Technicalglitch

I'm curious about what policies you guys might be working under when it comes to refusing to work in unsafe homes. I did a home visit last week where the patient's daughter verbally abused me, raged at me repeatedly, and intentionally blocked my exit from the home, despite me saying repeatedly that I had to leave and that I feared for my safety. I did eventually get out, after she even blocked me with her arm and made contact as if to grab me, and then thought better of it when I said out loud what she was doing. She had had a previous raging incident a couple of weeks prior to this at a co-worker, and after that the manager visited with the nurse and supposedly all was well and was to go forward on a "positive note" There is also a vicious dog in the mix who growls, barks and snaps at nurses to varying degrees on visits. After my incident, the next visit was 2-nurses for safety. That day the manger phoned the daughter and supposedly she is really sorry (probably partly true, and partly manipulation and fearing the consequences, she cried and apologized even before I got out) and will cooperate and everything now is fine again, and nurses can do solo visits safely. Is this the way it is now in home care? I last worked in home care 25 years ago, and there is no WAY we would have been sent back to a home like this, especially after two incidents. I'm in Ontario, Canada. I've been assigned to go again tomorrow. I've contacted the union and they will back me up in refusing due to unsafe conditions, and we have legislation that allows me to refuse to go without reprisal. BUT, what if the health and safety inspector (who will have to go) is clueless (as they may be, most workplaces are not private homes) and says that the home is now safe (as daughter won't rage at his visit, and vicious dog will be shut away)? I'm just amazed that this is even an issue. The home care program is being run out of a hospital where the people starting it have no home care background, however, and is less than a month old.

Thanks Tornado, for the tips. I did end up making the trek to an actual store yesterday - I was lucky, I tried on mostly the Grey's Anatomy brand and to my shock they actually fit my pear-shaped physique without going too baggy on the top. Scrubs are way nicer than they used to be - the fabrics are so soft, and the v-necks can't be peered down like they could in the old days (a certain segment of the male population is no doubt very disappointed!) The only downside is they are hard to wiggle into, and nearly impossible to wiggle out of, but I have figured out a technique and didn't have to cut myself out of them.

I'm changing to a workplace where I have to wear scrubs and I haven't worn them in decades. They've changed a lot since I last wore them and I have a question on sizing, since I will be buying from the internet - I am small-busted but have relatively large hips despite being slim. By bust I would be totally an XS on any item, since that size is for under 34" which I am well under, but my hips are 38.5 which would make me a medium for the bottom part of the scrub top! What size top should I get, a small? Will a small fit over my hips? Will the upper part be totally too loose? I always hated scrubs for their looseness and unflattering fit - seems that there are nice options out there now that are more form-fitting, but my pear-shaped body is an outlier for these.

I think you should go for it. Nursing is not going to be as intellectually stimulating as the work you have been doing, but you don't have to get all of your intellectual stimulation from work, either. Nursing is meaningful, and you can always be learning more about your patient population (provided you have the time!) Yes, it is pretty easy to move between provinces and territories, lots of annoying paperwork, but no real problems other than hassle. You might enjoy being an NP more, but you could work in Northern Canada (doing roughly the same work) without one, where the money is very good, the responsibilities are big but it's one of those rare working environments where it comes with the authority too to do your job and do it right. The nursing market is cyclical (it shouldn't be, but it is), but once you have a bit of experience you can usually find something, the challenge is getting that first job if we're in a down cycle when you graduate. However, you will stand out for being male, as that makes you into diversity hire in a female-dominated position. Plus, you come with very interesting experience, which might intimidate a few nurse managers, but will interest the ones that matter.

I've worked in the NWT, Nunavut, and Northern Ontario and Manitoba. What would you like to know?

I've liked Nunavut, but I am ready to stop. The weather is truly abysmal, and the job can be difficult and stressful, and the living conditions unpredictable. But, it is fun too, and the money is the best in Canada. I've worked in the NWT too, and northern Ontario and Manitoba. Liked all of them. I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it. I always did contracts, doing it full time year-round would have been too exhausting. So, for CNO, if someone has been out of nursing for 10 years, do they have to start over then and do their whole degree again? That too seems excessive. Seems to me they should have you write a challenge exam or something, and then only have to go back and do clinical if you were to fail that. And the language component would be funny if it wasn't so incredibly burdensome - there should be some way of exempting Canadian-born anglophones from having to prove they speak their own language.

I feel your pain, although you definitely have it worse. I had kept my CNO registration for many years despite working in Nunavut, and then a few years ago they made those of us who weren't working in Ontario for the previous 3 years resign, with no warning. (So don't feel bad about resigning, they would have forced it on you anyway.) I'm jumping the hoops now to get it back too, fewer hoops than you, luckily, since I am still practicing, just not in Ontario, and I got in before the CNO reg'n had lapsed for 3 years, so it's a bit simpler, but still well within the realm of ridiculous, considering I am licensed and practising elsewhere in Canada. I hate these registration bodies. So bureaucratic, and the nurses that really shouldn't be practicing seem to never be caught by this system of "protection", even when they get reported.

