Nursing as a Career in Canada (Calgary, AB)

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Hi all!

I'm new to the site and have so many questions!

I am fairly certain that I have decided on nursing as a career, and will be applying to U of C shortly, to attend this coming September. I've spent the last few days reading the forums and some of it seems a little disheartening, I guess.

My ideal job is in the L&D ward, or post-natal care if it comes to that. Honestly, I just don't see myself doing anything else long-term. Are things really as bad as I've been reading? Is it a pipe dream to think that I will be able to get into my chosen area relatively quickly (even out of school?!)? Will I be forced to work nightmare 12 hr night shifts 6 days a week and be cr@pped on by my superiors, all the while making less than stellar wages?

I guess I'm just wondering what the reality of it all is. I don't personally know any nurses so have no one I can ask about these things before I make the jump. I quite honestly don't know the first thing about the logistics of the career and just want to know the basics I suppose.

I'm a 27 yrs old married mother of two and I want and need a stable career that will still allow me time with my family, and a decent salary. How easy will it be for me to find this? I'd rather find out the reality sooner than later!

Any insight or advice anyone can offer is very much appreciated :cheers:

Hi Janfrn,

Your posts have been so informative. My husband recently accepted a new job in Calgary that is suppose to start in August. I will be graduating from nursing school with a BSN this upcoming May and I am in the process of putting together a resume to submit to CRHA within the next few weeks. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. They are as follows:

- Are you aware of how many days/evenings/and weekends are worked in the day/evening/weekend schedule?

- I am currently doing my senior nursing practicum in the recovery room. Do you know if the OR's in Calgary run 24 hours a day? Any information on the recovery room would be greatly appreciated.

- Also, I am wondering if you have any information regarding public health nursing positions in Calgary (ex.availability, schedule)?

Sorry for the detailed question list. I am right in the middle of filling out the new grad application and have a lot of questions right now.

Thank-you so much for your help :wink2:

Krista

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Hi Krista. Any answers I give you about how things work in Calgary will be educated guesses...

The day-evening-weekend schedule is 40 x 7.75 hour shifts in 8 weeks, so an average of 5 per week. I can tell you with some certainty that the ORs do not run 24 hours a day, but there is OR staff on call for after-hours emergencies. The postings for recovery I looked at don't indicate that recovery room staff are on call though. Here's one. http://www.crha-health.ab.ca/supp/hr/employ/072877.htm

The community health positions posted right now aren't plentiful (there are only 7, of which only 2 are full time) and the ones that are all ask for specific experience, for example: http://www.crha-health.ab.ca/supp/hr/employ/072887.htm or

http://www.crha-health.ab.ca/supp/hr/employ/072866.htm

Community health is really hard to get into especially right out of school. Schedules depend on which area one works in.

Calgary is being hit particularly hard by the nursing shortage due to the in-migration of people from the rest of the country. So they may be a little less picky about experience and expectations when they screen applicants. I know here in Edmonton, they're looking the other way a lot. So go for the gusto, what's the worst that can happen?

BTW, where are you coming from?

Jan

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Hi Jan,

Thank-you for responding to my post so quickly. My husband and I are from St. John's, Newfoundland. We are as far east from Calgary as you can go in Canada.

40 - 7.75 shifts in 8 weeks.... That schedule is similar to what the majority of the population works. Do the nurses in calgary work the majority of days when they are on the day/evening/weekend schedule or do they work an even number of days,evenings and weekends.

The reason why I asked if the OR's run 24 hours a day is because I have seen a number of posts that ask for a recovery room/operating room nurse to work nights such as this one. http://www.crha-health.ab.ca/supp/hr/employ/069199.htm.

I start my recovery room rotation on Feb 5th. I am very excited.

Sorry for responding to your post so late. I worked all day at my public health placement.

Have a great day!

Krista

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

our collective agreement says that:

"employees working 'day/evening/night, day/evening or day/night' shift patterns shall be assigned day duty at least 2/5 of the time during the shift cycle... the proportion of day duty may be decreased to less that 2/5 when it is mathematically impossible to assign all available shifts using only regular employees within the scheduling provisions... only to the extent necessary". we're trying to have that changed so that no one is required to work more than 50% nights or evenings. as for weekends, full time employees are expected to work 1/2 of the weekends in a complete shift schedule, be that six, eight or twelve weeks, and they may be consecutive but no more than two in a row... i can't comment on what shift pattern they follow at any of the calgary hospitals.

rockyview, the hospital that posted the position linked in your post above, does ortho, plastics and transplant surgeries and they are a trauma centre, so they would want to have an or/ recovery room nurse or two on for the night. but i don't think they do elective surgeries at night. there's no money in the health care budget for that.

there was an article inteh edmonton journal today about heather smith, our union president and the upcoming negotiations. there was another article in the edmonton sun about the nursing shortage in calgary with a telling statement about how alberta has the highest amount of paid and unpaid overtime in the country... let me see if i can link you to the sun article...

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/alberta/2007/01/22/3424613-sun.html

you'll be in good company out here in the west... there are a lot of newfoundlanders out here. i went to a great big sea concert a couple of years ago and it seemed like half the audience was from the rock. you might not even notice that you're not at home, except for the terrain and the weather, that is.

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Was wondering if anyone had the gossip on the recruitment of international nurses. I have sent a resume to crha, but have yet to hear anything. I have heard rumours of expedited registration and visas, but I also hear that it's a waste of money to get registered as an foreign trained nurse due to the difficulty of obtaining work in Canada :confused:, i'm keen to work in Calgary but do not want to waste hundreds of dollars and lots of time.

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I do not know very much about international recruitment for nurses in Canada. However, Calgary Health Region currently has a job posting for international nurse recruitment.

Here is the link to the job posting:

http://www.crha-health.ab.ca/supp/hr/employ/072345.htm

Hope this helps,

Krista

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Thanks, that was the post I sent my resume for, nearly two weeks now, still no response, not sure if this is a normal time frame for Canada.

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Specializes in Psych, Informatics, Biostatistics.

Hi janfrn,

I previously wrote an entry here, requesting information about the AB contract negotiations. I have since that time read your posting from yesterday. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

Are they out of their minds?

Thanks,

OneLoneNurse

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

In a word... YES!!! They are out of their minds. And if they think we're going to roll over and let them run roughshod over us they have another think coming.

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thanks for the info Jan!! you answered alot of my questions as well!!!

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Glad I could help. BTW, welcome to our little family!

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Hi Janfrn

I read your earlier posts and I have seen that Labor and Delivery job add on CRHA. I am from Australia and will be coming back to Calgary sometime this year. I have already spoken to CRHA and had a small interview and now I am awaiting my registration to come through from CARNA. So looking forwarding to coming back to Canada with my Canadian Husband who is from Calgary.

I would like to know more about the shift hours if possible from you. For instance, I have seen a job add on CRHA for Pulmonary Medicine & Thoracic Surgery. Regular parttime 0.79FTE and hours 15, 7.75hrs shifts per 4 week cycle. Can u explain this more to me please.

I have many interests for working in Calgary including the above mentioned. The biggest one is Community Health that will be later in my career I want to build up more on my clinical skills. Labor and delivery, Urology, General Surgical and possibly medical and cardiac.

Would you know much about which hospital provides Cardiac Catheter Labs for Angios?

As I am a Grad RN the only experience I have is Cardiothoracic Surgical.

Look forward to your reply ;)

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