UK nurse - work in canada before taking CRNE?

Fiona59 · Nov 25, 2009

Uhm, have you read the Alberta Health Services thread on this forum?

Alberta Health has a hiring freeze (started late spring this year) on all healthcare staff.

Our local grads can't find work and are moving to other provinces.

Those of us working in the system are watching our seniority dates because of planned facility closures and the resulting bumping effect on staff.

We don't know if we'll have jobs in a years time, never mind the possibility of work for new arrivals.

Sorry, but it's the stone cold truth.

Blame it all on two evil, little dwarves called Stelmach and Duckett

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 25, 2009

Katy23, you need to read the following threads:

Alberta Health Services

***Internationally Educated Nurses: VERY IMPORTANT - READ THIS FIRST***

For those considering Canada

and the following:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Health+workforce+pared+back/2234421/story.html

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/health+jobs+onthe+block/2234788/story.html

It's HIGHLY unlikely that you will find a job in Alberta at any time in the next 2-3 years, because as long as Dr Duckett is given free reign by the current provincial government (the next provincial election isn't expected before 2012), the cuts will only deepen. Those of us who HAVE jobs and seniority are running scared. Fiona59 is blaming the wrong two little dwarves - they're Duckett and Liepert. Stelmach is just going with whatever they tell him he should do.

Fiona59 · Nov 25, 2009

and the sisters of doom have struck again!

Hiya, Jan!!! :smokin:

van777 · Nov 25, 2009

OMG...HOW ABOUT IN BC?

Fiona59 · Nov 25, 2009

BC is going down the same route. One of the posters from that province had some information about declining positions for RNs across the province that was really eyeopening.

Many positions on various units are being evaluated to see if they are really an RN position as opposed to an LPN's level of care.

Before you go asking if you can work as an LPN be advised that some traditionally LPN jobs are being filled by care aides.

Canada isn't the land of milk and honey with unlimited jobs. Our new grads are hurting and overseas recruitment drives are a thing of the past for the foreseeable future.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 25, 2009

Sisters of doom - keepin' it real!!

BC isn't a whole lot better, Van777. Where do you think all the unemployed Alberta nurses are going? East to Saskatchewan or west to BC. But BC has been under an unpublished hiring freeze in a lot of regions, so the domino effect applies.

van777 · Nov 25, 2009

that's so bad...i am an IEN and already in vancouver for 2wks...sent my CVs online for about 1wk..still waiting...now sees no way to get a job..what do u all think about casual positions? i did see they posted some vacancies for casual;part-time;full-time...r they still hiring nurses or just post the vacancies?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 25, 2009

Okay, let's talk about timelines a bit. Applying for work, in person, on line or by mail, NEVER results in instantaneous contact from the employer. All postings will have a closing date, which is the last date that applications on that posting will be accepted. Once the posting closes, someone in human resources does an initial screening based on the posted qualifications. Those applications not meeting them will be set aside. The appropriate ones are then sent to the department head for secondary screening. This first step may take up to two weeks. The department head then reviews the applications and decided which candidates will be interviewed. Because this is not the only task the department head has, it may take a week or more for the interview list to be drawn up. Then the department secretary will call all the applicants who will be interviewed to arrange appointments. This stage may take up to two weeks to complete, and generally speaking, no decisions are made until all interviews have been carried out. The department head then considers all the applicants and chooses the one most suited to the job and calls them to offer the job.. So all in all, it may take about 6-8 weeks from posting of a position to informing the successful candidate. Those not successful typically are notified by mail. From the telephone offer to actually starting work on the job may take another month or more depending on what still remains to be done. This is especially true of external applicants - those not already working at a facility.

It's almost impossible to support oneself on a casual position... unless you have casual positions in several places. There are no guarantees of work with casual positions. They call you when they need you, often at the last possible minute. If you're casual in several places, juggling them is very difficult. And casual employees receive no benefits - sick days, vacation, pension, health care, dental care, disability insurance - none. In some provinces part-time employees aren't entitled to benefits either.

Many of the postings I've seen in BC are for specialty positions such as ICU, the OR, ER, or for nurse practitioners. These aren't the run-of-the-mill general duty nurse positions suited for nurses with little or no experience. As to whether they're actually filling positions, I would say not.

van777 · Nov 26, 2009

to janfrn

thank you so much for your warmly reply,,i did apply some full-time positions as well as casual ones.i need 250 supervised RN working hours so that can get my registration. i have 2yrs of ER experience in singapore but not sure whether they r gonna consider it..

i am gonna apply some volunteer positions in some hospitals,not saying just for future job hunting,actually i love to contribute part of myself to the community since i am quite free now..

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 26, 2009

Your experience in Singapore WILL be considered in context. Those 250 hours are not for experience's sake, they're for assessing your ability to integrate successfully into the Canadian system. The College can't just hand people registration without being certain that they can meet the standards set by the College and in BC they've decided that the Substantially Equivalent Competency assessment isn't enough for them to be sure they're registering the right people. So they added the 250 hour of supervised practice. SEC is simulation done in isolation, supervised practice is "real world".

van777 · Nov 26, 2009

strongly understand the '250 hrs' policy..it's safe for both RN and her patients..really hope it can be legally considered as a no-pay 250hrs practice so that we can much easily find a place to achieve that '250'.at least can earn a bit local experience to proof ourselves.