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Hi Jen, I took the bridging at Centennial/Ryerson, and I'm not too happy with it as well as some of my classmates. First of all the college not organized at all. Our clinical placements were suppose to start the first week of school but they were not organized by then so we started a week late. Also the winter semester some students missed 2 weeks of clinical because the college didn't have it set up for them also most of us got ****** placements that have nothing to do with the theory we were learning, I think centennial gets the last pick and they send you wherever there are spots left. There are no tests for first few weeks but then there is test every single week, sometimes there are 2 of them plus scholarly paper assignments. The teachers spend hours on certain topics in class and you never see them on the test, also tests are multiple choice plus short answers and a lot of us found it hard, you have to answer they way they want you to. I personally found it very hard and frustrating, I am not sure how are the other schools but I heard George brown is better, one of my classmates transferred there and she loved it. Most courses you can take online so you have more days off. Also they tell you at the end of your last semester that you have to submit all your grades from previous programs to ryerson, and if you ever failed a nursing course ryerson will not take you. They could have mentioned it before but I guess they waited until people payed their money and can't get it back. Anyhow this is my experience! :)

RPN (Registered Practical Nurse) in Ontario gets paid different amounts, in Ottawa Hospitals the starting rate is $24.86, in some Long-Term health facilities it is $25, and if you work casual for an agency (not all agencies)it goes up to $26.... Now the other posters stated what they know, but you can still find few long-term health care facilities that pay you $22... Do AB Practical Nurses have the opportunity to get $24/hr, if not then they are underpaid compare to Ontario, and I can only speak for Ottawa for now

I have a question for 2bNurse-88, I saw your postings from few years ago, u mentioned that North York hospitals pay $22/hr to RPNs, do you know is it all North York or just which ones (I think NY General is one of them). Also you mentioned you work in nursing home, could you recommend which nursing homes pay more. The reason I'm sooo interested in wages is that I already make over $21/hr working as PSW, and it would be very disappointing for me to work where I make lower than that or slightly the same, especially after I spent 2 years studying to upgrade my knowledge from PSW to RPN. And I don't know if the HR departments would reveal me their starting wages over the phone.

Yes I agree with you, and I do know people telling me that they could not go to full time school because they had other responsibilities...I am from Ontario by the way, and we have many many immigrants coming to Toronto and Ottawa and many who are in their early or late 40's and early 50's, their degrees from back home don't mean a thing, so they had to go to universities/colleges and get their degrees, and they had language problems but they made it... Now the most RPN can get in Ontario is probably no more than $28/hr, and the most RN can get is $40+, so it doesnt matter how similar the scope of practice is, why would you want to do it for less if you are doing the same job.... RPN in my nursing home walks around all shift long and pass on pills, RN on the other hand sits down most of her shift (when u turn 60 u wouldn't mind woking if you get to take it easy), also I have some teachers who used to be RN's and probably older than 50 so there is always opportinuti to teach... Me for example I only work twice a week and have full time school, but it is only because I can afford to do that while i'm in school, but when i had to I worked 5 days a week and had full time classes, we should not look back on life and think we should have done something but we didn't.....Maybe I think this way because I went through 2 immigrations with my family and everytime we pulled through, as well as many other newcommers who are less fortunate than the ones who were born here.

I was replying as an encouragement, to say that it it possible, my friend the one I mentioned before she works full time as a PSW and she pays the tuition herself, as well as her house mortgage and caring for her 12 year old kid....I know it is tough and you just have to ask yourself if you r willing to work that hard for it, but it is possible... I also know people in their 30's working full time as PSW and attending university full time...they work night shifts though, but again if you don't have to or don't want to go through it then relax and enjoy life...

I don't think it's too late for u...My friend she is 48 now and she is finishing year 3 RN program, shell be almost 50 when she is done, also I have some older people in my class (compared to my age), mid 40's and they are doing better than the yonger ones, so go ahead, goodluck :)

Thank you 2bNurse-88, u were very helpfull:)))

I was wondering if you found what you were looking for, I'm trying to find something in Toronto as well, so if you have any information to share that would be great:)

Hello, I'm planning to look for a job in Toronto as RPN, does anyone know what is the starting wage for RPN's in Toronto hospitals, and what hospitals specifically? Also what hospital is better for new grad initiatve program? Thank you.

I'm in RPN program level 3, and the math we needed was taught to us and explained. Basically we had to write a math quiz in level 2 and we had reviews before it and we knew what type of equation we were gonna have. Also in level 3 we had to write a dose calculation test, which was again taught to us and reviewed many times. the fist quiz consisted of long/short devision, multiplication, adding/subtracting, functions (2/3+2/5). Hope it helps:)

I'm taking Practical Nursing at Algonquin College.... I think it's a very good program, the first year was not heavy (in my opinion), it allowed me to work as well as study. I believe you can find a job as RPN right away, all my friends who graduated and passed the license exams got jobs. You can work ranging from nursing home, to agency, or hospital. Also hospitals have those programs for graduating nurses, they will hire you even before you write your license exam. you can browse online for jobs in Ottawa and see for yourself, there's a lot of opportunities. at my work place for example where I work as health care aid we always need RPN's, sometimes they ask you to stay for double shift because they can't find no one to fill in for you. In nursing homes you will mostly be giving out pills and certain medications. And it depends on your work place what they allow you to do as RPN.