The working reality for registered nurses in B.C., according to the British Columbia Nurses Union, isn’t deterring local nursing students.
In a press release, the BCNU suggested that health authorities across the province have cut 600 registered nurse positions since mid-2009 and that those nurses are filling, “whatever vacant positions are available that they’re qualified to fill.” This, in turn, has made it difficult for graduating nurses to find work.
Amelia Chauvette, TRU nursing program co-ordinator, says this isn’t necessarily the experience of the graduates who come back to Williams Lake to work.
“Every student who comes back to Williams Lake, that I taught, got a job,” she says.
Often new graduates start in casual positions where they are called in when needed. In some cases those positions provide full-time hours but not the job security or the benefits of a permanent full-time or part-time designation. Once in casual positions, grads can more easily move into permanent part-time or full-time work.
Chauvette says that a casual designation might affect the quality of nursing experience, especially if the nurse is not getting enough hours, but that isn’t happening in Williams Lake.
“What we’re seeing here in the community is that they’re getting plenty of work. Having a full-time position and working as a casual full time you get the same type of experience.”
Students, she says, are prepared to stay in the community and work until they can secure more permanent employment.
Jen Green is a recent program graduate specializing in emergency and critical care. When she graduated in April she sent out 60 applications, including to Cariboo Memorial Hospital.
She was hired to a casual position immediately at CMH and by July had been offered permanent full time.
“What tends to happen is you’re hired to casual positions and eventually you get part-time or full-time work,” Green says, adding everybody in her graduating class, “got where they wanted to go.”
The BCNU’s claims do not deter first-year students Harj Mann or Michelle Young.
“I always wanted to be a nurse,” Mann says.
“The profession is appealing and it suits my personality and ambitions.”
Young says, “It’s a concern but it does not deter me from completing the program. It’s four years away.”
Mann agrees.
“I’m not too concerned about it. I think so much can change. Nurses will always be needed and hospitals are needed. I’m not panicked; I’m not thinking I should have been an RCMP officer instead.”
Once TRU RNs are licensed they are able to work anywhere in Canada and the U.S. once they pass a written exam.
The TRU RN nursing program takes 18 students in the fall semester every two years.
The small number is due, in part, to opportunities for hospital and community placements; each student is required to spend time working in various health-care settings as part of their degree requirement.