I have been browsing these forums for awhile now, and I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find answers too.
First off a little background information
I'm 23, married, I live in the GTA and I am looking to go back to school for the Registered Practical Nurse program at Durham College. I have gone through 3 years of college so far, geared towards becoming a Police Officer. I have been out of school for over a year now and have recently attempted the process to become a police officer but have failed.
The main issue I am facing and why I am looking to go back to school is, when applying for policing you can apply to multiple units (OPP, RCMP, Toronto Police Service ect) but at a certain point you have to chose one that you would like to proceed with, I chose one to continue with, and had to pull my application from the other agencies I had applied to (which they document so they know in the future that they were not your first choice). I was not accepted about halfway through the process, and now must wait another year before re applying and starting at the very bottom again.
So after a long discussion with my wife, we both agree I need a second career choice as right now I am working a dead end job that will not be able to provide the lifestyle we are hoping for, such as starting a family. So after browsing the college websites and doing my research I have decided on the RPN program.
So my questions are:
1) After looking through different Job posting sites (workopolis, wowjobs, and different hospital sites) I'm noticing that most RPN positions require many different certifications besides your RPN diploma (BCLS, Operating Room Course, ect) are these certificates something that are given during your two year course or is it an extra expense that you must complete on your own time, and if so generally how much would they be and where would you take them?
2) How is the job market at the moment, are there jobs out there for RPN's?
3) This is more for people who have taken any RPN course and completed a placement, are there positions in hospitals for placements? And is it a possibility to be hired out of your placement or is that a very rare instance?
4) This is only for the people comfortable answering but is the pay decent? I saw the sticky at the top and I must be reading it incorrectly because I cannot find the Ontario listing for average salary for an RPN. The main reason I ask is because my cousin has just become a full time RN working at a hospital and she tells me that I would be looking at making about 50% of what she makes but doing 80% of the same duties.
Any and all feedback is appreciated, and don;t worry about the area in general when replying. We do live in the gta but are not opposed to moving so whatever your experience in your area is please share if you're comfortable doing so.
just wondering do the personal support workers not dress and toliet ect...? Also I am thinking of becoming a RPN can I get a job over seas like in London England or they generally only look for RN's thank you so much I really like this forum very interesting comments and knowledge thanx all is advance
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
just wondering do the personal support workers not dress and toliet ect...? Also I am thinking of becoming a RPN can I get a job over seas like in London England or they generally only look for RN's thank you so much I really like this forum very interesting comments and knowledge thanx all is advance
PN is not accepted in the UK, minimum is RN and meet the NMC requirements for International nurse. Plus jobs are pretty bad at the moment in the UK and unles you are able to claim some form of citizenship to the UK then finding employer willing to go the work permit route may be hard. Currently only 2 specialities are on the job shortage occupation list.
just wondering do the personal support workers not dress and toliet ect...?
All levels of hands on healthcare workers toilet and dress. Usually the first practical experience for PN students is a six week stint in LTC, where you will be required to (by the end of the six weeks) get up, am care and get to the table five seniors.
In acute care, (at least on every unit I've worked on) the nurse that finds the poop cleans the poop.
just wondering do the personal support workers not dress and toliet ect...? also i am thinking of becoming a rpn can i get a job over seas like in london england or they generally only look for rn's thank you so much i really like this forum very interesting comments and knowledge thanx all is advance
i'll second fionia, also in on, hospitals don’t have many psw's (some ccc places do, but they are like ltc). o/p oncology has them for vitals and to run errands, and endoscopy has them to wait with pt until they are awake and do vitals) but at least not in hosp they do not do toileting, dressing, feeding ect. my floor and all the floors i float to certainly do not have them, rpn/lpn and rn's do that.
when i was in ltc i was not part of my role, but that’s not saying i never did it. if some asked me to help them i would, or noticed a bell going for too long, or a psw needed an assist then yes i still did those things. also ostomy's needed to be changed by the r/lpn
if you really have an aversion to that i would suggest retirement homes, but even there you'd be surprised.
in general you will be very surprised the strange places where poop just seems to come up.
if you really want to do travel nursing maybe the rn is best for you, it will open the most doors in other countries. the pn's here have a very wide scope of practice and wonderful education, but that is not the case everywhere and you will be judged on their standards.
good luck
i just wanted to add that you can travel as an pn, less mission type jobs i know. i know on an old co-worker who who went to california as an pn, got a great job, and loves it in the sun. my cousin when to the uk, but he's an rn. i just did want to discourage you, becuse it is possilbe
No matter where you work, or your level of education, if patient care is required, you do it. RNs must also bathe, feed, dress and toilet. Hospital floors never have enough staff or care aides, so everyone helps each other. I'm now in LTC, but every Acute care unit I've ever been on, the nurses did everything.
Providing bedside care is also a great way to complete your assessment. Much better than second hand report.
thank you all so much for your replies... Yes I realize its teamwork between the psw's rpn's and the rn's... nursing is something i really wanna do so I'll be doing it... I first thought of doing psw but them my opportunities are limited and then I thought of doing RPN and I have noticed the RN's and RPN's work is almost the same but again I want to travel and open my doors to more opportunites so taking the extra 2 years to be a RN might be well worth it for me to open my doors wider....
thank you all again this site is very helpful to me....
Every place varies when it comes to PSW usuage. I work on a floor with medical/rehab/palliative patients amd we have PSWS.They are a very valuable part of the team but we all provide personal care to our patients.
In acute care, (at least on every unit I've worked on) the nurse that finds the poop cleans the poop.
I agree!
Im still a student but on all the floors/units I have done clinical (acute care elderly, surgical, ED, ICU, postpartum/L&D) there was never psw or any other person that was responsible for ADLs or toileting.. its always left for the nurse to do..When I read the threads from the american nurses it seems like PSW/Pt care techs are on all floors and help with all that stuff and even do blood draws, EKGs, vital signs etc.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
When I read the threads from the american nurses it seems like PSW/Pt care techs are on all floors and help with all that stuff and even do blood draws, EKGs, vital signs etc.
That's how they can manage to have the huge nurse:patient ratios that they report. This is actually an important piece of information when it comes to arguing for safe staffing levels. When your manager compares your workload or nurse:patient ratios to "other" similar units, it's vital that they're comparing apples to apples. If the "other" units they're looking at make heavy use of PSW/PCTs then the comparison is inaccurate. My former manager used to tell us all the time that we had the best-staffed unit on the continent (referring to RN staffing) but she never acknowledged that many of the units she was comparing us to had PCTs and we don't. And she never recognized that those other units allowed much more latitude to their nursing assistants for patient care than ours ever will. (Our NAs generally do not touch patients at all, except perhaps to help with turns.) So when you actually compare apples to apples, you have to have all the information.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
We have 2 on the CV unit and 1 on the med-surg side on days, 1 between the two on nights. Their role is largely making sure that the bedsides are stocked, equipment is clean and returned to its specific home, to run specimens to the lab and to pick up blood products from the blood bank as well as portering. They literally don't touch patients.
Medica
7 Posts
Hi Hatt, Did you start the Practical Nursing program at Durham College?
I am interested for September 2012 entry and have a few questions for you. Can you please send me a quick email at [email protected].
I too am looking into taking this program after spending much of my time following the communications/ marketing stream.