shawtee

Thanks for the TIP, I LOVE community nursing to be quite honest.

Fiona, I am not part of the ONA union. This is a general question as I was curious. I appreciate the post and information! :)

Just the post I was looking for. Thank you kindly for your post, that's all the information I needed!

Effective April 2013, ONA for the UHN (and perhaps other hospitals) will be increasing wages. Does that mean people already working for hospitals with ONA will have an automatic increase in wage also or is this only effective for people newly hired as of April 2013 and on?

I apologize for the grammatical and punctuation errors!! Just heading out!

Hello, I've been an RN for one year now. Right after I got my licence, ended up in LTC. I know I know, not the smartest thing to do as a new nurse, but when I job is right in front of you and you have no money, you'll take it!! I got another job as a client services supervisor for a homecare agency. LOVE this job more than anything. It's a 8:30-4:30, paid holiday's, weekends off, everything I could ever ask for. I don't now if I have the opportunity to grow in both salary and experience. To be honest, nursing experience is ZERO... more so administrative experience and doing occurance reports. I still LOVE THE JOB. My concern is that I am getting to comfortable at this job. It's so ideal, but it's not "nursing". I'm not getting the experience I would get in the hospital which EVERYONE is making me feel like I need. I love this job so much but one day I will want to move on... with my lack of hospital experience, 1 or 2 years down the line, they probably won't even hire me in the hospital because I haven't been. Everyone knows getting a job for TPH, YRPH, CCAC is very difficult. Another thing, with my weekends OFF... How am I going to get used to a job where I have to work every other weekends. I'm young, I love my weekends, I love my Friday/Saturday parties... it's something I value. But if I ever want to go into the NP program or for my masters, I need that hospital experience... someone guide me. What does one do when they are SOOO happy in the moment, but knows the moment will not last forever.... Sincerely, Shirin

Buying the books now could be a bit too early as they could end up coming out with a new edition, however, with that said, practicing and understanding the questions in advance is not such a bad idea. While some editions are old, they still are practice questions and this is helpful. My best advice is to get familiar with nursing knowledge (competencies, pharmacology, med-surg, etc) before actually getting into practicing questions. If you want to start studying from now, you can purchase a Mosby comprehensive guide and start making some notes based on that guide. Be advised though, this guide contains LOTS of information so don't get too overwhelming. Doing a few questions never hurt, so go for it! And when you finish your fourth year, you'll know that studying for the CRNE last minute is NOT a good idea.. take it from someone with experience Hope that helped!

Hi janfrn, They are quite expensive; however, they do teach you useful information. I promoted their prep course at my school (as a job) and you do get your money back if you fail given that you attend all classes and do your homework. I attended all classes, they elaborate on the nursing competencies, how to read the question, time management, provide 2 mock exams, give you advice, and much more. I do agree with you on the price though, but there are so few prep courses in Toronto. Sometimes you don't need a course, but I was too worried to fail and did everything I could not to. I am an RN now.

if it makes you guys feel any better, here in Canada we only get 3 chances. If you fail the third time, you no longer get to work as an RN EVER or you have to appeal to the Canadian College of Nurses... now that's messed up! one time, two times, three times.... just keep studying... study hard, manage yourself, do lots of practice questions, etc.

Hi everyone, Not sure if there is a thread on this, but if anyone finds it let me know. I am looking to write my NCLEX in Toronto. I need some advice. A. can anyone provide me with any information on where I can take some NCLEX prep courses (good and reliable places) B. any books you would recommend I purchase to help me study for the NCLEX (reviews, etc.) C. Is there a specific website dedicated to NCLEX Toronto? any detailed information for people wishing to write the NCLEX in Toronto D. any information on dates, times, cost for writing NCLEX on any websites. and any other advice, information you wish to share. Again, not sure if there's a thread on this, but if there is, I encourage you to let me know. Thanks, S.

Hi, I wrote the exam in June and passed. One thing I can tell you is that I walked out of that exam in tears because I was sure that I failed. That was a hard exam, I must say, but many of us did pass. Most of you will walk out of the exam thinking "What the ****", but do not worry yourself too much. What I did was I took a course at Toronto School of Health (near Fairview mall), that was really helpful. I also did A LOT of practice question, using the Mosby books. Go through the practice questions, and studying is important. If you have a comprehensive guide you can study, that would be good; however, don't go too into it as the book can be overwhelming. Remember ABC's at all times. For psychosocial questions... usually the answer will be "how do you feel about that?" "can you tell me more about how you feel", stuff like that. Know your lab values, I believe they asked a question on that. Making cue cards were helpful for me... I guess the best you can do is just go through practice questions and go through a comprehensive guide. Time management is also IMPORTANT... when I was doing practice guides, I did them like a half an hour early or something, but during the exam I finished exactly 2 minutes before the end so time yourself. Goodluck!

I also did not bother to apply. It's just too much stress waiting for results... I just want to see where I stand before I jump the gun. Besides, there will always be nursing jobs and I'm really in no rush to find one as I'm still living at home. S

it's funny because I felt the same way. First question I looked at it and was like "***" I'm pretty sure I skipped over 50 questions in hopes of coming back to it, then I got late, I was falling asleep and the lady beside me smelt really bad (no affence). Afterwards I went to the hospital and found out that my hemoglobin was at a 92 so yeah. This exam was a disaster and I'm living on a prayer but I don't feel as confident as I really truly want to about this exam... honestly, way to hard... I felt like whichever team wrote it was different then the people who wrote the CRNE study guides from previous years. That's my story... and I still feel like I want to jump infront of a train lol.. S

does anyone else feel like this exam was way harder then any of the CRNE preparation guides... at least I was feeling slightly more confident doing those than I did writing this stupid exam. Anyone else feel like they want to jump infront of a train also lol? Thanks, Shirin

thanks for the tips!

Hey everyone, I am writing my CRNE in June, was wondering if anyone can give me some tips on how to study, what to study, what to focus on, what words to look out for in the question...Should I be worried? I've heard if you fail 3 times, you can't write it again, that's extremely stressful to here. I could use all the advice I can get. I have the Mosby's comprehensive guide and I am going through as many questions as possible. Ps. people who wrote it Feb 2011, any advice? Sincerely, Shawtee

Hey, So good news! I just got a call from another nurse that used to work at that hospital and they are more than willing to be my reference! Thanks everyone!!

thanks JBudd. I hope when I apply to places they don't ask me about a ref from my ER preceptor. I really won't know what to tell them! Thanks for the advice!

Hey everyone, So I have a problem that I've been holding onto for quite a while now. I just finished my final year of the nursing program at Ryerson (CANADA). I was placed in the ER in my first term and LTC Alzheimer's unit in my second year. My preceptor from the LTC facility said she'll give me a reference no problem and my faculty advisor (teacher) also said she's willing to give me a reference. My ER preceptor has yet to respond to at least one of my e-mails (even my "hello, how are you doing" emails)... I feel like her reference would be the most important reference of all because it's from the ER. I can easily get my references from third year + my LTC reference + my teacher reference (the one who passed my clinical terms); however, I feel like if HR looks at my reference and doesn't see an "ER" references he/she might find that fishy. What do you guys think? Advice? Should I be worried that my ER preceptor will prolly not give me a reference. I've been trying to track her down but after 2 emails if she isn't responding then I think that's code for "take a hint" lol Thanks