International Nurses in Canada Essay

International Nurses in Canada Nurses play vital role in the person’s life. Nurses take care of health of all age group of Canadians and make the nation very healthy and wealthy. Nursing, as a career to both men and women offer varieties of opportunities for professional development and the personal satisfaction by helping people, when they really seek caring hand. Duties and Responsibilities of a Nurse in Ontario, Canada In Canada duties and responsibilities of nurses are well defined and listed with the emphasis on good ethics. The main duties of the Registered Nurses are as follows. Nurses assess patients to identify appropriate nursing interventions and provide medications and treatments according to policies and protocols . They collaborate with team members to plan, implement and evaluate patient care in consultation with patients and their relatives. They educate the patients and implement the institute policies for discharging patients. They assist surgeons, physicians in medical procedure or surgery and successfully monitor and operate medical equipments and supervise subordinates staff. (1. Employment Ontario). They maintain stock of supplies; prepare rooms, sterile instruments and equipments. They perform routine laboratory and office work. (2. Compassionate nursing care). In Ontario, there are two major groups in nursing profession. 1. Registered Nurse, 2. Registered Practical Nurse. The important differences between these two nursing professions are education and practice. RN requires studying a four year Bachelor of Nursing degree course and RPN requires studying, diploma program of four semesters. (3. RNAO). Working area of a nurse trained in Ontario, Canada – A nurse trained in Canada can work in nearly 120 countries in the world. This is due to the Global nursing connections of Canadian Nursing Associationwith ICN (International Council Of Nursing). ICN is a federation of national nurses’ associations, representing nurses in more than 120 countries. CNA has very good leadership, which has represented ICN at various senior level for pretty long period. (4. CNA). Duties of a nurse in a Third World Country (ZAMBIA) Zambia is a member of International Council of Nurses (ICN) and nursing profession is regulated by the Nurses and Midwives Act No. 31 of 1997. Unfortunately, Zambia is among the 57 countries identified by WHO as experiencing critical shortage nurses and doctors as they are changing their profession or migrating to other counties. (5-ZUNO, 2008). Nurses in Zambia are working in highly unsafe and poor occupational conditions. In Zambia HIV/AIDS and other diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria are predominant. Due to the shortage of nursing staff, there is an overload of work on existing nurses. They work with inadequate protective clothing and instruments. They are offered very poor salary and deprived of basic needs of life. All these factors increase stress to nurses and deteriorate their physical, mental and financial condition. The nurses trained in Ontario can work in any part of the world, but the internationally trained nurse cannot work here as soon as they come here. At first glance this looks unpalatable and dominance of developed country over developing country and third world country. Here, the development in health care is very fast to keep the people healthy and provide faster recovery. So nurses will require keeping the pace with new technology and innovations. Nurses need to implement new health programs. Nurses need to work more independently. Nurses must be able to collaborate, the activities of the different disciplines for the patient’s benefit. Here, Nurses should be aware of consequences of ethical and legal issues, while treating the patient with their consent, relating nursing practice in the institute / hospital. (6. CNA). All these important information and knowledge are required before treating patients in Ontario. Above all, communication should also be fluent, to understand team members and patients. Because of these reasons, internationally trained nurses might not be able to work immediately, when they arrive here. Requirements for internationally trained nurse to be accepted in nursing profession They should be Canadian citizen, Permanent Resident or authorized under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) and provide evidence of fluency in English / French. They should complete an acceptable nursing program, provide recent safe nursing practice, should successfully complete national nursing registration examination and provide registration or eligibility of registration in Ontario. They should provide Good character and clean criminal record from a Canadian Criminal Record. (7. CNO). Expenses to obtain Ontario Certification for internationally trained nurses Various Bridge Training programs are offered by Ontario government to internationally educated nursing professional to gain the knowledge and information needed to get license to do practise in Ontario. (8. Ontario Bridge Training). This study program is ranging between 2 to 4 semesters. The tuition fee for this study program is ranging between$ 12000 to $ 4400. After completion of this program they will have to pay,1. application fee,2. PLAR Fee,3. Examinatin fee,4,General class registration fee. The total comes $ 2457. 0. (9. CNO). These expenses are overwhelming for newcomers. Newcomers initially struggle to get the job to meet their daily expenses. How could they take care of expensive tuition fees and license fees with full time study? This system is very expensive for internationally trained nurse to get license and do the practise in Ontario.