Trying to find Ontario colleges that offer RN refresher courses/clinical placements

[want to practice]

I am a B.Sc.N. graduate that has not practiced for over 5 years due to having 3 young children. Now I am in the process of trying to reinstate my RN license under the CNO - College of Nurses of Ontario. The CNO requires 8 theory based courses and 200 hours clinical and 200 hours consolidation. The CNO has not been very helpful in this process.

I was able to find a college that offers some of the courses by correspondence - St. Lawrence College. Unfortunately they do not offer the clinical/consolidation component due to the fact that I do not have an current RN license. Mohawk College was another option, but they do not offer correspondence/on line courses, only in class. I live just outside the GTA (greater Toronto area) and the Mohawk program is in the Hamilton/Halton area which is too far of a distance to be practical for me. Mohawk college will offer the clinical component if they are satisfied with the courses that I take at St. Lawrence college, but unfortunately they only offer the clinical in the spring of next year!

Unfortunately, the 2 colleges I have found do not offer all the courses that are required by the CNO. Neither college offers the Gerontology and the Cultural context/transcultural nursing? courses needed to fulfull the CNO's required theory elements to get my RN license reinstated. I have found Gerontology and Cultural context/transcultural nursing courses but they are only offered to nurses who have a current RN license!

I really want to start practicing as a RN soon but the process of trying to get there has been very frustrating.

Has anyone experienced this or are also going through this same process? Does anyone know of any other colleges in Ontario that offer the RN refresher course that the CNO requires?

Please help!

[new graduate]

When you get your letter of direction from the college, do they tell you where to go, or can you choose?  So would I complete all the courses in the Centenneil program, or just the ones the college says, or do you think its a poissibility I would have to go beyond what centenneil offers?

[madricka, BSN, RN]

Just now, new graduate said:

When you get your letter of direction from the college, do they tell you where to go, or can you choose?  So would I complete all the courses in the Centenneil program, or just the ones the college says, or do you think its a poissibility I would have to go beyond what centenneil offers?

The CNO doesn’t tell you where to go, in fact they are not allowed to because it would be unethical for them to endorse one program over another. So choose the program you like that suits your interests, learning style, financial situation & location. I picked GBC because of location. I hate online learning & most of their courses were offered in-class & online. The campus was beautiful (literally overlooking the lake) & easy for me to get to. I had done my critical care certificate there so I was familiar with them. The focus was on acute care nursing. So it worked well for me. Different programs will work better/worse for you.

The courses you would do as part of the refresher are all you need to do. The colleges will get a copy of your CNO letter from you & they have these students all the time. They know what is needed to satisfy the CNO requirements. They are the experts. No worries there. So yes, just the one program at whatever college you select. When you complete all the courses/clinical there is a verification form the college fills out for the CNO & they send that directly to CNO. You also send a copy of your transcript as evidence of completion. 
Note that the list of topics for theory courses the CNO requires will have some overlap. So if CNO says you need theory courses in pharmacology, geriatrics, computers, health assessment... you don’t need separate courses in each subject. If half of the theory courses you take have a module dedicated to geriatrics, then that requirement is satisfied. The college knows this & will complete the verification form with this in mind. 

[new graduate]

oh okay, so just to clarify, it is not a set program, basically the college will say you need to meet these learning needs, and this many hours, and I would take it to centeniel college, and centenil  will help me with choosing courses and fulfilling the requirements in the letter?

 

btw, thanks so much for all this information and taking the time to write to me, I really appreciate it, whenever I call the college, aside from this one lady I spoke to a long time ago, they arent very much help and I feel as lost and in the dark as before I call.  its such a blessing to be able to speak to someone who has been there. 

[madricka, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, new graduate said:

oh okay, so just to clarify, it is not a set program, basically the college will say you need to meet these learning needs, and this many hours, and I would take it to centeniel college, and centenil  will help me with choosing courses and fulfilling the requirements in the letter?

 

btw, thanks so much for all this information and taking the time to write to me, I really appreciate it, whenever I call the college, aside from this one lady I spoke to a long time ago, they arent very much help and I feel as lost and in the dark as before I call.  its such a blessing to be able to speak to someone who has been there. 

No, it is a set program. It is designed to cover the courses required by the CNO. Pretty much everyone has to do the same thing so it’s not really unique to you. The only difference might be the number of clinical hrs required but that is pretty much 400hrs for 99% of people. I saw one person have to do 600hrs but she had been away from nursing for 17yrs. Otherwise everyone takes the same courses/clinical.