New Toronto program helps internationally educated nurses get Ontario licenses
A new program created by Sunnybrook Health Sciences is helping the hospital find staff who were trained abroad to get their nursing licenses to work in Ontario.
The Career Pathways program falls in line with Health Minister Christine Elliott’s Jan. 11 announcement that the province will be deploying internationally trained professionals, under the supervision of licensed nurses, to work in long-term care and other settings that have been suffering from staff shortages, especially during the pandemic.
Sunnybrook has been looking within its own ranks to see who fits the criteria and wants to be fast tracked in getting the necessary hours of practical work to become a Registered Nurse.
“We were able to identify 50 individuals that were nurses in their home countries and that were working in a different capacity with us at Sunnybrook,” Chief Nursing and Health Professions Executive Ru Taggar said.
Taggar says, in the past, many nurses who were trained in other countries would come to Canada hoping to work as nurses here, but would have to work as personal support workers, companions or other non-nursing staff until they could find a way to build up their practical skills hours.
“What the ministry is doing is giving us targeted funding to actually put them in a clinical setting,” Taggar said.
RN Champ Noval is working with the Sunnybrook program as a mentor and he can identify with the challenges of internationally trained candidates. He himself was a nursing professor in the Philippines and a researcher with the World Health Organization before coming to Canada. Despite his years of experience, he had to retrain to get his Ontario license.
“Some of them have even thought about moving to the States, because it’s easier to get your license there,” Noval said. But he says the internationally educated nurses or IENs he’s been mentoring have been in Canada for at least a couple of years already and consider it home.
With the shortage of nurses, he says their skills are badly needed in Canada.
“With the crisis that we face right now ... It’s really bad.”
Chandra Kafle works as a nurse in Sunnybrook’s cardiac intensive care and she says her training back in Nepal was in some ways even more rigorous than here.
“The clinical hours are higher there and you get to do one on one patient care, right from your first year," Kafle said.
But she says there are many things IENs need to learn about working in Ontario.
She laughs about how she had to train her ear to understand the Canadian accent when first dealing with patients. Other practices such as patient confidentiality may differ greatly from country to country.
Still, she is happy to see IENs get the opportunity to follow the nursing career they originally intended to pursue.
“Especially in this situation right now where nurse to patient ratios are higher than they used to be, it’s a great help.”
Taggar adds that by giving IENs clinical experience at Sunnybrook, they hope to attract nurses to stay at the hospital and show them the opportunities for advancement that could lie ahead.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
'A huge difference': These adults born in the '90s partnered with their parents to buy homes in Ontario
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
OPINION No reunion between Prince Harry and the King signifies a setback for royal unity
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
How Drake and Kendrick Lamar's rap beef escalated within weeks
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
NEW For their protection, immigrants critical of China and India call for speedy passage of Canada's foreign interference legislation
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
Ontario man devastated to learn $150,000 line of credit isn't insured after wife dies
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
Spanish prosecutors recommend 2nd investigation into Shakira's taxes be thrown out
Spanish state prosecutors recommended Wednesday that an investigating judge shelve a probe into another alleged case of tax fraud by pop star Shakira.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.