Title used for "Quality Assurance Nurse" in Canada

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 10, 2009

First of all, CARNA has nothing whatsoever to do with work permits. CARNA issues permits to practice nursing in Alberta, or in other words a license. Work permits are issued by Canada Immigration and Citizenship.

Quality assurance is typically an additional responsibility of nurse-administrators, nurse-educators and nurse practitioners in Alberta. There is no position for quality assurance nurses generally speaking. You won't see postings through Alberta Health Services (AHS) for such positions and even if you did, all postings through AHS are for existing AHS employees. In recent months many of AHS's administrators have been let go or had their responsibilities drastically increased. And AHS is talking about laying off 3% of the current work force - approximately 2700 employees. For the foreseeable future there will be no new jobs in Alberta for health care workers, if our government and the CEO of AHS are to be believed.

angel81 · Sep 10, 2009

thanks for the corrections. I have submitted all the documents to CARNA for practice permit and all, they are assessing my file for the purpose.

Thanks again for providing the information pertinent to quality assurance and other jobs position in Canada. As far as reducing the work force is concerned, I am quite surprised to hear this as I was told by the employees / nurses working there that they are having shortage of nurses. I was also told that hiring is being freezed till October.

I think I shall be facing difficulties in searching the jobs according to my interest area on which I am working right now. I am really confused on what is to be done for this. :cry:

Secondly, I would also like to inquire about SEC assessment. Do they require every nurse to go through this? I am afraid if I will also fall on this requirement in future.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 10, 2009

Much has been written here in this forum on Alberta, read this link Alberta Health Services and check this link out CBC News Alberta health cuts

Regarding SEC there are also threads for you to read and Jan made one a sticky in the International forum FAQ SEC

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 10, 2009

As far as reducing the work force is concerned, I am quite surprised to hear this as I was told by the employees / nurses working there that they are having shortage of nurses. I was also told that hiring is being freezed till October.

We DO have a shortage of nurses, but our government has decreed that we don't. In April there were about 1400 full-time equivalent vacancies in Alberta. In May, Ron Liepert, the Minister of Health and his sniper, Dr. Stephen Duckett (PhD in economics, not MD) issued a statement that Alberta does not have a nursing shortage, we have a shortage of nurses working full time and to full capacity. So they instituted a "slowdown" in hiring - their description of the sudden disappearance of every single RN and LPN posting in the province. Each and every vacancy was then examined to determine if the position was necessary; eventually some postings began to trickle out but every one of them is open only to current employees of Alberta Health Services. This means that they're simply moving the pinch-points around, taking nurses from one ward and moving them to another. Any position that cannot be filled with an existing employee must then be personally scrutinized by Dr Duckett to ensure that it is necessary to fill it and that the only alternative is to hire externally. They also reorganized administration and management, paying out tens of millions of dollars in severance. They are the ones holding all the cards and they have decided that since at least 70% of health care expenditures go to salaries, that is where they can cut spending. They ignore the fact that health care is a human-resources intensive endeavor and that there has been no mechanical replacement invented that can replace the human intellect. A couple of weeks ago Dr Duckett announced that AHS was going to look at offering voluntary severance to personnel whose jobs are expendable or whose jobs could be filled by someone else whose job is expendable. The package is not nearly as generous as those provided to the administrative and management personnel received, but of course it wouldn't be, since front-line providers of care are not nearly as valuable as those working in offices with large staffs to help them with their work. As of today there has not yet been an agreement made with the unions as to what sort of package would be acceptable to unionized employees, so the voluntary severance only applies to those not providing direct care. The intent of the voluntary severance plan is to reduce the number of personnel who could potentially be laid off in the coming months. The United Nurses of Alberta will be entering contract negotiations in January and the picture is looking very grim.

I think I shall be facing difficulties in searching the jobs according to my interest area on which I am working right now. I am really confused on what is to be done for this.

Yes, you will have a lot of trouble finding a quality assurance position in Canada. Unless you have a Master's degree in nursing or business, it's unlikely you'd even be considered. If you're determined to come to Canada you may have to lower your sights and accept something farther down on your list.

angel81 · Sep 11, 2009

Thanks silverdragon for the links..

I am really thankful to you janfrn for providing me a detailed description on the current situation of jobs there. I did not know about AHS previously and have never heard about it. When you brought this in my knowledge yesterday then I searched and read important information about it.

At this stage CARNA is in process of assessing my documents however, it would be beneficial for me to decide and find out some of the options for me to be employeed on when the process by CARNA would end. Since I am having major part of my experience on quality assurance position and other part is on community health nurse position, I would be having difficulties surviving there. Need to search for alternative options for me and yes you are right in saying that I need to think of something down in my list :)

How about community health nurse jobs there? I am not aware of the responsibilities and scope of this job there in Canada.

Are you also in same state? anyways thanks for your valuable feedback on responding my queries...

