lalaxton

If a doctor writes an order to give a medication that you know is clearly going to harm your patient, are you going to give it? You are responsible for your own practice, regardless of what a physician orders. Contrary to popular belief, physicians can learn from nurses. Let's help those who are still using these outdated practices to learn better wound care technique. There is a wealth of information out there about not using wet to dry dressings. Simply Google the term.

I think people suffer from the 'grass is greener syndrome'. They think that the US system is better, higher paid etc. Having worked in both the Canadian and US systems I know that there are pros and cons to both systems and I could not really recommend one over the other. For the life of me though, in our present climate of high security and so many hurdles to get over for a foreign nurse to cross, I don't understand why someone would want to go through it twice!

Unfortunately kevin, the CNO does require this. One way I've explained it to my employer is to say that you are thinking of doing some work in Ontario on your vacation time (let's say at a summer camp for a few weeks). That is of course if you have enough vacation time accumulated to justify this! You can explain that it takes a long time in Ontario and you are applying now so that you can have the license before you apply to the camp. You can also try to ask a sympathetic supervisor to fill ou the form as well. Be careful though, the CNO will call the person who fills out the form. Hope this helps!

Depending on what nursing experience you have I would bone up on those areas you lack. For example, if you have adult ICU experience I'd review my peds assessment and common peds conditions. If you have med/surg experience I'd look over things like ACLS protocols and emergency/trauma etc. Health Canada does have guidelines for you to follow but these don't always have all the information you need. Also realize that food is expensive up there and there is not alot of choice. Bring food that you don't think you'll be able to find, such as ethnic or specialty items that you love. I like nice dark roast coffee and I know I won't find it there so bring it with me. If you'll be in Sioux Lookout for awhile for orientation you'll probably have the chance to hit the grocery store there before heading up to a northern community. Glad to hear you are finally going up! Maybe we'll run into each other one day!

My supervisor is the Director of Professional Practice (a nurse). I am employed by the hospital so my physician collegues are not my direct supervisors.

There is no university in Canada that I have heard of that is considering the DNP or who even recognize it, as far as I know it is only recognized in the US, however there are several who offer a Phd in Nursing.

Yup! I don't think you'll find a program without it. It's one of the core compentencies of an NP.

How about a doc that has his own chelation clinic in an area where there is a large number of seniors? Talk about a lack of evidence! You can't even get through the door without showing your credit card.....

I am also in a hospital setting and did not sign a contract as an employee, however I did negotiate my own salary and benefits to my advantage. Since then the union here grieved my position and won. The top of the union salary scale is lower than my present salary, and I would lose benefits if I were a member of the union. Thankfully the hospital lawyer was able to negotiate that I would have the choice to join or not. Of course, I chose not to. Then the union rep was surprised that I chose to stay out! Seems obvious to me.....

Just a note on CNO (licensing body) and RNAO (professional association) and other provinces. In other provinces the Nurses Associations are both the licensing body and the professional association. In Ontario it is separate. There are many benefits to joining your professional association as ajnfrn mentioned above.

Actually, I don't know of any NP schools in Ontario that don't have an all NP faculty. Some other provinces may be having difficulty finding enough NP's to teach, due to the relatively small numbers of NP's in their provinces. There are now over 1000 NP's in Ontario, so maybe we have a critical mass?

Having worked both in Canada and the US I am pretty certain that a US RN would be equivalent to a Canadian RN wether or not you have your ADN or your BSN, the difference may be wether or not you can practice in Canada as an RN with an associates degree as many provinces now require a BSN to practice.

I the university is fully accredited then it probably would, however before starting the program check with the college of Nurses in BC to make sure they do!

I graduated from an FNP program but have always worked in an inpatient setting. Previously with hospitalists and now in cardiology.

No regrets here. And where did you ever get the idea that docs are 'top dogs' in a hospital?? If you want that then go into hospital administration!