I knew a nurse who worked for them, she was happy with them. Their pay rates were below what other agencies were paying for elsewhere in Canada, though, but that might have changed, as that was a few years ago. If you are interested in other parts of Canada, you could likely make more elsewhere.

Hi redhed2. I've worked in Northern Ontario, you sound like you have the right experience. If you want to go just for 2-3 weeks at a time, and I am guessing you can't go too often while still at your old job, you should try an agency. I'm not sure which agencies staff there right now, but you could try Venture or Bayshore, they are usually considered the top agencies in terms of pay and benefits. I work in Nunavut. If you decide you like it and quit your old job, you can get hired on directly with the gov't, which generally pays better and gives you better opportunities on which communities to work in.

BTW, I can pretty much guarantee that all those northern hospitals I listed would have positions open, or many that are currently filled on only a temporary basis, even though they don't have postings. So if you do decide you want to go north, focus on those hospitals and don't wait for postings. Decide too if going north is something you really want, because if it is you can likely make it happen, if you can make it clear to them that it's the place you really want to be.

Nunavut won't hire you for those casual positions without experience. The positions you should be applying for are permanent (indeterminate is their word) or term, and for Nunavut, the only places you could work as a new grad (if at all, they sound like they've got the drawbridge raised, even though their positions are unfilled) would be Qikiqtani hospital (the main hospital, in Iqaluit), Rankin Inlet health centre or Cambridge Bay health centre, as those all have inpatient wards. All the other communities would be the nursing station setting, where you would need experience. There are a couple of long-term care centres now too, but they hire mostly RPN's except for the managers. In the Northwest Territories, you could try Stanton Hospital (Yellowknife), Inuvik, Fort Smith and Hay River. The rest of the communities are nursing stations. In northern Ontario, Sioux Lookout and Red Lake are hospitals, along with the ones at Weeneebayko. It's too bad the north is so impermeable right now to new grads. They hire very few young nurses at all these days, really. I've noticed they're hiring mostly people who want to put in some high-earning years just prior to retirement, and they mostly hire critical-care nurses. Critical care nurses tend to see things through a critical care lens though, and they over-pathologize the community care work that makes up the bulk of the work of the health centre. These places would function best with a balance of nurses at different phases of their career and from different backgrounds, but currently they seem allergic to hiring just about anyone, even though their perfect candidates either don't exist, or don't want to stay more than a few weeks when they do. What I notice too is when they won't hire new grads, they tend to miss out on nurses in the first halves of their careers all together, because new grads will often tend to settle in wherever they eventually do get hired, and not come back to the northern options once they do have the experience, because then they have lots of options. It compounds the employer's problems ... and yours since you are having trouble getting hired at all. The other thing, if you are pursuing northern work, don't mention you have a child. It will be an issue eventually when they are discussing housing, if you are lucky enough to be offered a position, but they will weed you out if they know you have a child, as it's a complicating factor and they seem not to be super keen on new grads to start with. You must keep that quiet.

Yes, I just checked and it's the same. I just pulled up the job postings and it says they are looking for EIGHT nurses for Fort Albany - I think we only had 10 for full staffing when I worked there 25 years ago! They do foolishly list 2 years experience - they are nuts these days. They'll work without staff, or a revolving door of temporaries, rather than ease in a new grad every couple of months (which they could easily do). When I worked there we were around half new grads, and the place functioned fine. There is a ward and a clinic, and the new grads can easily handle the ward, especially since the more experienced nurses can (and do) take call for emergencies, and can come in to help. In Nunavut, in the communities, I would guess that only around 1/4 of the jobs have full-time indeterminates in them, the rest are filled with casuals and agency nurses. That's the nursing stations, but I know that the Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay centres (which are more like little hospitals) are also usually short-staffed, and if they are not open to new grads, they should be. Not that every nurse could be a new grad, no, but they could be eased in. They're pickier than when I started about who they hire, which in theory is good, but in practice, you do need to hire someone! These days they'll just not hire anyone if they can't get their ideal candidates, it seems, and the whole system is starting to fall apart (in Nunavut, anyway.)

You need experience for the nursing stations / health centres, but not the hospitals (unless now they are demanding it there too). It's the hospitals that I'm recommending and that she has been applying to.