Fiona59 · Sep 11, 2009

Canada PROVINCES not states.

AHS controls the majority of healthcare jobs in the province.

You need to decide if you even want to come to Alberta and face being unemployed.

Why have you selected Alberta?

angel81 · Sep 11, 2009

Yup, I am reading your posts at the link provided by silverdragon on which much is given on AHS.

Since I am not a BScN nurse, have done 3 years diploma in nursing program. I was guided by many of the nurses working there that Alberta is the only province (thanks Fiona for rectifying :) ) that accepts diploma nurses, that is the reason I have chosen Alberta.

If all the provinces are governed by AHS then the situation in all the regions must be the same. You've just stated unemployment in Alberta so the other provinces are in a better position than Alberta or what would you recommend?

Fiona59 · Sep 11, 2009

Where are you coming from?

AHS is only responsible for Alberta and no other province. Ontario is having difficulties financially as are several other provinces.

Depending on when and where you were eduated, along with how much work experience you have, you probably are eligible for licensing in other provinces. You would just have to contact the appropriate governing bodies. The BScN is the required level for ENTRY to nursing in Canada for a new graduate. I've worked with several diploma educated nurses from the US and UK who moved here with years of experience under their belts.

Despite hearing about the "nursing shortage" our provincial health board has decided it just doesn't exist. Local new grads used to be able to get jobs as soon as they graduated. I can count on one hand how many new grads my service has hired since April.

You have to bear in mind, getting the practice permit is no guarantee of employment anywhere in the country and if you chose to move to another province you are required to have your documents reassessed in that province. It's not a quick, cheap, or easy process. I moved due to my husband's job and it took nearly six months and $$$ to get a practice permit in my new province.

5cats · Sep 11, 2009

To the OP: Diploma nurses who are not new graduates are accepted in other provinces as well. The info you got is wrong.

5cats

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 11, 2009

5cats, that may be true today but there is a strong possibility that it will change in the future once the entry-to-practice becomes uniformly the BScN. In Alberta that date is January 1, 2011. At that time, according to the way the legislation is written, newly registered nurses in the province will require a BScN. This may be without regard to previous registration status... the legislation doesn't specifically state that, so it may be my own interpretation.

Having dealt with CARNA a LOT in the last 7 years, I can tell you that they will do whatever they want whenever they want and there is no alternative but to do what they say. This year's moving of the registration renewal deadline from October 1 to September 1 is a perfect example. They decided they needed to have our money a month sooner and POOF! we had to pay for renewal a month early or pay a late fee, even though our registrations are still valid until October 1 and the registration year will remain October 1 to September 30. Now they're sitting on a month's worth of interest payments on about $15 million! They charge us ever-increasing fees to protect the public from US.

But I'm really off-topic here. Let's redirect.

angel81, I do indeed live in Alberta and am quite involved in local health care politics. I can tell you that there is no possible chance of becoming a community health nurse in Alberta without a degree, unless you're talking about working for a private agency such as We-Care, which is basically caring for individuals in their homes and if I'm reading your posts correctly, NOT what you're looking for. However, We-Care is not under the thumb of AHS and it may be your opportunity. I'm not sure what their involvement with IENs is, but you could easily find out by contacting them through their website. At the moment they don't have any postings for RN positions in Alberta, and the majority of the RN positions they have posted in other areas are casual or part-time ones with no guaranteed hours attached. There are other agencies similar to We-Care, and they all operate on the same basic principles. Be really careful.

angel81 · Sep 13, 2009

"To the OP: Diploma nurses who are not new graduates are accepted in other provinces as well. The info you got is wrong."

5cats, may I request you to further specify the other provinces that are accepting diploma nurses for my knowledge?

Thanks Fiona, 5cats, Janfrn again for your feedback. You know I am new to this site however, I found people here are really very helpful. Now, coming again to the topic.

"I can tell you that there is no possible chance of becoming a community health nurse in Alberta without a degree"

janfrn, which degree are you talking about for community health nursing here? You are right in saying that this is not the one I am looking for however, I read about "We Care" on the link provided.

At the moment it seems that the situation is not favourable for me and I am thinking on some other options for my survival there. While surfing I found that there are number of specialties in nursing as well, I knew about it previously but few were unknown to me. Can anyone help me out in identifying any nursing specialty in which patient care is involved but it is not a direct patient care?

I was listing down my interest areas other than quality assurance and community health nursing. I thought about geriatric nursing or school health nursing options. Since I was out of the track I would be requiring relevant trainings to enter into these areas. What are the protocols if someone wants to switch his or her area in which he or she does not posses any previous experience? I know the situation right now is undesirable however, i want to assess and evaluate from every aspect and then take decision to further proceed or quit. Meanwhile my practice permit is in process, now a days CARNA is consuming too much time in processing practice permit. I initiated in Feb, 09 and now they have started assessing the documents in which they additionally ask for other documents and all... Hope this all ends successfully....