I'm new to this wonderful forum. I'd like to begin my first post with expressing my gratitude and admiration to everyone who's shared their opinions and expertise here!
Presently, I have two specific questions. First, my situation: I'm a newly licensed RN in Boston, Mass. with no RN-work experience in US or Canada. I've a nursing diploma and 2,5 years of work experience from Russia. I need to get an RN job in Montreal, Quebec. Right now I'm actively involved in the process of: a) getting a job offer from a Montreal hospital; b) applying for a Canadian work permit; c) applying to the Order of Nurses in Quebec (OIIQ).
Questions:
1) Application process to OIIQ: could someone who's already went through it possibly give me a brief step-by-step description of this process and how long each step takes? I don't mean the requirements, fees, exams, etc. - they're outlined on OIIQ's website. What I'm talking about is what forms they send, what docs they request, how long they process your application, do they ask for everything at the beginning, or they have a time-frame for each mailing, etc. I'm particularly interested in how they check the equivalence of your nursing education. See, mine is from 3 different schools. 2 of those are in US, and I don't see any problems with them. But I received most of my nursing schooling and work experience in Russia, and I'm very interested to know how OIIQ is going to check those. Do they match the info in your application with their database? Or, do they expect you to provide some official letters from all your schools with your application? Or - the worst scenario - do they contact your school directly and expect them to answer by fax or mail directly back to OIIQ? See, recently I had to go through that last situation with CGFNS before I received my US RN license, and it turned into a year of bureaucratic hell because the Russian side kept ignoring official requests from the American organization. God, I really don't want to go through that again. Please, tell me what's the process like?
2) Do you have any advice about any of the English-speaking hospitals in Montreal? My everyday French is OK and is getting better, but my medical French is non-existent, and I dread the thought of having to work in a French-speaking medical environment (I'm currently watching "ER" with French subtitles - nothing's the same!). OIIQ told me that since I have 4 years of college French education I may be exempt from their French test - whew!
So, what's the best place where a trilingual young nurse with a US RN license but no US or Canadian experience would receive the most support, guidance, and professional growth opportunities? I got a list of all English-speaking hospitals in MTL. I've been checking them on the Web (whatever little info is there), and so far, Jewish General Hospital has appealed to me the most. What's your opinion? And how should I approach the hospital where I'd like to work? I understand it's similar to the US hospitals. But here in US I'm a citizen and a more or less confident licensed RN. In Quebec, I'll be a scared, wide-eyed CPNP with a work permit for quite some time. So, which employer, do you think, would be most tolerant and supportive of that?
Any advice and additional info is much appreciated!
And good luck to all of you in all your endeavors! :w00t:
