To Take a Pay Cut Or Not To

suzanne4, RN · Feb 15, 2007

If you have never taken care of sick children in a hospital setting, do not plan to do it at home. Respite care is provided for the parents to get them out of the home for a few hours. These children usually have trachs and G-tubes......would you know how to replace them if they come out? Pediatric CPR? Would you feel comfortable being there on your own and this was to happen?

Remember that the insurance is also paying for an experienced nurse in that area....do you actually have any in peds? These kids, though stable, are still considered medically fragile.

If you take the time to do a search, you will find that this topic has come up several times on the forums here in the US.

Chicklet2 · Feb 15, 2007

Thanks for the reply... I did some peds in my practicum and deal with them at the clinic i work at. Though I haven't had much experience.. yet when i went for the interview the lady said i was well qualified for the job........

caliotter3 · Feb 15, 2007

I have done home health peds cases and I can assure you it is no picnic. Usually the first thing that happens is that the parents give you an intensive interview concerning your qualifications. Very unnerving, even if you have an extensive peds background. Then, if you get to work on peds cases, the resp is tremendous. You may be doing routine work, but the family will many times not be easy-going. Some of them go so far as to accuse your abilities and actions without justification. It can be very grueling. If anything untoward were to happen, you really can have problems. Are you qualified in PALS? How much experience do you have changing peds trachs by yourself? Can you handle peds on vents? Do a lot of research into the position and requirements and make certain this is what you want to do. Good luck with your decision.

Chicklet2 · Feb 15, 2007

Thanks.. yah i've been doing lots of research and i think i may turn the job down...

Fiona59 · Feb 15, 2007

Is it ParaMed, Bayshore, or WeCare?

I've known new grads go to work for them and have no difficulties. There is an RN on call back at the agency to contact. The women all said they had really good orientation times, workshops (paid) to attend throughout their times with the companies and had no problems getting hired at the Stollery when they wanted to back to a hospital setting. They usually worked with children with trachs, feeding difficulties or on ventilators (never wanted to do that, myself)

CPR up here includes infant and child versions as well as adult.

I would negotiate on the pay though. LPNs are in short supply in Alberta and if you played your cards right, you'd come close to AUPE wages.

If you are really bored at work, apply at the Alex or any of the other Capital Hell hospitals. (oops, meant Capital Health) They are all calling out for PNs in positions and as casuals. There are some casuals working more hours than the regular part-timers. Your pay step would carry if you are in AUPE.

You've got to remember its a different labour market up here than in the States.

Chicklet2 · Feb 17, 2007

Thanks for the last post.. yes it's paramed. I think it would be a good experience, especially since i do want to work at the stollery. It just blows me away how low the pay is though at paramed.. I mean yah at the nursing home i'm looking after 42 patients compared to one.. but at the same time...I'm just really gonna have to think about it.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 17, 2007

When I first graduated in 1994, the only job I could get was with an agency like (but not) Paramed, and it has since gone under. No surprise to me, let me tell ya... It was probably the worst job I've ever had. They billed the insurance companies or social service agencies $25 an hour for my services then paid me $13-15. Unlike the companies fiona mentioned, it wasn't well-run; there were few paid workshops, they were on my back constantly to work when I really wasn't available, they sent me into a home where no one wanted to go because of the way the mother behaved (as callioter3 mentioned, it's never just the kid!), they sent me to a nursing home where I was expected to be the nursing supervisor (with my great two months of experience!!) and they sent me into a home where I was expected to perform mostly non-nursing duties (laundry, washing floors, grocery shopping etc) and didn't tell me that it was an assignment usually given to a lower classification, then paid me at that lower classification's scale. Yet another time, I was in a home with an 11 year old who had a congenital disorder that included profound developmental delay. I was alarmed by the fact that he was cold to the touch (temp wouldn't register on my digital thermometer brought from home as the family didn't have one!), lethargic and bradycardic(HR 48) despite wearing a track suit, socks, slippers, mittens, a tuque and a comforter over top IN JULY. The protocol was to call the office with these sorts of issues, which I did. The office told me the doctor was aware of this and not concerned. Next day he was even worse; I called them again and was told to just do my job and if I called the pediatrician myself I would be fired. So when his mom got home I told her I was really worried that he could die and that I was not leaving the house until she called her pediatrician and made arrangements to have him seen immediately. Turns out he was in a myexdema coma... and had panhypopituitarism. When I finally got hired by the hospital they wanted a finder's fee!

I suggest that before you agree to take the job, you ask about those kinds of things... especially the finder's fee thing. If they send staff to the Stollery or the U for any reason, they will view that as sufficient grounds for them to either demand a finder's fee, or that you quit with them for a certain period of time before you start work at the Stollery. It'll be buried in the fine print on your employment agreement and you'll be stuck...