rubriam

I would ask for clarification on why they do not want the fluids in the "blanket like warmer". Maybe that particular warmer is for blankets only and not for fluids. Ours have a separate compartments one for fluids and one for blankets and both have different temps. I agree with you I do not see why a patient should pay more for a level one unless there is a research study that has shown a contraindication in using those fridge warmers.

I lived in Montreal for 3 years my husband did his post-doc at Mcgill. I really enjoyed the city. It was a little bit expensive. the cost of living is compared to Chicago as per one of the salary websites.... I agree with janfrn is culturally diverse. I call it New York without the crime, It has crime but not as bad as in New York. You are going to love the city it has a lot to offer specially in the summer. Is one the fashion capitals as well they have a lot of designer if you are into that you are going to love it. Let me know and I can give you some tips on canadian designers. It is a party city specially in St laurent street and in the plateau. Usually students live in what is called the Ghetto but do not think that is like the ghetto in the US. That is the area closest to Mcgill but the rent is overpriced for what it is. I lived in the plateau Close to Mont Royal and St Denis. I loved that area because there is a lot of shopping and a lot of restaurants. I would recommend for you to live very close to a metro station 5-10 walking distance in the winter is very convenient. Opportunities for you to stay you have plenty, the only thing is that you must speak french and pass the french test given by the "office de la langue francaise." I think you will have a year after graduation. You can get more info once you start your program. The school is a good school and their big thing is research, specially in nursing, Mcgill has a lot of nursing researchers. You can look that up in the mcgill website. You will be working closely with Mcgill Hospitals. There are a network of 5 hospitals. Anglophone hospitals, I worked in one of the 5 hospitals. I worked at the Montreal General Hospital in the ED. I will strongly recommend for you to enroll in a french course if you can, that way you can soak up the french canadian culture and enjoy your stay more. It is not necessary that you speak french but it makes your life easier. Any further questions PM me. I hope this info helps you

I came from the US to work to Quebec. Yes, the hospital that I work for they counted the years of experience and the fact that I have a BSN. That puts me on a differnt "echlon" in the FIQ. The way that it works is that they ask how many hours do you work in a year and you have to prove it. Each year is worth so many hours I don't remember the amount. I asked HR back in the US to give me a letter stating how many hours per year I had work for them. HR never did because they were confused of what I was asking. I pull out all my December pay stubs from the US, in that pay stub it had a total hours per year. The hospital here in Quebec did not in consideration the overtime hours. Look at the http://www.fiqsante.qc.ca/documents_publications/documents/decret_2006-2010_salaires0703_eng.pdf Nurse Clinician is a nurse who has a Bachelor (page 1) Nurse a non Bachelor nurse (page 12) THis other link will explain more less which echlon you will be at this time. http://www.fiqsante.qc.ca/documents_publications/documents/a07-cfs-i-d2_MAJ_070320_eng.pdf hope this helps if you have more specific questions you can PM me

I moved here from San Antonio, Texas a year ago. I have been here for one year I have taken the french test and I have passed 2 out of the 4 sections, the other two sections in one I made a 30% and the other I made a 40%. Passing is 60%. I have a total of 3 years to pass the french test since I studied outside of Quebec. I have been taking a french course each semester, the hospital pays for my french classes at Berlitz (you can look it up on line). If you have specific questions please dont' hesitate to write me. I will be gladly to help you.

I agree with "annmariern" also the weight training helped me to get my legs, arms and back stronger, and also helps as a stress reliver. Try it

Size really doesn't matter, I'm 5'1" and 100 pounds, 27 years old and I worked as a student also for 6 months when I was 21 or 22 years old at a rehab center, and I had the same reactions from patients as you had, it usually started as how old are you? I would answered back "how old you think I am?" if they guess 15 or 17 I would tell them no 13 and we would laugh together and after I would start the rapport with my patient. If I would try to transferred them from the bed to the chair, and I knew I could do it because I knew the patient could transfer by him/her self but just needed a little bit of help they would tell me you are not strong enough, I would tell them don't worry I know the tricks. Obviously, if I knew I couldn't do it, I always got some extra help, I still do this. THen I moved to Pediatrics, but it didn't worked out, and I end up in ER (in a adult/children) in a level one trauma center and occasionally I have the same reactions, when I do, I joke about it such as I'm 13 to 17 years old, I just graduated from high school, I'm the daughter of the nurse or doctor so and so and I'm just helping out, yes I know, I get the same comments all the time, when I have a patient that is spanish speaking I tell them "chiquita pero picosa" which means little one but spicy, also I tell them and if you see my mom she is little bit smaller than me. The majority of the time it works but you always have the 1 patient that doesn't matter what you tell them they can't reason with you and in that case after I tried 20,000 times on to make him/her trust me, that is when I change assignments, but like the other post says usually the older population have they minds set on how a nurse should look, don't get discorage. Size really doesn't matter!

