malenurse82

smoking is an addiction ailment, a nurse with a heart ailment is not a "hypocrite" if s/he works in a cardiac unit... and also, why do we need more spots "open" for nurses? Maybe, do we need more support for colleges and universities to open more nursing students????? none of my business, but if I was your instructor, I would probably not encourage my student to continue with this assignment with the premise with which you have started. I think much more interesting is what is the role of the health-care system (i.e. the employer) in smoking cessation initiatives... ...and a totally different question is the issue of nursing education, i really fail to see a connection between these two issues....

In the facility where I work, it seems that RPN assignments are simply based on whether the patient has an IV or not, pity as there are many patients with IV's that are suitable for RPNs. The facility's own Policies and procedures limit the role of the RPN, in among other things, disallowing them to initiate IV therapies (meds, fluids, etc), but they can maintain said therapies. this particular thinking seems pretty backwards to me and is lacking in any sort of evidence based foundations. I worked in a different place where the role of the RPN was just being introduced and RPN assignments were designated as assignments with predictable outcomes, not simply defined by a laundry list of skills and they would train them for IV therapies, even as OR nurses in the scheduled (planned) c-sections. IMO nurses (whether RPN or RN) are professionals licensed by a governing body to practice nursing, period. The scope of practice is also defined by the governing bodies. It is the employers (hospital, provinces, etc) that define who can perform what set of skills. In my facility, only physicians can remove central lines, whereas, as a student in a different facility, I practiced this skill with my preceptor. the idea behind a BScN is twofold. The first reason is to give nursing a stronger voice in the healthcare arena; sit at any multidisciplinary meeting and you will find a physician (undergraduate) a social worker (undergrad if not already with a masters), a psychologist (probably with a masters level education), surely nursing needed a little boost. The second one is to create nursing professionals that have the theoretical base and research skills to advance the profession of nursing at managerial, academic, theoretical or philosophical spheres. So, I am sure there are many people with the vocation to care and the skill to practice nursing (whether in an acute setting or complex continuing care setting, public health, whatever) but only a few that would be interested into furthering their practice into the higher academic spheres. Just as it happens in other fields; there are many architects, or engineers, or even physicians who practice their profession, but not all of them go and obtain PhDs and become researchers, academics, or consultants. I think choosing RN over RPN is similar to the issue of choosing a university education over a college education. There is a misconception that college education is "easier" (read lower standards). This is not the case, my sister went to college and she would stay up until the wee hours of the night working on her highly advanced design projects. by the end of the 2 year diploma program, she had a large portfolio of high quality pieces that allowed her to get a good paying job and a rewarding career at the age of 22. In contrast, I saw many students drowning in the sea of people that attend undergraduate programs in Canadian universities; it is just the reality of the current state of affairs in education. Universities get money for enrolling herds of undergraduate students, but in reality the fruits of a university (the research) only happen at the graduate levels. Choosing a college education over a university education is a decision made based on the reality of the circumstances of the person, and the reasons are unique everyone. If the person has an academic aspiration, they will thrive in the university environment, I say this because this was my experience as i went to university. Either way, if the person has the vocation and the right critical thinking skills, that person will make a great nurse irregardless of where they got their training.

The "plastics" in our hospital would be the infant medicine unit, they always come with attitude and a long face when they have to float over to us. One time I was in charge and I was going to assign a new admission to the float nurse and the nurse said to me: I am floating to this unit, I don't know where anything is, I cannot do an admission, and walked away.... They also have stories of being nasty to each other in face book, or sending you copies of incident reports they have filed over things allegedly done by you. I would like to put them in an all carb diet (including butter), keltene bars, and foot cream for their nasty faces!

Its up to you, really. Do not feel like you have to do this, there will be other women delivering that day, and you will not be the first woman/patient to decline the presence of students. I'm sure everyone will understand. You can share with them once the baby is born. In the hospital where I worked last year, one of the pediatricians I worked with gave birth in our hospital. Trust me, i was happy to be there once baby and mom were ready for visitors, not before. =)

I think you have a pretty good chance with that GPA. (out of 4.0 right?? ) I graduated from York 2nd entry degree last year. I started in the fall of 2006. Our class had just under 100 students. I remember them saying the 2007 class was a tad bigger. I dont really know where they are now in terms of how many they accept. or how many apply? I knew some people in my year entered through a waiting list a few days after classes started. apply early, spots fill quickly! Good luck, the 2nd entry program at York is the BEST in the world, trust me! (...but I am biased) Lol

All positions listed in the Alberta Health Services website for the entire province are for INTERNAL CANDIDATES ONLY, it has been like this for a few months now. Trust me , I check often, I want to move to Alberta really bad!!! I heard some positions in critical care nursing and other complex areas will open, but for experienced RNs there. I feel bad for Alberta New Grads.....

All New Grad positions have to be obtained through the HFO web portal and are guaranteed Full Time for 6 months, the tricky part is whether the employer will offer the New Grad a Full time position at the end of the 6 months. Best case scenario, the New Grad is hired for the 6 months (HFO) and offered a Full Time position after. However, the employer might ask the person to wait and see for positions to open at the end of the New Grad placement so that the new grad can apply. My hospital is non-unionized and I think there is people that are hired Part Time but there are enough shift vacancies that the person can work close to a full time shift line. It all depends. The problem is that some hospitals are closing their new grad initiatives as they dont see any value in a New Grad going there when they cannot offer him/her a job at the end of the New Grad.

