Psychiatric Nursing
 

Any one any idea about psychiatric nursing in canada, the work culture, practices etc.....
We are looking at Kelowna... is this a friendly town to be in!!?

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Hi

Not going to Kelowna but my Canadian friends sister lives there and always tells me how fab it is.

Have a trawl around the site below - it was set up by a BE member think it is Frankensence.

http://www.relocation2bc.com/index.htm

Might tell you somethings you dont know and is devoted to BC.

Gaynor

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Also try the forums at www.accessokanagan.com

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

When I first started reading the forum a few years ago there was a psychiatric nurse posting as mad bunny. She had all kinds of problems as she was basically unemployable. She did not have a general nurse qualification, only an RMN and this was not recognised by the Canadian nursing authorities. If you use the search function and type in psychiatric nursing you will find some of her posts.

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

I can tell you about psych. nursing in my hosp. , every province has it's own
mental health act,not as complicated and lengthy like UK's.
RNs and RPNs in my hospital are treated as equals , except RNs are allowed do some medical procedures.Management is flexible and open to suggestions.
I think we are well respected by the multi disciplinary team. Security back up
is good, ,seclusion rooms ,we work closely with emerg.and security guards
are ready to help us out when needed. We have zero tolerance for violence
and safety is #1 priority. My hosp. is in downtown Vancouver ,we get majority of the Eastside clients that are addicted to hard core drugs , non
compliant psch.patients and frequent fliers.


The docs.are young and casual,easy to work with and we socialise as well.
We do groups,1 on 1 sessions and do family interviews with the docs.
we have 4 psych. units consisting of (2) general adult psych/addictions units. (1 ) eating disorder unit top heavy with psychologists,
psychiatrists,OT,dietitian ,Rec therapist and Nursing staff.
(1) acute admission / assessment unit .

Education is encouraged and we are paid to attend work shops.
Any personality problems among staff are dealt with among ourselves .
The shifts are 4 of 12hours and 5 days off . There are perks and previledges
given to us and we are careful not to abuse them .

Hope that helps.
Yoong

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Thanks Yoong,
Would your manager like to see my CV??
Sounds like a good working environment.

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Cufc, many aspects of life in Canada differ from province to province, and often from city to city within the same province.

Having been to the Okanagan only as a tourist, I have a favourable impression of it. It is a region that seems to be well liked, nay loved, by the BE posters who live there.

I don't know anyone who works in medicine in the Okanagan. I have a good friend from high school who has lived in Vancouver for some thirty years, about the same period that I've lived in Calgary. She's been a nurse in Vancouver all that time, and she has been very happy with her work. Everything she has told me about nursing in Vancouver is consistent with what Yoong has said on this forum. (But perhaps I should qualify that by saying that my friend is not a psychiatric nurse.)

My best friend in Calgary is a psychiatric nurse, and her working conditions are very different from those of my friend in Vancouver. My Calgary friend was attacked and injured by a patient about a year ago. She spent some months recovering from her injuries and suffering from post traumatic stress. She said that she was not the only nurse who had been attacked and injured and who was off work, recovering. Apparently in the period leading up to this event, there had been a sharp increase in the number of patients, but without any increase in staff and without any changes to the security arrangements. But that also was an era in which we had a resolute budget-slasher as the premier of Alberta. Now that we have a new premier (albeit another Conservative), things may improve.

So I would urge you to research each potential destination in detail and to be aware that the information you gather about one destination is not necessarily transferable to another destination (although there also are some broad commonalities across Canada).

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Didn't you post before ? Uh...whatever.

Very short of PN's in Okanagan. Currently pushing through federal funding for training schemes. I know the manager of the psych unit at KGH. Could get you her contact details if you like , want a chat etc. They're desperate to hire AFAIK.

Kelowna - lots to say, do a search on my uiser name + Kelowna.

Friendly.... well it's not small town Canada. 110k people = 170k in the urban area.
Lots of incombers, outnumber the locals now due to growth.
Lots of hard cash here. Rich conservative types not always the friendliest/most tolerant.
Can be friendly if you hook up with people but some can be stand offish and like their own little cliques, can be hard to break into.
We have been here 16 months and only not making inroads into friends and proper social circles, but methinks they will be genuine friends and not just a heap of 'acquaintances' which some people seem to gather like magpies collecting Coke can ringpulls.
Kelowna = crazyville, so much to do/see, amazing environment, weather is great, more leisure pursuits than you can shake a shitty stick at.
It's a gfreat plac e to live and work if you have good cash fund and decent job and like the outdoors and suchlike. Real estate is killer priced here, say $450k for a decent SFH. Why...cos it's highly desirable and the lifestyle is to die for. The only way I'd leave is in a body bag and even then I'd be fighting tooth and nail.

Let me know if you need more specific info, not much time spare today.
Also suggest you go to www.accessokanagan.com good helpful people there who cyber-post and socialize together.

Rich.

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Hi,
When I am at work tonight, I 'll give you my manager's email add.
On my unit we have 2 Brit trained (myself included) and 1 Aussie trained
nurses and the rest are Canadian trained. I want to warn you
about cut backs in the health care budget in the Greater Vancouver area.We are way over budget and the Govt. refused to forgive the debts,so there might be bed closures and lay offs in other areas but not mental health.
They are going to stress the RNs on the med. floors who will be displaced
and find themselves working in psych.I think the union will intervene and
people are going to protest.

I don't know how the govt. is going get away with their hair brain ideas
especially BC is the 2nd booming province in Canada.

Good luck with your job hunting.
Yoong

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Thanks to all for your assistance. I will make application to Interior Health and see what happens.. wife also lloking for nursing vacancies so hopefully we'll be lucky

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Do you want that contact name...seriously, networking is everything over here. Resumes experience and quals are worth jack.

Rich.

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Contact details would be great thanks.

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

PM sent.

Rich

Re: Psychiatric Nursing
 

Hi Judy,
May be your RN friend and I are working in the same hospital,it is just a thought. I am sorry to hear about the horrendous experience your psych. nurse friend had to go through due to budget cut back and I hope she has
fully recovered .

Yoong