ShirleyMc

In Alberta, orientation is 4 shifts in addition to an in-classroom stint for a few days. There is no staffing crisis here ATM, due to a huge IEN hiring campaign/program a few months ago. Currently, there are no pick-up shifts, no OT, and casuals str...

As of about 2 weeks ago there is a hiring freeze for nurses in Alberta as per UCP government in that province.

Are you required to refresher?

I have a question regarding elderly and COVID-19.... Do people over, say 70 or 75 years old, generally develop a fever with COVID? The reason I ask is because in nursing school they drilled into our heads over and over that elderly often do not p...

Do I have any rights here in Canada.... Recently on our medicine unit we've had 2 patients whose families insist on video and audio recording nurses and other staff members while the patient is being cared for. At first the family secretly installed ...

It took me 23 months to get a RN job after completing the Nurse Refresher Program through MacEwan. It's really tough out there. I even applied in rural Alberta but they were looking for someone with many certificates so that I could work in a small h...

It is very difficult to obtain an RN position, even a casual one, as a new grad.

It's very hard to get a job in Alberta right now, unless you are willing to move, or commute, to a smaller rural community at least 1.5 - 2 hours out of any larger city (Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton). Many new grads from spring 2016, yes 2016, stil...

I understand about AHS/Covenant recruiters choosing from internal applicants first (based on seniority, right?), then if they need to, they choose from external applicants. My question, if (a big "if") they look at external applicants, how are they...

This is so discouraging, yet so true and exactly what I am seeing on the unit. I am Refreshing right now and near finished, just the last stint which is an in-hospital Preceptorship -- the burn out, lack of respect for the frontline people, the push...

Joanna, I am wondering where you got this information from. Am also wondering about the Covenant health numbers you mentioned. This is a genuine question as I am totally considering a big shift in career out of health care. I am almost done my Refr...

You're right Fiona59. I read the post totally wrong, missed something, or got mixed up with another person. Sorry about that. Please forget what I said.

Have you considered going for your BScN? Speaking big picture and long term, more doors may be open for you. As well, not sure where you are (location-wise and in life), but some courses you take for a nursing degree may be used for a different deg...

I worked through a nursing agency for a few weeks here and there during summer breaks and as a new grad nurse. Scarey. I was provided with no orientation and no guidance. Questionable situations. To be honest, I didn't know the difference becaus...

Thank you for this. Sadly, your predictions re: Grande Prairie hospital sound realistic given the other examples you've presented and the track record of this province (Alberta). Sigh. I am frantically "refreshing" after years of being out of the p...

Please peruse this site, banterings: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/why-get-a-flu-shot/#more-34459 You will be glad you did. It’s a blog expressing way better than I can the issues and the science around vaccines. It’s written by those who ha...

Herd Immunity! With infectious diseases you are vaccinating populations, not just individuals. When more people get vaccinated, more people are spared of the flu (or other disease) which makes for a healthier population / area / country. That's Co...

According to my sister (not in the health field) who has lived in Grande Prairie for 30+ years, says they are building a hospital in GP to be completed summer/fall of 2015-ish. Article (altho I haven't read it): Grande Prairie new regional hospital ...

I have this text for doing my Nurse Refresher Certification. I LOVE it! Lots of detail. It's expensive new, and it may be hard to obtain because it's one of those texts i think most nurses would want to keep for reference. Unless you could get one...

Does anyone know where to find Alberta (especially Edmonton and area) hiring statistics to indicate to a divorce judge that obtaining a job is very difficult right now especially for a person who hasn't worked as a RN for 16 years. I've been a stay-a...

Janfrn…great ideas…and thank you for your response!

I would like to know the difference in qualities of RNs who makes it in the OR and ones that don't. It seems, from my reading on this forum, that a new-to-the-OR nurse is either successful in the first few months, or they leave (or are let go). Whe...

In regard to nursing positions, I wonder what will happen in Alberta now that Ms. Redford has stepped down. Doug Horner, finance, is quoted as saying a few days ago: "That means more teachers, doctors, nurses and other essential front-line supports ...