I agree with the above response, if you want to do a second degree nursing program, just apply, regardless of GPA. There are lots of people who refuse entry, change schools or change plans. I think i had a 3.0 (out 4.0) when I applied, and I wasnt wait listed at york. When I was thinking about nursing, I applied to UofT, and BC and York. But its hard to get into BC coz I was out of province, but I still tried. good luck everyone =)

...and yet, the latest issue of the canadian nurse magazine features in its entire back cover a full colour ad of alberta health services advertising nursing in alberta....only to search for job postings and find at the end of them this odious little message: this posting is open to qualified ahs employees only. and yes, they use red coloured font. why doesnt alberta want my nursing services???

I got my new grad position through HFO jobs, however, I find HFO jobs to be outdated for non new-grad-initiative jobs. I find the websites of individual hospitals to have more jobs posted than HFO jobs for regular nursing positions. And yes, the talk of the town is that there is, what seems to be, an unspoken slowing down of hiring in nursing. I had applied last year to UHN and in March of this year I got a letter saying that UHN was not hiring any new grads for fear that they couldnt gurantee them full time positions at the end of the new grad initiative. I have heard of many new grads not being able to find full time positions.

yesterday the issue of canadian nurse (the magazine publishe by the cna) arrived in my home. the entire back cover of the publication is an add for alberta health services for career opportunities. i am a fairly novice nurse in ontario and i have been thinking about alberta for a while now, is just that every time i look at the postings they had nothing (nada) posted. so yesterday, i thought, oh wow! alberta is hiring again? so i went to the ahs website, but all the posted jobs are for internal ahs candidates only! (often written in odious all caps bold red letters!) why are they wasting money booking the entire back cover of this magazine when they arent hiring! am i reading these job postings wrong? ma i looking in the wrong place?

I also saw the show, the woman in this episode was thrombocytopenic and her midwife told her she had to go to the hospital to deliver (she knew she might have to deliver at hospital due to this way in advance). Nevertheless, her world collapsed upon hearing this...while in hospital going into labour, something called my attention: she didnt want a fetal monitor attached.... also, it was december 2nd and they wanted a december 3rd birthday... It makes me think that sometimes people set themselves up for dissapointment. Im all for home births and midwifery assisted deliveries, but one thing that people should also factor in is the uncertainty that pregnancy / labour bring. When families plan in advance everything about their delivery and are set in that, they will be sorely disappointed, like the woman in the how who had to deliver at the hospital... she had to deliver in hospital under great stress and disapointment to the point that she refused even the relatively non-invasive monitor... I am a peds nurse and i often see the disappointment when the child is jaundiced and they cant go home, or when breastfeeding isnt going as smoothly and the kid is not gaining weight, and i see the parents beside theirselves ... only because their experience isnt how they had planned it, and then you talk about supplementing with formula, and they look at you like you just told them to poison their child if a family plans for something, being homebirth, breastfeding, an exact birthday.... soewhere along the way they should tell their plan to a trusted health provider, having a plan is great, but it cannot be set in stone, birthing is a complex event with many variables and if you dont anticipate for changes and take things as they come, you wont be prepared to adapt your plan according to your own circumstances.... and this is where i see families have a more traumatic birthing experience than if you have studied many angles and are open to exploring changes... can we say that this woman who was set to deliver in the hospital and didnt explore that option, because she had it set in stone that she would hopmebirth, was prepared to make informed decisons? i dont think so... for all she knows she was dragged to deliver in hospital against her will, because that was against her plan.... and if youre gonna cry because your child is going to be delivered on the 2nd and not the third??? mmm im sorry, me and my empathetic self will be at the desk drawing meds... ill let dad deal with that... LOL

I had 2 weird questions in an interview for a PICU job. the first question was: Give an example of an event or instance where you found that policy was inconvinient and you decided to not follow policy. Ok, I get the essence of the question: I think its related to critical thinking and making autonomous/ patient specific decisions. However, I couldnt really come up with anything specific to say, it really blocked me and I had to ask to skip it to come back to it. Perhaps this is because im fairly new to nursing (graduated last fall, started working 6 months ago). Us new grads we are always so adament to following policy and, in nursing like anything else in life, rules can be broken only after following them for some time.... no? the second was: Give an example of a time where you had to make a decision without consulting your nursing manager / charge nurse / facilitator...? Ummm... I make most of my decisions in a day to day basis without consulting... I dont really know what the objective of this question was. I dont think these were fair questions to ask a new grad (like me)... any thoughts?

I graduated from the Yorku 2 year accelerated program. I thought it was great. The professors are really awesome. Because of the short time, the courses are all killer no filler, you just have to stay on top of things because the pace is fast. Most of us got great placements in excellent hospitals (UHN,Sunnybrook, St Michaels, Mt Sinai, SickKids etc) with excellent preceptors (helps if you live downtown, same as UofT though). The class size is nice, makes for a very tight group where everyone knows everyone and everyone is kinda like in the same boat (makes complaining to professors a lot easier, youre not the only one with papers and exams due at the same time LOL). As per GPA, I think everyone was very succesful overall, with some people succeeding in some areas versus others that succeeded in others. I dont know the specifics about the UofT program the person who designed the program for York also helped design the program at UofT (so I have heard) I think the approach is very similar. I was waitlisted at UofT and I accepted York's offer as I had to make a decision (I couldnt wait another year). My advice to you is to apply to both you wont regret either one, both are great. I am biased towards york, i think that the way the program is designed made me develop a passion and a love for nursing. In case you are wondering, both YorkU 2nd entry and the UofT program include courses in mental health nursind pediatric nursing (most nursing programs are lacking in these two fields) My only objection to the YorkU program is that York is so ******* far from downtown, where I live, LOL.