Hi to all those UK nurses out there who are currently working in Alberta! Was wondering if you could give me some advice. I know that there is a shortage of RN's in Alberta at present and that they are doing a big recruitment drive to recruit international nurses. I am a adult tranined nurse with 2 years experience in Urology, would I require experience in other fields of nursing like mental health and paediatrics to become a RN nurse in Alberta? I know this is the case to become a RN in the US as I've looked into going there also but would prefer Canada.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I know very little about nursing I'm afraid, but hopefully this Wiki article may help................http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Nursing-Canada

And there are several nurses on here so hopefully somebody with more knowledge than me will be along to help you shortly.

Good luck.

Welcome

It all goes on what your transcripts show in hours both clinical and theory in all areas. Canada is like the US and generally require general trained. Have seen a few UK nurses post they need to do some sort of assessment and I have been told depending on my transcripts I may have to do some assessment before I will be allowed to sit CRNE

Hey thanks for replying back so soon! Are you currently a graduate nurse at the moment, living in Canada and waiting to sit the CRNE? I know someone who is not long qualified and they have been offered a job as a RN in Alberta, he just has a Bachelor in adult nursing, same as myself and has less experience so I'm hoping that my transcripts will be enough as I don't think he has had any problems, but there again he has been offered a job so they may fast track and put him on courses when he gets to Canada, not sure?

No I have over 20 years nursing. I trained as a enrolled nurse then bridge to RN 10 years ago. It all goes on how your transcripts are broken down and how they show your hours of training. Doubt he will be fast tracked. Takes on average 6-12 months to go through the process (I know someone on here it took 8 months from start to finish and arriving here to work) and you will need a medical in London before they will issue a permit

Hi there Jessica,

We might be able to shed some light on the process of becoming an RN in Alberta (the most difficult province to qualify for, by all accounts). My partner Sophie also got offered a job some time ago with the Calgary Health Region, however this was based on Sophie getting her Registration with CARNA (Alberta's equivalent to the NMC in the UK). This she had to do herself by submitting all her previous transcipts from Uni etc (plenty of paper work to send to them). Sophie is adult trained, Project 2000, with 5 years experience in theatres and as a community staff nurse.

Her reply from CARNA took 2 months and specified that even though she had pediatric experience in theatres they felt she did not meet the requirements needed for full registration in Alberta. In order to meet these requirements (which they will not disclose) they need to be satisfied that you could work confidently and competently in all areas of nursing. She is now having to complete a SEC assessment which for the first time they are making available in London early next month. As they were happy with her other areas she only needs to complete the assessment in pedieatrics.

The SEC assessment contains four different things. An interview with short answer scenarios, a 3 1/2 hour exam, something called a triple jump assessment which from what Sophie has told me sounds like an interview style (i think sophie said it can take 4 hours) where you have to take on a patients case from beginning to end, review paperwork, plan care etc, then an assessment preformed in a clinical skills lab. It isn't a pass or fail assessment but it take 3-5 weeks for the results to come back. If she passes then Sophie can continue with her registration for CARNA then contact her employer again to have phone interview, formal job offer then start applying for a work permit. If not she needs to complete some training (at our own expense) in order to meet the requirements and until then can only work with a restrictive permit which forbids her from working with anyone under the age of 18, pregnant mothers and anything Gynae related, which is quite limiting as she wants to work in theatres again. Also she was told by her contact in the Calgary health region that employers are rather reluctant to allow people lots of time of which she would need to complete the training.

I know its a lot to take in but Sophie only found out that she needed to complete this SEC a couple of weeks ago and it is the 1st week of FEB so she had no time to arrange any sort of work experience at the hospital, so this may give someone a heads up! Hope this answers some questions.

Hi there Jessica,

bainesey36 has summed up the situation very wel. ive just had an email from CRNBC (british columbia) to say they have my transcripts but the from that accompanies it doesnt have my maternity box 'ticked' so unless i could prove i had covered maternity in theory and clinical aspects during my training i would have to do he SEC.

i phoned the lady who sent my trascripts and explained thesituation stating i had covered this and had infact done a 6weeks clinical placement- sh told me she didnt tick the box because in my training (p2000) its called mother and baby!

needless to say she is sending another form and i have emailed my contact at the CRNBC to tell him all the above- he was very understanding and very helpful.

im presuming that the SEC assessment is exactly the same regardless of which province you are going to so this link maybe helpful as it explains the SEC assessment.

http://www.nursinginbc.ca

the link is on the left hand side of the page.

hope this helps

good luck

Hey, i managed to speak to someone from CARNA who could clarify what training you need for you to sit the CRNE and was told that when you submit your application write down ALL of your experience. This way you may not have to sit the SEC assessment, you only have to sit this if you are lacking in all 3 other fields(psychiatric, paediatric and maternity). I think most adult nurses have definitely had to provide care for patients with mental health problems, this is something I do on a almost daily basis as my ward is always full of medical borders so I'm going to include that in my application and hopefully that will give me enough experience with working with psychiatric patients. If it's just the other two that I need experience in then as you know they can issue you with a re-stricted permit and then you do this when you get to Canada and are in a job, I would rather this than go all the way to London or even worse Calgary to sit the SEC assessment, then maybe fail it and have to do it all over again! Does anyone know how often the SEC assessment is on in London?

Jessica,

Not sure if you read our reply fully above, but I'll try and clear things up a bit from the highlighted sections in your last post. Red - There are SEC assessments for each speciality, Adult, Pediatric, Maternity and Mental Health and you would be required to do either 1,2,3 or even all 4 SEC assessments if CARNA felt you were short of training/experience in those areas (Sophie is short in Pediatrics, hence she has to do the Pediatric SEC Assessment).

Yellow - You're right, if you are short in no more than 2 areas, you are eligible for a restricted permit. To qualify for this however, you need a) an offer of employment, b) an 'Employer Declaration of Support for a Restricted Temporary Permit', c) an 'Authority to Release Information' form enabling both CARNA and your employer to communicate about your progression towards registration and d) an 'Action Plan' between the two aswell, stating how they will complete the necessary training and exams in an 18 month period to gain full registration as a registered nurse including the CRNE exam. The difficulty here is the job offer apparently, as employers don't like their nurses taking time off!

Blue - Our understanding is that the SEC assessment is exactly that, an assessment, not a Pass/Fail exam. The assessment will either find that you have sufficient knowledge in the specific area, or that you require further training and a course/s will be recommended for you to attend and PAY for.

As for the assessments being done in London, all we know is that this is the first time they've done it and we don't know how regular it will be sorry.

Hope this makes things a little clearer as most of the above has been taken from the letter that CARNA sent out to Sophie explaining the process with regards to SEC assessments etc.

Nige and Sophie.