Working in MedSurg with ONLY RNs...

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi! i'm a new grad Canadian nurse working on a medsurg floor in a main hospital downtown Toronto. The entire floor is RN only, so we don't have any techs, RPNs (LVNs) or anything of the sort.. Which boggles my mind because I have to balance giving meds, cleaning up bowel movements, brief changes, and even feeding between 4-6 patients depending on whether I work a day or night shift. Day shifts I usually have 4 patients while on nights I take care of 6.. My friend who lives in the US (Texas) says most floors in the hospitals there have techs and LVNs who take care of the cleaning, feeding, taking vitals, etc. Are RN only units common in Canada or something? Is there a funding issue? Because the burnout is ridiculous....

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

We staff only RNs for night shift. It is difficult, some nights, to say the least. When you might have 3 total cares and 2 needy pts...

Our ratio is 5:1RN. Sounds nice but it can be hectic.

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I'm a new grad as well, I work in Montreal Quebec on a high acuity oncology/hematology floor. I have honestly never seen an RN only unit in all the hospitals I've done stage at in montreal. On my floor we have 3 pods and each pod has 3 nurses with 4 patients each. Each pod is assigned what we call a PAB who takes care of all of the feeding, cleaning, changing, answering call bells etc. we have a free nurse during the day who is not assigned patient but goes from pod to pod and assists any nurses who may need it. The assistant head nurses also pitch in and our nursing educator helps as well . Some other floors also have LPN's (nursing assistant) but ours is too high acuity. All floors in the hospital have a similar situation, some even have more PAB's then we do. I really think it might be your specific hospital.

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I'm an LPN and the healthcare system I work for (Atlanta area) doesn't use LPN's in the hospital, just RNs and techs. The "techs" are actually LPNs but are categorized and paid as techs. I don't know the ratios but every time I've been a pt there, there's been one RN and one "tech" each shift, but I don't know how many pts they have. I'm in an outpt setting with the system.

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I'm a new grad as well, I work in Montreal Quebec on a high acuity oncology/hematology floor. I have honestly never seen an RN only unit in all the hospitals I've done stage at in montreal. On my floor we have 3 pods and each pod has 3 nurses with 4 patients each. Each pod is assigned what we call a PAB who takes care of all of the feeding, cleaning, changing, answering call bells etc. we have a free nurse during the day who is not assigned patient but goes from pod to pod and assists any nurses who may need it. The assistant head nurses also pitch in and our nursing educator helps as well . Some other floors also have LPN's (nursing assistant) but ours is too high acuity. All floors in the hospital have a similar situation, some even have more PAB's then we do. I really think it might be your specific hospital.

Are you saying LPN's are being used as care aides?

No wonder so many want to leave la belle province!

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I'm curious now seeing all of the different terms used in both countries- can an American trained nurse move to Canada and get a job or would she have to re-train like in some other countries?

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Are you saying LPN's are being used as care aides?

No wonder so many want to leave la belle province!

I didn't say that at all... care aids are PAB's. I said LPN's don't work on our floor because of the acuity, but on the floors they do work they work at full scope of practice...

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I'm curious now seeing all of the different terms used in both countries- can an American trained nurse move to Canada and get a job or would she have to re-train like in some other countries?

From what I recall you would only have to transfer your license, most Canadian provinces do the NCLEX as well.

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Specializes in Medicine.
I'm curious now seeing all of the different terms used in both countries- can an American trained nurse move to Canada and get a job or would she have to re-train like in some other countries?

You would have to contact the nursing governing body of the province you'd be interested in working,as each one might have slightly different requirements

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I didn't say that at all... care aids are PAB's. I said LPN's don't work on our floor because of the acuity, but on the floors they do work they work at full scope of practice...

What you did say was LPNs (nursing assistants). Huge difference. A nursing assistant doesn't have a practice permit, isn't permitted to wound care, assess or medicate patients. These are all duties performed by an LPN.

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Specializes in LTC.

They've gotten rid of a lot of LVN/LPN positions in hospitals over the past few decades in the US. A lot of it had to do with saving money, as you don't have to pay a tech or a CNA as much an LPN. The problem with this is is that you CAN'T delegate skilled nursing tasks to CNA's/techs that you can to an LVN/LPN. So that leaves the RN with a hell of a lot more work because they have to do ALL of the skilled nursing care.

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What?

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What you did say was LPNs (nursing assistants). Huge difference. A nursing assistant doesn't have a practice permit, isn't permitted to wound care, assess or medicate patients. These are all duties performed by an LPN.

What? I'm confused here... A nursing assistant is an LPN, who have a license, and can most certainly do wound care, assessments or medicate patients, I never said that. Your sentence contradicts itself. I only said that LPN's don't work on MY floor because the patients are critically ill. We have the nurses, and the PAB's which is the french term for "care aid". LPN's work as LPN's on the floors they work on, not as care aids.

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