NurseFifty

Also true, the equivalent of the US SSN is the SIN in Canada.

True, I was not asked to fill out a satisfaction survey after surgery at Vancouver General. Not much paperwork. True also, the government does not control which physician I got to see, although a primary care physician sent me to a specialist. The thing with the US is unlike in Canada (at least BC which is my familiarity), the hospitals not government run. Does this contribute to the paperworks

BC MSP claims it does send its heart patients to the US

To beckster: Yes I do. Had it before Nursing. Good luck, you will find it fun.. If I were you, I will attend some information session about the degree programs, research the job openings in the online job boards to see what sort of work in it that you like and which role fits your personality. Talk to people who actually do the job. Take some beginning courses first to see if your personality fits. Developers are creative, organized, patient people (who can follow very long and complicated maze of logical steps in their heads without getting frustrated). Testers can break anything. Analysts have great people skills, and so on so forth. I suggest you specialize in something, as competition these days is also quite tough for beginners. You will need to keep learning new things on your own - very often. Most perm employment is salaried (no overtime pay).

Got that info from the BC MSP. They say they do it - of course, I don't know how much. I am assuming that the patients would be sent by MSP itself (pre-authorized?) and not the situation where the Canadian walked into ED itself because US healthcare (CA healthcare) is very expensive compared to Canadian. Canadian hospitals are quite capable of course but they may be having a situation of not enough beds/spots for the patients and the treatment has to be done soon.

The plans are available only to those who have social security numbers - landed immigrants, citizens, contract workers with valid contract visa. Every services in the country is tied to having that SSN. Of course, hospitals will treat anyone regardless of status in case of emergency. The hospitalization cost is way lower than the US. In provinces where there are premiums, the amount is in the $100plus range for a family. There is wait times.

At least in British Columbia, heart surgery patients are sent to California if they need to. paid for by the province's Medical Services Plan.

I forgot..a primary care physician is the gatekeeper. You can't see a specialist without your PCP sending you to one. Hospital beds are not private single patient rooms.

It is not like Medicare. The payer is the provincial government but the providers are government hospitals. Each province in Canada manages its own provincial health plan, therefore different rules, different premiums or no premium at all. Even when there is premium, assistance is available when the insured cannot pay. The funds come at the federal level but the amount each province receives, and is not related to how much a province contributes through income taxes. Hospitals are provincial government hospitals. I am guessing that the smaller population of Canada (compared to the US) makes healthcare easier to run. Prescription medications dispensed at Pharmacies are generics. Most people who are employed take out supplemental medical plans paid for y their employers to take care of getting more benefits than what the provincial plans provide. My experience is there is practically no wait times when it comes to hospitalization and treatment of young children, the younger they are, the faster they get attention. There is no out of pocket.

I don't have a problem with the MDs. Never been yelled at or treated condescendingly. But I wonder if that is because I am older than many of them :-)...I hear that the other female nurses in my unit have a not so good relationship with the MDs. I did have problem with 3 new grad male RNs on my unit. Of course, I did not let it pass at the first instance they did it. Both hospitals have a policy for not tolerating physicians mistreating o employees. One is a magnet university hospital where an RN can overrule the MD order through a process

Both places I work have good-for-you food, fitness facility employees and fitness classes. I am satisfied.

I work per diem also. But my hospital is unionized and the cancelation requires an hour notice. If the RN has already reported to the unit, the RN (Per diem or regular staff ) is paid 4 hours. Legislation will take awhile. In the meantime, you should weigh your decision of going per diem if stability is a significant consideration for you. Or, pick a specialty that is in greatest demand and where you can get floated, to somewhat minimize your risk of being cancelled. For my case, I acquired multiple specialties to increase y chance at floating. As for legislation, this forum is good for sharing your thoughts but approaching your local Nursing org rep and your local government representative would be better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Canada Regarding, 30 guns in 100 in Canada: Perhaps t is because there are more wilderness places in Canada where guns are allowed. Not everyone can own a gun, only those who needs protection from wildlife in the wilderness or those whose job requires use of guns. The type of gun is restricted. In other words, just not the same situation as in the US.

Somebody said Trump is refreshing. Refreshing in a sick demented way. If you really think about it, his tweets, his campaign speeches, the words that comes out of his mouth would be censored in allnurses.com. So what do we think of that?

To CCU-Flight RN, what has your hospital done to find out what nurses want?