It depends on what you like!!! I lived in San Antonio and practiced nursing ER/trauma nursing in a level one trauma center. I would compared San Antonio to Dallas/houston as cost of living low, less traffic, with more hispanic flare. Salaries I hear are better in Houston and Dallas but the cost of living is way higher. The ER that I worked for receives trauma/medical cases from all south texas, is a 604 bed hospital and has about 70.000 emergency visits per year. Also, they have three ICU units, MICU (medical ICU), STICU (surgical trauma ICU) and transplant ICU. I think they pay relocation, I'm not to sure about this. PM if you have specific questions good luck

You would be surprised, apply directly to the ER, hospitals hire new grads!!!! The unit that I used to work for has a 3 month orientation witha preceptor, during this period you also have class time with the ER nurse educator.

Before I came to Montreal I had about 2 1/2 years of experience. HR asked me for a total of hours for year to make the equivalence of experience here. They recognized 2 years and 285 calendar days and I qualified for step 9, we get ICU premium and a bunch of differentials, but of course paying ~ 35% of salary on taxes brings my pay low, but is not bad. For sure the majority of the time we are understaff but we manage.

we moved on October of 2004 to Montreal from Texas, hired Allied (moving company) they were great, expensive too, but worth every penny. Only one plate broke and it was becuse we didn't wrap it very well. It took 2 or 3 weeks, for all the stuff to get here. They pick it up and they drop it off at your place and place it in the room that it belongs. The only thing is that once it got here we had to go to customs once the stuff arrived to Montreal. I would highly recommend the company, at least you can start with an estimate to see if it worth it. The reason that we choose the moving company instead of doing it ourselves was becuse San Antonio, Texas is to far south of US that with gas hotel and everything, it was going to cost about the same. And, the other reason was that Uhaul was asking us to return the truck to a US location. Good luck

Oh, I see!!!! I didn't know that either. I wrote the Quebec exam and it was short answer questions, no multiple choice at all. I wonder if you call the board that is giving the CRNE, they will be able to tell you at least how many questions and the structure of that section. Maybe, you get some info. Sorry I was not much help

What RN exam are you taking? What Province?

I would have to agree with this reply, I have also started on a teaching hospital as a grad nurse, literally they took me under their wing. Turning neuro pt by yourself is not ok, you can hurt your back. Orientation: I worked PICU for 8 mo orientation was 12 weeks, then transfered to the ER and eventhough I had been working for 8 mo as a nurse I still had 3 full months of orientation including classes, then I worked in the ER for 2.5 years and recently moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada and the orientation for experienced nurses here is 23 shifts + classes. What you are experiencing is not right, nursing is a profession we must act like professionals and not maltreat the new kid on the block. My advise is to look another unit, and next time spent time 1-3 hours on the unit prior to accept the position, that way you can get a feel the culture of the unit, ask questions, talk to nurses about what do they like and dislike about the unit. Good luck and hopefully you don't have to go thorugh this any longer

Update Thank you everyone for the answers posted. I took the OIIQ exam (available in english and french) I think it was a little bit harder than the Nclex only because I was not used to the format of the OIIQ exam. The OIIQ board test is devided in two day 1st day short answer questions and 2nd day Objectively Structure Clinical Examination (OSCE) clinical test, in other words, practice test, and the NCLEX is computarized multiple choice questions. Here is my experience with the OIIQ test and hopefully it will help others. What I did to study? As mentioned earlier I bought the test guide that the OIIQ sells (available in English) I studied, twice. Also, I studied exactly as if I was taking the NCLEX. I went to all the bookstores here in Montreal thinking that I would find other preparation nursing books for the this test only to found out that the bookstore have nothing for the OIIQ exam and a bunch for the NCLEX exam. So, my plan was to brush up on my weaknesses, and then review, at the end, my strengths. I used the same books and CD's that I used, to study for the NCLEX. For the OSCE, I used the same book, "Professional examination preparation guide" that I bought from the OIIQ (available in English) and acted it out. the OSCE makes you feel that you are in the real world. They are actors and they act as patients and you act as their nurse. It was that simple, is just like taking a lab exam. You perform the skill. I passed the exam, I AM A NURSE IN QUEBEC NOW, all I need to do now is pass the french exam. As for finding work here in Quebec, I contacted the nursing recruiter at the hospital were I wanted to work via email, then made an appoitment showed my resume, I had and interview and I was hired within 2 weeks. I'm so excited because after a long process I'm part of the work force again. Note: you don't need to pass the board exam, to find a job because the OIIQ gives you a letter stating that you have been recognized as a "candidate of nursing". And you start working as a "GPL." It is just like in Texas where you start working as a "graduate nurse", until you pass the board exam. As for the french exam, the "Office de la langue francaise" has pass a law article 35 that they give up to a year to pass the french exam, renewable yearly, up to 3 times. So, you get a temporarly permit for 4 full years. You have to sit the french exam yearly but if you don't pass it it is renewable. Also, I want to add that I started this process while I was in Texas, all the process was done by mail. Once, I moved to Montreal I changed the address with them and received my results without a problem in my new home address in Montreal. Thank you again for all the helped received.

If you are good at using the PDA go for it. I have a friend who used the PDA after graduating and she liked it better than the hard copy. Also, I know many nurses where I used to work, they use it all the time, and they get answers fast, plus I think the PDA has good learning tools, such as drug calculation and I think you have the option of upgrade. I prefered the hard copy because I don't have a PDA. lol As for advice on 1st year clasess and clinicals...study, study..and don't be scared is not that bad. Is just something new. good luck Rubria