Yeah, it's especially weird when so many of these places are short of nurses, and hire agency nurses to fill the gaps. Northern hospitals are actually a great place to get some experience, they're a good mix of routine, predictable work, and totally unexpected challenging stuff (but not usually more than you can deal with). I worked at James Bay General (25 years ago now) and they hired new grads, you might try them as well, they're in the communities north of Moosonee. They're not the sort of place that would be attractive to most experienced nurses, most nurses with experience would be looking to make the bigger bucks if working up north, which means working in health centres / nursing stations, so I don't see how they could avoid hiring new grads even if they wanted to. The isolated and semi-isolated northern hospitals used to all hire new grads, and if they don't any more, then they're nuts, as they need them. It's better to have a new grad who will stay a while than have a constant revolving door of agency nurses. I'm curious, I wonder if there is something in your cover letter or resume that is making employers reject you, because you sounds very eager to work, and you're very articulate, which also helps in getting jobs. Are you mentioning being a single mother anywhere in what you are sending them? Is there anything else in your letter or resume that might be giving them info that might not be working in your favour?

Hi, Depressed_RN. I read your thread and felt compelled to post a reply, I think it might be my first time posting on the forums here. First off, a lot of the early responders were way too hard on you about you leaving nursing off your resume when applying for non-nursing jobs. I have to disagree with them, I think it's fine to do this. When you're not applying for a nursing job, it's no huge sin of omission to leave off degrees and training that don't matter, or jobs that don't matter, either. It's not up to you to give potential employers reasons to not hire you. If it's more strategic to leave off your more advanced education, go ahead and do it. You sound totally motivated to do whatever work you can or must do, so you tailor your resume to what will work to get you hired. Also, do whatever volunteer work you want to! I've done volunteer coordination and it's totally expected for volunteers to move on if life circumstances change. I don't think volunteer work will help much in getting a nursing job though. That said, hospitals tend to be difficult places to get hired into for the support positions if you don't know someone. Even if you do know someone, you usually have to know the right people, so it might be a waste of time for you to go after those jobs anyway. I'd also hesitate to spend much time trying to get hired in the States, unless you are responding to an ad or job fair or other initiative that the employer down there has initiated. Many Canadians who get hired down there go through an agency who does all the visa etc. paperwork for the employer and helps the nurse with her side. If you are applying on your own, in my experience (as someone who tried to get hired in the States on her own, with lots of experience) the employers will be very leery of having to write letters for visas etc. Although USA jobs are supposed to be open to Canadian RNs (and vice versa) due to NAFTA, in practice, employers did not get the memo and do not tend to hire Canadians unless they have gone looking for them themselves through an agency. I'm not saying it's impossible, just that it might not be the best use of your time. If you do go ahead with it, be aware that not only do you have to apply for State licensure, but you also need to do the annoying Visascreen process which is essentially a bureaucratic money-making duplication of the background and education checks that the State will be doing on you anyway. It also costs over $1000. OK, so on to getting a job. If you are willing to work up north, then you likely could get a job there. Here's the deal with Nunavut (where I worked until very recently), and also the NWT last time I worked there, their HR are incompetent. As in, they need nurses, they fill their positions with very short-term agency nurses, but they are too incapable to go looking for nurses and hire them. If you are willing to work up north, you will have to be much more pro-active in getting hired. You need to call them, not just write, and be persistent. For me, because I am experienced, I try to get past HR, but as a new grad this might not work for you, but you can try. The managers often know they desperately need nurses and don't realize (although they should!) that HR is useless, or sometimes they do but are so swamped with other crises that they can't do anything about it, especially since HR is run very separately from nursing now, it is it's own isolated and incompetent department now. Some of the places that might hire you are: James Bay General Hospital in Northern Ontario (small hospitals in fly-in communities), Churchill hospital (don't know the current official name) in Churchill, Manitoba, and many of the small hospitals, there are several, in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Hearst, Ontario might be an option, Sioux Lookout or Red Lake or Moose Factory in Ontario. Nunavut has small hospitals in Cambridge Bay (Kitikmeot region) and Rankin Inlet (Kivalliq region), and those are usually looking for nurses, and often have agency nurses in them. Turnover is high as well. Iqaluit has Qikiqtani General Hospital, I don't know if they are usually as short, but worth a try. You'd want to apply to HR in all three of those regions separately. The NWT has several small hospitals which would be good to try. Inuvik, Hay River, and Fort Smith would be the ones to look at. Yellowknife has Stanton but it might be harder to get on there as a new grad. Contact the Federal First Nations and Inuit Health Branch for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario (three different places). They would be the provinces most likely to hire a new grad into one of their hospitals. There are areas in rural BC that might also be a possibility, again for small hospitals. Good luck to you! I've spent a lot of time working in the north, although not mostly in the hospitals, but since you have a child it would be hard for you to work in the smaller communities where you would be on call after hours a lot, and the schools would not be very good.