Canadian Healthcare

Canadian Healthcare consists of registering and obtaining a Provincial Healthcare Card. For this you need to be a resident and also have a work permit or proof of legality to work here. Each province has their own healthcare plan. In Alberta and Saskatchewan at present this is free. This does not cover medications, dental work etc so most Canadians have a private health care plan. Sometimes this is through work others use something like Blue Cross.

I am pleased to see you are all ready anticipating that obtaining a nurse license can be ardous. Again this is dependent on which province you wish to work in as each province has their own Registration Body. Be aware that some provinces were not employing nurses at one stage. I wish you luck if you decide to come to Canada.

Thanks for your response to my inquiry about Canadian healthcare and apologies for only now reading it.  I'm wondering how satisfied you are with the system and why there was a moratorium on hiring nurses.  Was this a budgetary issue and, if so, were there lay-offs as well? 

My interest in working as an RN in Canada is to experience healthcare where profit is not the primary motive and litigiousness is not so prevalent.  I have read on the CRNBC website that Canadian nurses spend 15-20% of their time charting and that litigation does occur.  I would estimate  that American nurses spend 25-30% of their tine charting and filling out forms aimed at protecting themselves and their employers from lawsuits.  I have worked in home health and hospice and much of that charting time is devoted to satisfying Medicare requirements in order to get paid. 

I would be interested in any insights you have in the areas of staffing, litigation, and paperwork vs actual care. 

Thanks.

I think the hiring freeze was due to budgets and financing. I am not sure if they had any lay offs it was more a case of not replacing staff who had retired or left.

I can only reiterate what it is like in my small 60 bed hospital. I have been told that many of the bigger city hospitals work very differently.

We do have to spend sometime charting as the old saying is always there "if it is not written down then it did not happen" In my hospital we use NISS charting system which allows us to initial many aspects of care without having to write it in word form. I would say when i work on the medical and surgical ward/unit most of my time is spent doing patient care and medication. I also work in Day surgery and our Special Care unit and sad to say there is a lot more paperwork and charting required there. Night Duty however there is a little bit more paperwork as there is no unit clerk for admission paperwork. It is also the time that all orders are checked and countersigned. 

Staffing levels on the 30 bed acute medical ward with a 3 bed SCU consist of 4 registered nurses, 4 Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) and 1 desk nurse on a day shift. Nights- 4 registered nurses and 2 LPN's. That however is on a good day. Many days it ends up being less staff due to sickness.

As for litigation of course there are always people who are unhappy with care or something happens and they want to take it further. Don't think it is as bad as it is in the USA though. We do not have to fill in loads of forms or charting for Medical plan payments.

If you are thinking about coming here to work i would come for a visit. Look at the area you are thinking about and maybe visit a few hospitals in that area. I did that and I can tell you I was made to feel very welcome.

The other thing is to start getting your license sorted out as this process can take a long time.

I hope this helps

Hello podge123!

Thank you for your contribution.

Harmonie.

Again, thanks belatedly for sharing your perspectives re: the current state of nursing in Canada.  The nurse/patient ratios are very similar to the US but the pay is about one-third to one-half of ours.  Our nurses' unions are very strong here and have been able to negotiate very generous salaries.  I forgot to ask if you work 12- or 8-hour shifts.  We work three 12's per week, which is considered full-time. 

I will take your suggestion regarding spending some time in Canada before deciding whether it's worth the investment to sit for your boards. 

Finally, do you feel that nurses in Canada are generally happy with their jobs and the system they work under?  The American system rewards nurses strictly on the basis of years of experience without regard to quality of care delivered.  How are Canadian nurses evaluated and by whom?

Thanks for your input. 

Jennifer

Hi there ,
Unions here are the kinpin in Nursing here as well. The union I am a memeber of is quite good. The last renewal of the contact consisted of a lot of heavy bargaining at one time with the threat of strike action. No strike had to be taken as they were all able to come to an agreement. I don't know much about any of the other provinces as they each have their own union. At the moment a RN salary can range from $34.25 to $45.35(canadian)an hour.
Shift times depends on where you work and job posting. I work 12 hours which i think is great. Mine works out that I work 12 shifts of 12 hours in a 3 week period which then gives me 7 days off every 4 weeks. Love that part of it. There are some postions though that are posted as 8 hours shift. I know that many of the city hospitals work 8 hour shifts.

Visiting is a good idea as you can then work out where you want to apply. It is important to remember that some areas get much more snow and colder temps then others. We usually get lots of snow, last year was the worst we ever had and temps of below -40 degrees C for long periods of time.

Happy with our jobs i think really depends on where you are working. Many of the hospitals are working short staffed some due to unfilled vacancies but others due to hiring freezes set in by the powers that be. We all moan about workload and staff shortages however I do enjoy my job most of the time. It is difficult for me to say how happy nurses in general are as i work in a small hospital and how things are done here are very different to the bigger hospitals. We have less resources, money, staff etc.

The Canadian system depending on your union sometimes recognizes nurses by implementing a service recognition payment and this is paid in January pro rata and does not matter who you are as long as you are employed on Jan 1st. Each year apart from your annual increase in pay you also go up an increment/step in pay. When applying for jobs unless it falls out of the union umbrella all are awarded through seniority unless senior nurses have no suitable qualifications. This is something I am not used to as in the UK all jobs have to go through the apllication process and interviews. Success depends on your abilities, knowledge and how you present yourself.

Hope this helps