dishes

You've only had telephone conversations that you initiated? You haven't been offered an interview? You are putting all your eggs in one basket hoping that you will be accepted into the employer's new grad program. If you are not offered a position in March, it will be six months since you graduated and there will be a batch of fresh new grads competing for jobs and you will be a stale grad.

Have you looked on the Ontario government website? The legal requirements for home care agencies, labour laws, WSIB, occupational health and safety laws, keeping patient's health records, etc should be listed. Also, look on government of Canada's website 'how to start a seniors care business in Ontario'. You can also search the CNA for articles/information on nurse entrepreneurs. A past poster whose user name is milesims, posted a thread about starting a home care agency while still a nursing student, you can find it by using the search tool in the top right hand corner.

Resumes submitted before an applicant has their registration are not eligible for interviews in most work places. It's a surplus market and there are more qualified, licensed applicants applying than there are jobs. If you do not have more on your resume than successful completion of a nursing program and registration, it will be easy for employers to overlook your resume for others who have relevant work and volunteer experience, plus references from current staff or managers. This isn't a market for employees to be choosy, your best bet is to accept the agency position, at least it may result in PN experience.

If you don't want to go through the licensing process, but yet still want to meet US and other international nurses, suggest you consider joining an international professional association in the specialty area that you work in. If you attend the professional associations international conference, you will have the opportunity to meet like minded health care professionals and gain exposure to other countries practices. Participating in an international group can be a very rewarding experience, as it is more meaningful than just being a tourist and can give you ideas that you can take back to your own workplace.

I don't know, it seems you are at a point in your life where you do not have dependents and are basically free to move and try a different life experience. It might be worth investing a bit of time and money in becoming licensed and see what happens from there. Life is making choices and taking chances, all you will lose if it doesn't work out is the money invested to become licensed, but even that will be an experience.

It might be difficult to get a sponsor based visa at this point in time because there is not a national shortage of nurses in the US, there are some areas where there are shortages and some where there are surpluses. There hasn't been a national shortage of nurses in the US since the economic downturn in 2007. If it is your future long term goal to eventually work in the US, you should start the process of becoming licensed in the state in which you wish to live. The licensing process may take a lot of time and may require more education if you are not generalist trained.

Suggest you check with a lawyer who is familiar with TN visa requirements before you invest time and money into your plans. Your motives are likely to be questioned by border authorities and it may be a problem if you come across as a self motivated Canadian of convenience who is using a loophole to circumvent US immigration laws. If you have no ties to Canada and intend to stay permanently rather than temporarily in the US, it is likely that American authorities will deny your TN visa and possibly ban you from entering as a visitor.

@companisbiki which government authority is or was granting licenses to health care aids/ personal support workers? These positions do not have legislation that requires them to be licensed and they are not regulated by nursing regulatory bodies.

I believe nnas will give the advisory reports for both RN & PN at the same time. It is quite possible that your education will be somewhat comparable or not comparable to Canadian RN entry to practice competencies, but may be comparable to Canadian PN entry to practice competencies. If you use the search tool in the right hand corner to find a thread entitled 'nnas experience' you will be able to read other iens nnas results. Don't worry about studying for the CPNRE or NCLEX for now, just focus on getting your college/ university to send a nursing education syllabus that includes an outline and summary of the topics covered in each course including the objectives, learning outcomes hours of study like the example they gave in the NNAS video. For more examples of the type of syllabus NNAS wants, look at various Canadian BSN course outlines. If you look at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) nursing course outlines you will see detailed course descriptions, course learning outcomes/competencies, evaluation criteria. Also ask your university to provide any information that gives details about RN entry to practice competencies. Does the a nursing student handbook, preceptor guide, student policy and procedure guide, contain information that gives the philosophy of the program, expected outcomes etc? Become familiar with the Canadian entry to practice competency documents, you can find them on CNO search for 'Entry-to practice competencies for Ontario registered practical nurses' and 'Competencies for entry-level registered nurse practice'. The competencies are the framework for the nnas assessment, the IENCAP (RN competency assessment) an the CPNRE, do not underestimate the importance of the competencies being used to compare whether or not your education and experience is comparable to a Canadian nurses.

Your doctor wrote a note for you to be on modified duties and you have been assigned administrative work, the employer placed you on administrative duties pending investigation of a patient complaint, but in this case being assigned administrative work is a reasonable option for both you and the employer. As far as investigations into patient complaints when you are not under a union the investigation practice will depend on the employer's policy. Most employers will view an employee who not only has back to back pregnancies, (both with 12 month maternity leaves that the employer pays for) but who also wants the employer to buyback the pension for the time the employee was not contributing to it, as not worth the cost to the employer. Just so you know, nurses who are in unionized positions have to pay for pension buybacks themselves, it's not usually the employer's responsibility to pay for buybacks.

