dayandnight

BC nurse here and it is very, very true where I am at. Granted it depends on the hospital but 2 days 2 nights are very standard and normal here.

Standard BC hospital schedule is 2D 2N and 4-5 days off ( depends on health authority but some health authorities give more 4 days off, some more 5 days off). It can take time getting used to. My husband likes working in Canada (we're both from US but my husband just transferred his license in March) but he works at the biggest trauma hospital in Vancouver, but he feels that it is still very different than US nursing (hospitals in BC except for a few are quite old and outdated compared to the US). It will certainly be a big adjustment for you. The licensing transfer though is very tedious. It took my husband almost 4 years through all the bureaucracy and paperwork.. in BC that's the standard schedule for inpatient nursing

It took my husband 2 yrs mostly because his school and work (3rd party HR) didn’t provide the right “lengthy” documents NNAS wanted in the beginning... he applied a few months after graduation and has been working in the US and living in Canada all through this time. I’d say the average time takes about a year to get processed for NNAS and 2-3 months for the Canadian provincial board of nursing

You can still get assessed for RN if you just did your ADN-RN. My husband from Washington state did the same and is being assessed for RN at the moment (He did LPN to ADN). I have seen many foreign nurses come to Canada without a BSN and got their RN license. The only thing you need to look out for is how NNAS will assess your documents. Without a license in Canada I don't think you can enter LPN to BSN programs in Canada, and also they're highly competitive to get into. Even the locals here wait for years to get in.

If you have a bachelor’s degree you might be able to take the NCLEX right away but without a bachelor’s your education might not be comparable here. BC has the beaches, lakes, mountains and pristine nature but it’s quite unaffordable with expensive housing and daycare. BC’s nursing pay is 10$/hr less than Alberta. In Alberta the closest mountains you have are the rockies so if you live farther away from that, you will see flat plains. Many Albertans including my nurse friends have their vacations in BC. I heard job situation was getting better in Alberta but it has been easier to find nursing jobs in BC for the last few yrs due to nursing shortage and more government funding. You can Google/reddit major Canadian cities for more information on living there

You need to probably take a provincial foreign nurse exam (sec, iencap, ncas etc there are many names) and take a refresher course based on the results. Just a tip most provinces don’t let you take those courses unless you have a working visa or permanent residency so you need to sort out the immigration situation before proceeding with the application. It is a slow process but I believe Ontario, Saskachewan and Newfoundland do not require permanent residency to proceed with the license process (You do need a working visa with Ontario)

Without a Canadian RN license not really. I know a friend who did a Master's and then later went through NNAS. It didn't really widen any career options for her because of the gap in time with immigration, NNAS etc (she had to take a refresher course and it took her longer). I would think it will be better if you get licensed first then work as a RN while going through the Master's program to gain seniority and widen your options

The units for labs such as White blood Cell, hemoglobin, and RBC are a bit different here. That's also something to keep in mind and I suggest you look this up yourself. The generic names for medications are a bit different (gravol for dramamine) and some of the medications used are a bit different here as well. Subcutaneous insulin is not a double check medication in BC, (where I am at, originally did BSN in WA state). Many hospitals still don't have computer charting, and use paper MARs. Most acute Med/Surg units have no cnas where I am at or it's just one CNA per floor. Cnas are called care aids here and have limited practice scope compared to the States, just strict ADLs and Vital Signs at very specific hospitals. You work with LPNs as well in most units aside from highly specialized areas (depends on the province). You work 12 hour rotating days and night shifts here (4 shifts on 4 days off with some 5 days off, also depends on the province you work in). The benefits are generally better here (extended health benefits and maternity leave especially) but pay is less depending on which province you decide to work. There are a whole ton of differences between Canadian nursing vs US nursing and it took me a couple years to get used to it. Hope that helps.

First of all there is a specific Canadian forum. I'm going to be a bit honest with you. You haven't practiced as a nurse at all and that's going to have a bit of an impact on your assessment with BC even if you have NCLEX and did a BSN in the US. BCCNP and NNAS in general require at least a 1120 (hours approximate) hours of practice as a nurse in the last 5 years. BC is a hard place to start working if you don't have any experience because they don't have a New Grad Residency program of any sort. New grad orientations are almost a 1 month orientation on the floor. Not that long compared to the New Grad programs in the states. BC refresher course is a maximum of 1 year but the clinicals for the program are basically almost the level of the practicum (last semester preceptorship clinical for nursing school). Plus, BC will probably get you to take the NCAS exam which has a clinical component. If you don't do well on that test you might be told to retake the entire nursing program. My recommendation is to seek the refresher program (take the NCAS first) and if you're not really up for that I really recommend going back to nursing school. It will help you in the long run for being a nurse in Canada.

