Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

I am a RN received LMO and job offer from Calgary health region as a staff nurse. Presently working in UAE. Planning to move to Canada. I also applied for PR on September 2005. It is in process.
Can anyone tell me about the nursing job in Calgary. How will be probation period. Is there any harassment/discrimination during probation. How safe I am moving to Canada with WP visa. I am still afraid to resign my present job. Is canada employers are very tough with staff. What about accommodation and transport in Calgary

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Joseph.

I have never been to Calgary so I don't have the information you ask for. I have however been following your previous questions on BE and would offer you the following advice.

1. You appear have lots of uncertainties about going to Canada. Really think why you want to go and why you want to move away from where you are now.
   
2. Reflect on your work in your current job and have a chat with you current employers. If you are a valued employee and there is no downsizing going on in your organization, should it all go pear shaped they will probably take you back and you have the experience of going to Canada for a while.
   
3. Telephone the HR department of the hospital you are planning to work at in Canada. My experience is that HR people are only to willing to give you as much help and information as they can, both about the job and about the area.
   
4. I feel that you are looking for reassurance that it will all be OK. It probably will, but you never know until you get there. Load of nurses go over and love it but there will always be some who don't. You won't know what it will be like for you until you go.
   
5. I may be wrong here, but you seem to have more concerns than average about working conditions. Is it possible that you have had a bad experience somewhere in the past? If that is the case, don't assume that it is the same everywhere. If I am way off the mark on this then please excuse me.

If you think that I am just being too forthright or making too many assumptions about you, then I apologize. If you find any of the above food for thought, then I have done my good deed for the day.

Good luck, Lynn

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Hey Lynn, just heard you passed CRNE, well done. I should be up for sitting mine in June 08.
well done:thumbsup:

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Thanks. Good luck with yours.

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

mixed thoughts actually, some threads have been its cool you will be fine and others the opposite. Not got much info on it yet, any tips to have a look?

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Really all I did was get the CRNE PREP Guide and do the questions. When I didn't know something I just googled it and about 2 weeks before I did the online readiness test.

There is a recommended reading list but the books are really hard to get. You generally have to buy them from university bookshops in Canada and they are huge so it costs to have them shipped. From what other nurses said on exam day even local nurses only borrowed from the library.

I think that it is easier if you are already working there, but there is a risk. If you fail the exam your temporary registration is terminated until you pass which essentially means that you can't work and you income just disappears.

The factual stuff is fairly easy, just brush up on acute situations like shock and get used to some of the main Canadian/US drug names. Its just that lots of the questions are ambiguous ie gives you 4 actions and asks what you would do first - in the real world you would do 2 or 3 things at once. There is also alot of the psycho-social "fluffy" stuff. You will get the idea when you get the prep guide.

Just ask if you need to know more.

Lynn

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

[QUOTE=destinationnovascotia;5570608]

I think that it is easier if you are already working there, but there is a risk. If you fail the exam your temporary registration is terminated until you pass which essentially means that you can't work and you income just disappears.

whoah there!! I never new that. No indication in any of the contacts I have had with the agency, or the Capital Health web or at the interview either. How can this be?

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Rule of Canadian Nurses Association. Little known too.

I only know because there were quite a few nurses doing re-sits when I took my exam and it had happened to them.

A couple of them had been caught out by it.

I think that they deem you competent until you demonstrate that you are not (by failing the exam). Rough deal though.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Lynn

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Looks like they are more flexible and allowing nurses to come in
to the country and take the CRNE. During the old days, foreign
nurses had to work on the units,pass the 3 months probation and then
they would be allowed to sit for the exams.

Yoong

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

I will check with my agency for clarity although my job offer does state I am on probation for a period of hrs. My registration date for the June exam is March 08 so guess what I will be doing?
:)

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

My agency is checking this out as they have never heard of this and it's certainly not part of my t's and c's that I have got in front of me with my written job offer. I let all know though when Geneva Health get back to me:thumbup:

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Hello.
Just thought I would say Hi.
Have only just found this site, am living in Manchester Uk, and just took my Crne in OCt and found out I passed it (thank goodness)
When are you planning to go over and what area will you be wokring in?
I have been offered Edmonton, but not officially accepted yet
I am hoping for a Calgary post and would love community rather than acute stuff
Any tips?
Dee

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Hi Joseph.
Here is the collective agreement between the employers and the Alberta
Nurses Union in regards to probation.Section 11
http://www.una.ab.ca/conferences/F00...0-%2007-10.pdf
Most hospitals have perceptorship program(mentor or buddy system whatever
you call it) for new nurses during the probation period.
All I can say is that you deliver the nursing care to the best of your
ability and remember to keep your anxiety under control at work.
I have to control my anxiety at work too,so don't think I am on your case.
Do yoga, relaxation and positive affirmations to boost confidence
and destress.
Good luck,
Yoong

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

This is where I verified the info for nurses in Nova Scotia http://www.crnns.ca/default.asp?id=1...29&search=1174 look at the section headed "Temporary Licence". My understanding from the nurses I met in Canada is that it is the same in all Provinces.

You should check with the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta or the CNA as it is not really to do with the employer, but the registering body.

Re: Need advice from Calgary Nurses
 

Well done on passing the CNRE. I am planning to go to Nova Scotia next summer. I have been offered a post in at South Shore, Bridgewater but I am not sure about this as it is too far from where we want to live.

I have applied for another post and this is looking promising.