If you move to Ontario, you might find an employer willing to hire you as a health care aid/ personal support worker, but there is a lot of competition for most health care jobs and you might be bypassed for someone who has completed a PSW program and will not be leaving the job at the first opportunity. If you move to Quebec and you are not fluent in French it is unlikely you will become licensed or find work. You should reconsider the idea of moving to Canada before you know what barriers you will face to become licensed, you are better off staying in Australia, working as a nurse and saving your money for all of the potential future costs, CIC requires proof of funds to support yourself for 6 months, CNO may require you to undergo a competency assessment such as the IENCAP, jurisprudence exam, bridging program, NCLEX, etc.

I believe you need to activate an account in order to do the jurisprudence exam. Once you complete the jurisprudence exam ask the CNO what the next steps are. CNO directs applicants to do the jurisprudence exam early on in the application process, and an applicant receiving a letter directing them to do the jurisprudence exam doesn't really indicate anything as far as where the applicant is at in the registration process.

Yes, you can write the exam Dec 31st, it's an online exam and you can write it anytime you feel like writing it, see FAQs: Jurisprudence Examination If you want more exam tips in addition the ones on CNO's website, suggest you watch the youtube video produced by nursekillam entitled Jurisprudence exam prepare to pass it the first time.

The starting point is listening to the staff nurses in your workplace, find out from them how they define burnout and if their perception is that there is a high level of burnout in the workplace, if so what do they believe is the root cause for the burnout? Maybe the real issue is unsafe workloads and working conditions, maybe management should work towards a culture of safety in the workplace. They can start checking with staff each day to see if there are safety concerns, if so, they will need to take steps to eliminate or minimize the concerns and report back to the staff how the issue was resolved. Dictating mandatory EAP sessions and keeping lists of who staff attend EAP sessions just shows management doesn't understand their staffs' right to privacy, it will not improve the workplace and it may lead to more distrust and dissension. Giving kudos should be a natural part of the workplace not a bandage to placate staff when the management are not willing to address problems. Management needs to show they are willing to work on fixing the workplace problems first and foremost, then give recognition for staff's hard work.

If CNO's letter does not contain any other information regarding your next steps, you should contact them for clarification. In the meantime go ahead and do the jurisprudence exam. Being eligible to write the jurisprudence exam and passing the exam does not usually mean you will automatically be registered and eligible to practice as a RN.

This is an advertisement pretending to be an article, I hope the OP is paying AN.

You might be able to find other healthcare professionals to network with by joining the Canadian consortium for the investigation of cannabinoids and accessing their forum, you can join as an associate member. There are interesting education videos, podcasts and articles publicly available on the website.

@phynie, if you have proof of recent practice in the past three years (from working in the US) I don't understand why you find the CNO's requirements for reinstatement from non-practising class to general class a barrier. Are you annoyed that it's time consuming and costs money to become registered again Ontario in order to become licensed in Manitoba? If so, I hope you can see that your grumblings about regulatory bodies chasing away Canadian nurses to pave the way for IENs is misguided. You could have prevented the time pressure you are feeling now by applying for reinstatement earlier on in your plans to return to Canada.

@joeythecat, after your wife has been approved by citizenship and immigration to migrate to Canada she can apply to pre-arrival supports and services for iens (pass4nurses.org), it's free and she may find the tips helpful.

You need advice from a lawyer. Are you in a unionized position? If so, have you contacted your union to ask about legal representation?

silverstag, I don't know if you are aware but care4nurses.org is an organization that provides advice and resources to iens, suggest you check their website for the types of services they offer (some may be helpful to you) also check if they are holding an information session near to you.

I don't have any study materials, just to let you know most locally educated practical nurses use the CPNRE prep guide, as well as the online predictor tests you can find information about these study materials on assessment strategies inc cpnre.ca. Also, you may be able to find a used prep guide for sale on kijiji or you may be able to borrow a copy from the Toronto public library.

There are IENs who work as health care aids in Ontario, they did not take a PSW program prior to being hired, their employers recognized that a nursing education surpasses a PSW education and there is no need to waste time and money on a PSW education. The only people who promote this career path to naive IENs are unscrupulous private career college staff and owners.

Your wife should not listen to anything a private college has to say about PSW programs, or bridging programs for RPNs. The education pograms through Ontario private colleges are not recognized by the College of Nurses of Ontario (look at cno.org list of approved programs). Also nursing employers do not recognize private school courses as a valid education.

@natisu, some employers may be willing to hire you as a health care aid, beware that the cost of living is usually too high to live off a care giver wage. It will be difficult to pay for rent, food, bills, transportation, etc on a minimum wage (or slightly higher) salary. It will also be difficult to save money for competency assessments, the nclex exam or tuition etc while living in Canada. There are published articles and media reports about IENs who came to Canada as live in caregivers with the hope of gaining PR then becoming RNs, however, many of them became deskilled and remained in caregiver jobs and never did complete the requirements to become RNs.