night flight

Thought I had been able to PM before! Oh, well.

For some reason I can't PM; howver, the contacts I have are here in Edmonton, tus little use for you in Calgary. I found the Human Resource people very heplfull in sorting me out. You should call the HR department with Calgary Health, and just ask them to put you in touch with nurse recruting. They should be helpfull.

Yes, if you want to private message me, I will pass them on to you. By your reply you must be in Edmonton.

No, CARNA doesn't help, but in both Calg and Edt there are HR reps that work to get one placed. I'm in Edmonton....

I'd look at the restricted license. From what I've seen so far, they will work with you to find a unit and area, and orientation that you would need.

EC ASN Sep 06 Paramedic prior and still working as one. EC is hard, and hosppital expereince is usefull, but not required.... Currently working on Canadian registration in home provence. Been through the Substantial Equivelency Assessment, with only a couple small courses to do..... Eventually.

yes, carna does take a ling time, and don't try to expedite anything. the sec is intense, but it is simply an assessment. it could result in only one or two simple courses to do, or you may need multiple. it simply takes more time, time for getting the sec, then time for carna to send the results, then more time to take any courses. that time may not be acceptable, as you can't work as a nurse until all the courses are complete. then you have to get 225 hours as a gn before you can apply to write the exam, and depending upon the way things work out, you may not make a deadline for registering for the exam, delaying again until the next exam. only three scheduled times for exams. there is another new process where some nurses (from uk, australia?) are allowed to work as a nurse on a special registration while they undergo courses for areas not covered in their education, like peds or mat.

Ops. Sorry. Sometimes I don't know how I passed the CPNE. I do know I wouldn't have without a workshop, and I know I would have done better doing the CPNE a second time. Yes, nerves that can never be calmed without having done the CPNE. I recommend doing a workshop, any workshop. I was not completely pleased with the EC workshop, and at that time I did the workshop, I did not know of other workshops. The private workshops may be a good investment, and I may have done both if I had know about the private workshops.

I’m half way through the process here in Alberta. I’m a Canadian with a US AND. Getting under the wire before the requirement for a BSN, although I have a general degree, and additional experience. Hopefully you are working on a BSN while employed in the US as many hospitals help pay tuition.

Did the workshop in 04, CPNE 05 and grad in 06. Wouldn’t have passed the CPNE without the workshop. Stats at that time were that the workshops students actually had a greater CPNE failure rate than students overall. Perhaps because of self selection; however, of those that I know about from the workshop, a good two thirds, passed their CPNE first time, all before I did mine.

The other post are old. I graduated from Excelsior in 2006. Registered in Minnisota, and now going through the long process to register here in Alberta. It can be donw in less than a year, and I know of a couple who have done such, but that is a rare exception. It is not just the nursing courses, but also the general education courses (10 for 30 credits) that need to be completed, and those may take more time. Those that I know who completed in less than a year had a degree or all of the general education curses completed. Getting registed here is a slow process. Eventually Canada will require a degree regardless, and that will exclude Excelsior AS(n)'s. Easire to do a Canadian program to register here. Wasn't an option for me when I started. Also easier to complete Excelsior and go to work in the US. US has lots of oprions to complete a degree, and most hospitals pay for tuition. I think it coast me some $5500 all told in Canadian dollars, including when our dollar was low, but I have lots of general education credits form prior education.

These are both three credit courses that provide an overview of health care in Canada. Grad Nurse is paid moe than an LPN.

the substantially equivalent competence (sec) assessment is a full week of exams and assessments: three three hour exams in peds, psych and maternity; each exam is 120 multiple choice questions and then 20 short answer written questions: you are allowed more than three hours and many need it. one three hour multiple choice exam in general and med surg, and one three hour short answer written question exam. five paper based exams. the clinical judgement are a type of verbal exam: you can have the question read to you, read it yourself, or read along, then you have to respond: you do one of these in each of med surg, peds, psych and maternity: each exam takes about an hour to an hour and a half: there are two triple jumps, and they take a couple of hours: another type of oral exam. you also get three clinical scenarios with another instructor in the role of a patient: these take a good couple of hours to undertake, and each patient will have an emergency of some type during the assessment that you have to deal with. during this scenario you have to do sometime during one of the three take complete vs including temperature, give oral meds, start iv, start antibiotics iv, draw up meds including insulin, dress a wound, etc. you have to be fluent in english: yes, fluent, both written and verbal. if not you won't get through the exams in any time frame, or get through the oral assessments. not an easy process. it takes several months to set up your assessment week: and then after all this, you will wait for a couple of months to find out your results, then get told what more you have to do to register in alberta. perhaps better to look somewhere else. the week is full most ams and pms, short break at lunch is best so you can get back to the afternoon exam or activity to finish by the end of a day. pack your lunch, easier and less time than trying to find lunch. library available to stay at end of day to prep for next day. first day is surprise, but get your schedule for the week so you know what to read up on for the next day. bring your own books if you are not form calgary. calgary and edmonton actually are about the same relative population, but calgary is more star style and longer to get across town, and edmonton has the other cities on the outside. getting hired as a na is ok, but the pay is low, and both calgary and edmonton are very expensive. wages for an rn look good, but it is a long time to get to register in alberta while they have you in the lower na job. work as a na while waiting for your landed status, scheduling the assessment and waiting to find out, then start working on your additional requirements, and once you get your landed, write the nclex. with that you can go to the us to work as an rn at higher wages, coming back and forth to canada as needed. canada is great to raise a family, but the us is easier to become an rn and work at higher wages. hope this helps everyone.