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Registered Nurse Jobs
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| British Columbia The Health Professions Act |
Ontario The Regulated Health Professions Act. |
| Nursing is defined as the health profession in which a
person provides or performs the following services: Health care for promoting, maintaining and restoring health. Prevention, treatment and palliation of illness and injury. |
Nursing practice is the promotion of health and the assessment of, the provision of care for, and the treatment of health conditions by supportive, preventative, therapeutic, palliative, and rehabilitative means in order to attain or maintain optimal function. |
The legal definition of nursing is important for understanding the nursing scope of practice statements for each of the types of nursing in Canada. A registered nurse who has a current nursing license is only covered under malpractice insurance when engaged in nursing practice.
So the legal definition of nursing also becomes important in legal proceedings.
The domains of the nursing profession and job classifications are not the same thing.
A domain is a description of the main responsibility of nursing practice. It is used simply to describe the main area of expertise used in nursing practice in that domain. A job classification is a description of a nursing job. It is determined by the union and placed into collective agreements. It is used to determine salary and/or placement on the salary scale and defines roles and responsibilities of the registered nursing jobs in that classification.Nursing practice occurs in 4 separate domains:
- direct care
- administration
- research
- education
Registered nurse jobs are classified under labor union agreements for the purpose of determining salary.
Job classifications in labor union agreements take into consideration the:
- span of control
- the education requirements
- nature of decision-making in the nursing job
Span of Control
Span of control is a term that is used to describe the number of people that directly report to an individual in an organization. Registered nursing jobs that formally supervise other health care providers in the organizational structure would have a wider span of control than the registered nurse who works to deliver care directly to the patient and family.
"Formal supervision" means that the nurse has responsibility for scheduling, monitoring the performance, and conducting formal performance appraisals for the health care worker under the span of control.
Education Requirements
Some registered nurse jobs require advanced education such as a masters degree (clinical nurse specialist) or post-basic education in specialized skills such as:
- advanced life support
- diabetic education
- infection control
- research
Decision-making
All registered nurse jobs involve decision making. But when the nurse must make decisions that go beyond those required for direct patient care, the job is usually re-classified and sometimes that is a higher level of pay under labor union agreements. Job classifications for a nursing job based on the types of decision making would take into consideration such things as:- administrative responsibilities for scheduling and supervising of other staff
- ongoing education of the health care providers and/or coordination of student experiences
- liaison and/or coordination with external agencies
- decisions regarding budget
Go to the explanation of domains of nursing careers.
You can read about salary information for registered nurse jobs here.
Current Nursing Shortage
Some provincial health authorities have decreased the number of nursing positions because of funding shortfalls. These are some of the political nuances of nursing in Canada.
The various career sections on health authority websites still show a wide variety of positions, but many of them are not entry level.
This is most likely a temporary situation and all predictions still forcast a nursing shortage for the future.
I will be monitoring this situation over the longer term.
A Canadian visitor says:
Bev:I have read the pages on your site, and just thought you should know, that so far your website has been the most valuable information tool I have found. It is really hard to find the right information. I have just enrolled in a diploma program, RPN, and then I would like to follow through and get my degree.
Thank you again for your time, and for the great site, I am certainly going to pass it along.
Copyright©
2009
This website is a private commercial enterprise and is owned and operated by Beverly Hansen OMalley.
It is not in any way affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by the government of Canada or any nursing regulatory organization in Canada.
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