Nursing in Alberta
 

Hi there,

I hope that someone will be able to cheer me up! After putting in my nursing registration application in September I received in the post today a letter from the College and Association of registered nurses saying that as I have no childrens nursing experience then they are unable to continue with the application. As I am sure you can imagine I was very upset :cry_smile:but am sure that I am not the only one this has happened to as in the uk, we specialise in either adult or childrens nursing. They have told me I can apply for a restricted temporary permit but will have to complete a course and exam in childrens nursing. Only then can i apply for a permanent permit before completing the main entry exam once i am working there:cry_smile:

However in order to have this application accepted i have to have an offer of employment (something you need to have a completed application for) plus a letter of support from an employer saying they are happy to employ me with a restricted permit (this means i can have no contact with childrens care-a bit hard when i am applying to work in theatres)

I am sorry this is such a rant but i have been unable to get hold of anyone in Alberta due to the holidays and i feel so deflated.:(

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Gutted for you bainsey:ohmy:

As you have read we are trying to move or even see if we can get the cogs moving to canada with the wifes qualifications as a childrens nurse!!

So excuse me for not reading it right,are you not yet qualified and you wanted to train over there?

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

i've been qualified for nearly 6 years but trained in adult nursing, but to be registered you need to have experience in all 4 specialities, m.health, pediatric, obstetrics and adult. I assumed that even though I have four years of theatre nursing experience (the speciality i want to work in in Canada) which includes children, that that would be enough but it appears that it isn't!:confused:

why not check out our blog?

Sophie:(

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Hi sophie,great blog btw

It was all going really well too:frown:

So whats the next step?
What about another region?
Its the same set up in usa too,as in they only take on nurses with expreience or hours in childrens/adult/mental etc to be accepted in a nursing job?!?!.

Chin up hey

Ps the skatings looking good
PPs my wifey is awesome at skating,but we would do the slopes at tamowrth too and get our boarding lessons started also

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Hi
Strange but true that you have to have cradle to grave nursing experience to nurse over here.
The Canadian nurses I work with however do not work in all the areas as I had to in the UK many moons ago. As long as they have covered the area by self learning and pass the exam they are good to go.
One of the hockey mums my son plays with sits her exams next June and has limted experience/exposure in most areas and no experience in some. She has not done any paeds but will be a fully fledged nurse next summer
This is so frustrating for UK nurses having trained Project 2k onwards.
I work in theatres in Edmonton and wonder if you could apply to the U of A as they have seperate adult and paeds theatres

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

So does this go for all the states in canada or just Alberta?

Re: Nursing Application Problems in Alberta
 

Thanks for that.

Next step is contact the International Float Pool Manager ASAP to see about a job offer with a restricted permit for now, prior to passing the necessary exams etc. Should know more after that. Not looking at any other region just yet, but I would imagine it's very much the same across Canada?

Bear-Diesel - Thanks for the informative reply and it certainly gives me hope that it's not a big surprise and therefore, hopefully not too big a hurdle to get over.

Fingers crossed :)

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Sorry
Couldn't tell you as we only focused on Alberta

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Keep ya chin up, it will work out all reet pet :thumbsup:

Thoses pictures on your blog are truly awesome indeed,i need some of that!

I shall follow your moves due to wife in kinda same boat but yet to start proceddings!

What will a temp permit allow?
As in will you prob have to sit further exams or are they after actuall on job or hands on i should say training in all areas as stated?

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Sorry to hear of this set-back. Hopefully something you can work around quite quickly. We're still following your blog by the way...great job.

Eamonn & Janet.

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

I have come across a couple of nurses in your situation where they are lacking in experience in a specific specialty.

With so many nurses wanting to move abroad some of the Universities are cathing onto this as a money earner and are offering modules in some specialties where you can get the required amount of theory and practice.

Typically these modules are quite short (maybe 3 months) but it does depend upon the availability of a clinical placement and you having time to undertake it over and above your regular job.

You could check out www.allnurses.com and look on the Canada forum for further advice.

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Thanks for the positive replies everyone.

Nige here. I had a look at Sophies letter from CARNA and it states that she is short of education/experience in pediatrics only (adult ok, maternal/new born ok, mental health ok) which seemed a bit strange as she has the same sort of experience in some of the other disciplines that have been given the ok. Anyway, it says that she needs to do a 1 - 1.5 day SEC assessment (Substantially Equivalent Competence) for pediatrics at the Mount Royal College in Calgary. See link for details- http://www.mtroyal.ca/ProgramsCourse...ment/index.htm

I guess this doesn't seem too bad, but it just means that Sophie needs to obtain a Job offer from an employer willing to take her on with the Restricted Temporary Permit. The employer and Sophie will have to produce an action plan for CARNA identifying how they will complete the requirements of CARNA within 18 months to include:
1) SEC assessment in Pediatrics,
2) Additional education as necessary identified from the SEC assessment (if required?),
3) Passing the CRNE exam (has to do anyway),
4) Submission of satisfactory employer references (Normal).

The other option would be to pass the SEC assessment first, then apply for the Temporary Work Permit, but this would cause too much of a delay for us and Sophie would have to fly out to Calgary to do the assessment and any other necessary training highlighted from it. Not very practical.

Once Sophie can speak to the necessary people early next week, we'll have a better understanding of how things will progress and we will post back on here when we know. If there are other nurses that have started work on the Restricted Permit, then we'd like to hear from you with regards to how easy it is to get a Job Offer in this situation.

Regards,
Nige and Sophie.

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Bainesy,

Sorry to hear of the extra hurdle put in front of you. We waited fingers crossed and were accepted for Temp Reg.

I dont know if you plan to work for Calgary/Alberta Health Region but Stacey had a telephone interview with them and was told it was a getting to know you chat. Was surprised to be given 6 technical questions but seemed to go alright and they have asked for refrences so who knows.

Hope all goes well.

Mark

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Hi mark

So your good lady a adult nurse with all the relevant time served in each discipline?

jase

Re: Nursing in Alberta
 

Yes the US requires clinical and theory in all areas as does Canada