What would you do?.... (advice needed)

[Dar]

OK here's the story...

I am a nurse.... but i just lost my job... (it was a good thing tho trust me)

so I have been looking for work through many different sites and i came across one advertising for private nursing care so I followed.

It led me to a site that was looking for families who are in need of private nursing care. I continued to read cause if they are looking for families they must be hiring at some point too right? WRONG!!!

they claim to hire ONLY overseas nurses who are trained in their own country and would like to come to Canada to practice nursing. So me being the nosey parker that I am I continued to search this site and I found the link as if I was a foreign trained nurse looking for work and read the qualifications.

NO WHERE does it ask for a nursing degree.

So then curiosity got the best of me I had to call and ask how I would go about hiring a foreign trained nurse to care for my (so-called) sick mom. I was told that there would be no fee incurred by me the "agency" would take care of all the paper work checking references getting travel visas for this nurse, criminal background checks ect... the whole nine yards. Then I asked if the "nurse" would be required to register with the College of Nursing for the Provence? I was told that this is not necessary. they dont need to be registered to practice nursing if they are in a private home (total BULL poppy)

so now I am sitting here thinking that I have uncovered some sort of illegal immigration thing...

the girls they hire are from all over the world this guy tells me and the girls are responsible for paying for their own travel fees, medical check fees, background check fees and also a small fee to the agency...

what do you make of this?

ETA: when I read the history of the company he started doing home air audits, studying the air in a home looking for contamination and then recmonding a proper air purification system that was in 2000... in 2003 he expanded to also offer home fitness repairs and sales .... then in 2005 he got into the home health care when he married his wife

 

[TipsyDog]

OK - Here goes a huge can of worms ....

It's the only way people can afford to be cared for. The health system can't afford any other way out and neither can the private sector. Sounds like a type of black market for cheap labor and the government looks the other way. I'm sure it will be even worse here in the US with national health care they are trying to shove down my throat. They won't be happy till all jobs are outsourced overseas, even the ones that need people to be physically here to do them! Pretty amazing, IMO.

ETA: he went from selling air purifiers to home health care? Sounds like you should open the same kind of business yourself - at least you'll be more qualified!!!

 

[erijn5]

That is a sticky situation!!

I would not want an untrained person taking care of one of my sick family members. Especially if thier lives were in there hands...they probably would not even know how to perfom CPR, let alone and real medical emergency!!

If you have the time I would persue it and see if it is true. Can they come to the US? That is kinda like the mail order brides, scary!! Those poor girls have no clue what they are getting into!!

I know one, but she seems happy on the ouside.

good luck!

 

[debilorrah]

People that are brough over here for health care are brought on a Visa - I believe here in the US it is called a J-1 visa for communities that have less than a certain population. Doctors are required to have a degree, nurses are not, but they are required to school here while working.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

What activities do these "nurses" perform? Could it simply be that they are called "nurses" when in reality they are simply caretakers/nannies?

What medical type procedures are they performing?

I wouldn't know what to do honestly. If it were me, I would probably just question it like you are, but as for any official investigation, probably nothing.

-Kim

 

[Dar]

Quote:
I asked him this question and he said
"they can administer medications, change dressings, take vitals, chart and make notes for the doctors, remove stitches, you know typical nursing duties"

note: in Ontario only a RN or RPN can ADMINISTER medications (and of course docs.) ANYONE can assist with meds.

A PSW (or nurses aide) can't administer meds unless trained by a doc or RN and only if they have been assigned that task , they cant change dressings unless trained and assigned that task from the nurse in charge. If a person is not trained/assigned a task that they are doing they are performing duties beyond their scope of practice and can be criminally charged for doing so

 

[debilorrah]

Here in the US a Certified Nursing Assistant is allowed to give the meds, but an RN or LVN must DISPENSE them. Two countries work a little different. I wish the US was stricter!

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
Actually health care will be much less expensive if we are given a more competitive group of companies instead of monopolies (and the huge amount of uninsured getting care from money out of the pockets of those who have insurance) which exist in most states today. Eliminating insurance that will choose only healthy individuals and allowing everyone to have insurance will negate the huge amount of money being spent in ER and hospitals now which drain billions of dollars ever year. I work at a large, inner city, non-profit Trauma One Hospital with 5 other sister hospitals and the bottom line has been calculated with the new insurance models on the new bill to be a saving grace! Using our system as a model the US will be in far better shape than it is now. Guess I'm looking at it in a different light as I see what goes on now with our terribly troubled system--as they walk through the doors of our ER. It would be great if we all could sit down politely and discuss each step and show what really is going on as it is so confusing and too many rumors are being told. It will amaze me if half the country has a real understanding trying to get through all the info (true or false) being spewed.

(sorry--had to rant)

As for this "agency" --sounds bogus and you might want to report it.

 

[Rosalind]

Do you have an Attorney General or a medical licensure board you could call about this? I would say something like, I was researching the company in the course of my job search and this is the name of the person I talked to, the date I talked to them, what I was told, and then frame the violations in the form of a question: "It was my understanding from my training as a nurse that only RNs were allowed to perform these duties, was my training incorrect? Have the job requirements and licensing regulations changed recently?"

It may be remotely possible that there is some sort of exemption given in extenuating circumstances, sort of thing, which is why I would put it in the form of a question--but then the burden is on the person responsible for enforcing the law to investigate and determine the scope of the regulation.

 

[Dar]

I reported it to my local member of parliament and put it in the form of a question about the qualification a foreign worker must have and i gave her the web address and her exact words were "O MY" so i will leave it in her hands