By the time you even transfer your license to Canada about a year will pass. If you don't work during that time you won't be very competitive for jobs here since they highly value students who graduated in Canada over even US new grad nurses (unless they have experience). It depends on the province but unlike the US, there are no formal "new grad" programs in Canada. In BC the most you get are 12 shifts (which is less than a month) and you don't get more than a few months worth of training anywhere else unless you get into a specialty position (which is not easy for new grads to get into). I highly suggest getting work experience there before coming up to Canada because you need to be highly adaptable and independent. When I came up to Canada from the US the maximum on-the-floor orientation I got at a hospital was 6 shifts because I couldn't qualify for their new grad position. I struggled a lot initially and it took me about a year to adjust due to the differences in the healthcare system and roles of nursing.

There are tons of questions on American Nurses going to Canada. Canada does accept foreign nurses without a Bachelor's degree. You have to take NCAS and take a refresher course depending on the result. You can do RN to BSN but it depends on the similarity of the curriculum for your ASN and RN to BSN. If it's not all that comparable to the Canadian BSN, you might still have to take the NCAS exam. RNs do the same thing as RNs in the US for long term care: family meetings, meds, and you can apply for management positions, etc. There are private facilities that pay less and government facilities which pay more (same wage as hospital workers) and are backed up by a good nursing union and benefits. I don't know about government nursing home patient ratios but in Canada you rotate between 2 shifts (for nursing homes D/E, E/N, D/N etc). Some nursing homes have fixed Nx shift schedules. I worked at a private facility with 1:28 ratio for days, 1:53 ratio for evenings and nights.. but the residents were not as sick as where I used to work in the US (Medicare/Rehab section of the SNF)

NNAS, sponsorship immigration through your husband is the most important thing you need to do ASAP. Gather school and nursing licensure documents in Kenya before you go to Canada because it will be near impossible to do it when you are in Canada. NNAS and Ontario (CNO) process can take more than 1 year. If you have all the documents, English proficiency exam scores, etc, it may take sooner. Also, after NNAS evaluates your documents, you need at least a working visa to further progress through the licensure process in Ontario. (it is mandatory there). You can get a work visa if you live in Canada and your husband sponsors your immigration in Canada. (you can't get the visa if you do the immigration processing in Kenya). The visa will help you go through CNO and also get a job in Canada before you get your PR (which may take up to 1 year or more) Consult an immigration service/lawyer if your husband is unfamiliar with any immigration documents because any mistakes and missed documentations will slow everything down big time.

Only Ontario provides an exemption for English requirement for those who worked in an English speaking workplace (healthcare, food service or management) for a few years or attended college/university in Canada. At other provinces, if your first language is not English they will ask you to take the English proficiency exam.

I am a BSN from Seattle and moved to BC Canada almost 10 years ago. My husband is a US citizen trying to transfer his license with a ADN right now (through NNAS). BC has never required bachelor’s for their foreign nurses (even though all Canadian RN education is BSN now), so it is still possible to get licensed as a ADN in some provinces. Even with the RN to BSN, since Canada doesn’t have a lot of that type of programs anymore, there is a chance your education might be assessed as somewhat or not comparable (it’s all based on how similar the curriculum is to here) For BC, the NCAS exam will probably be mandatory for ADN nurses as this is the case for foreign nurses with BSNs from non-English country. (I have never seen a foreign degree nurse get exempted for this exam unless they have a BSN from the US). After the NCAS exam BCCNP will decide whether you need a refresher course which varies between 3 months, clinical or clinical +theory portion of up to a year. The only caveat is that the refresher course offered in the Vancouver area has a requirement of a permanent residency status. You can work on your BSN while starting to gather documents for the NNAS process since the whole process takes forever nowadays... hope this helps!

I've seen one at my old hospitals so yes they do utilize NPs in critical care, CCU, etc. The one I saw was at our unit because one of our patients was referred to critical care (from medical). We have NP at our emergency department but they are only able to see relatively stable patients (when they are admitted the following department physician takes over). For scope maybe you can check recruiting hospital websites for job description