atmosphere? What are the schedules like? Is it possible to obtain full-time quickly?

I'm from kitchener and I absolutely love the schedule. 4 days on, 5 days off (2 days, 2 nights). Does london offer similar schedules?

Thanks.

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Hi there,

I work at St. Joseph's Health Care in London and I can say it is an excellent place to work, the atmosphere is really positive and the nurses are very helpful supportive and great to learn from, especially as a new grad. I have worked in a few different areas and have found everyone to be very nice and helpful in assisting with patient care if need be. The availability of full time work depends on the area of nursing in which you would like to work in. London Health Sciences Centre and St. joseph's are always looking for staff, just check out their websites. It is a little bit more challenging to obtain full time work or move up to full time in specialty areas, at both St. Joseph's and LHSC. However, if you plan to stay in London and want to go into a specialty area, it is not a bad idea to get a full time job in any area, build the seniority and eventually apply internally to the specialty that you are interested in.

Schedules vary depending on the unit that you work on and if you are f/t or p/t. I know that st. joseph's has ddnn rotations, self scheduling and other ways of scheduling. I cannot speak for LHSC but I have heard some full time staff have 2 weeks of days/2 weeks of nights and 2 days on, 3 days off.

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask or message me

Hope this helps and good luck!

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I do have a few more questions.

At St. Joseph's, do you have the opportunity to pick up alot of overtime hours? Or are the units typically fully staffed? Here in Kitchener, on the medicine unit in particular, I may receive 1 or 2 calls three times a month (so 5-6 total). Some consider this alot, whereas others say it's little. How about your area?

Is your DDNN schedule include 5 days off like my schedule?

For patient care, do you provide a.m. care as an RN to all the patients? or do you have PSW's? What's the nurse:patient ratio?

Lastly, after searching for jobs on their website

https://www.sjhc.london.on.ca/SSL/ats/currentPostings.php

I've found very little at either SJHC or LHSC. Are jobs scarce?

How about the St. Thomas Mental Health Centre. I've always seen MANY job postings, and am not sure if that's good or not :) It seems like they always need people. Is it nice place to work? Any comments about it?

Thanks for your help!

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Hi x-treme,

Overtime depends on the unit you are working on. Where I work, there typically are hours to be picked up for part-time staff, but if you already have the full time hours, then typically you do not get called for overtime, unless it is the summer time and people are on vacation.

Patient care is primarily provided by RNs, but in areas where they do utilize RPNs, patient care is still an aspect, but care of more unstable patients or medication administration may be of greater focus. Nurse patient ratio depends on the unit you are working on but generally 1:4

Jobs are not scarce, currently there are alot of job posting up at St. Joe's and; at LHSC, although the job postings are not current, they are still hiring alot of nurses in med/surg. It is best to send in an application and resume to human resources and inquire by phone about job opportunities. I cannot comment about st. thomas as I have not worked there before.

Hope this helps and good luck in your search

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Does anyone know if there are any NICU vacancies in and around Toronto? If so, where.

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Willing to relocate to Canada and am interested in London, Ontario. However, I have AD, not BS and work in the US. Did hear that Ontario requires BS. Any suggestions where to easier to get a job with AD in Nursing? Have only 1 year of Med-Surg experience. Is immigration for RNs to Canada though? Thanks a lot!!!

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Hi Circada,

I do not have answers to any of your questions, unfortunately. However, there may be other forums where you could post your questions and people would have the answers. I do know that if you would like to work in Canada, you would need to write the Canadian Registered Nurse Exam (CRNE). To get more information about nursing in Canada you could contact the canadian nurses association or the college of nurses of ontario for their requirements. I am not sure what an AD is equivalent to. For information regarding immigration, you can go on the government of canada's website to find out.

Canadian Nurses Association - Home

College of Nurses of Ontario

CIC Canada | Main Menu

Good luck!

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Hi

I am an RN from England taking CRNE next week Feb 7th and am going for interviews in London at the same time. Although I want to work in the Community found the staff at Human Resources at LHSC very good and arranged for me to go to interview straight away over the phone. Think that there are plenty of jobs but lots of the schedules seem to be 12 hour days or nights. Good luck xx

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Livermets,

good luck on exam! Keep us inform how you're doing in Canada. Did LHSC interviewed you by phone while you were still in UK or while in Canada? What specialty/hospital you're going to work in?

Best regards!

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Livermets,

how did you do on exam? I spoke to someone from LHSC and she encouraged me to apply for the Ontario license even if I don't have BSN in Nursing. She stressed that they need nurses. I think I'll try.

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hi cicada

Did you get the job in lhsc i know its awhile since you wrote this message .i am having my interview on phone any time soon,what type of questions do they ask.i am cerrently in Ireland.planning to move there in june .

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