What is the best NS in Ontario, Canada?

[RPN_2012]

Hello everyone,

I was just reading the tread about canadian nursing schools and read that university doesn't offer much variety in their clinical placements... And that's exactly where I was thinking of going!

I'm currently in a Practical Nursing program, and I want to go for my RN when I'm done, so I'm looking for post diploma RN programs (bridging programs) as close to Toronto as possible (this is where I'm currently living and studying) and they shold have good clinical placements, I especially want L&D/maternity, ED is my second choice, (critical care would be fantastic too but probablly impossible to get a clinical placement in NS).

So now I don't know what to do because I wanted to go into L&D/maternity nursing and eventually NICU, so tose are the areas I'm really hoping to get exposed to in NS clinicals, but apparently Ryerson isn't very good at giving placements in those areas and focusses mostly on community nursing, and that's not what I want...

I would really like to hear what you think about different NS in Ontario. Thanks a bunch. :)

[Airidis]

Conestoga College operated out of Kitchener which is an hour from Toronto currently has the largest placement opportunities. The list of placements we could chose from was astounding, and it offers an amazing bridging program.

That's where I am at the moment.

[nikki_nurse]

Conestoga College operated out of Kitchener which is an hour from Toronto currently has the largest placement opportunities. The list of placements we could chose from was astounding, and it offers an amazing bridging program.

That's where I am at the moment.

I am at McMaster University in Hamilton which has the same nursing program as Conestoga (as well as Mohawk College). We did not get a choice in placements in second year (we were placed in either medical or surgical). In third year we had a list of placements to choose from. We either got to choose acute or varied. The varied placements were placements such as maternity, psychology, pediatrics etc. In our forth year we pretty much got to choose whatever we wanted. They had a list of available placements. If you wanted to do a specialty placement (such as ER, ICU, NICU, PACU etc) you had to get a form filled out from your previous clinical tutors. The way that we choose our placements was that there was a lottery. We were all in one room (each site had their own lottery), and they would call us up one by one. As each person choose their placement, it was taken off this list of available placements. And then for the next semester placements they reversed the list. So if you would at the end of the list for the first term placement and ended up in something that was not your top choice, when the list got reversed, you would be at the top of the list and would be able to choose whatever you wanted.

If you are doing the RPN to RN program, I believe that you would be with the third year nurses for their placements (so would be choosing either acute or varied) and then with the forth year nurses for the second half of placements (where you get to choose whatever you want).

I hope that this makes sense and is helpful :)

[StudentRS]

I'm at York University in the 4th year of the RN program. Your bridging would probably be similar to 3rd and 4th year. Right now third year you do no placements in the fall semester and either community or med-surg in the spring. In fourth year fall semester you do whatever placement you didn't do in third year (community or med-surg) and then last semester is consolidation. All your OB, NICU, PEDS, psych, and everything is in the first 2 years at Georgian or Seneca. HOWEVER, they have changed the cirruculum so I believe 3rd year may consist of geriatrics and psych maybe? In placement though you usually get a few days in the OR or ICU or emerg unless it's community. For your consolidation placement if you have a B+ average and in one specific nursing course you can choose a specialty or whatever area you like (NICU, ER, ICU, oncology, anything except OR), otherwise your choices consist of OB, surgical, adult medicine, community, and long-term care. I suggest staying away from York though, the university is very good but the school of nursing is disorganized (you don't know your placements until a few days before your placement or even the 1st or 2nd week into the semester when you should have started already sometimes) and there's too many pointless courses on caring/client centred care and nursing theorists and their theories of caring in 3rd and 4th year, so you won't learn much of anything remotely of use to actual nursing practice and the one course you do have involving clinical information and lab time was already covered content from 1st and 2nd year..so once again somewhat pointless...we even used the same textbook and chapters.