{"id":78766,"date":"2023-09-12T11:25:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T15:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=78766"},"modified":"2023-11-09T14:48:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T19:48:52","slug":"how-were-helping-internationally-educated-nurses-return-to-doing-what-they-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/how-were-helping-internationally-educated-nurses-return-to-doing-what-they-love\/","title":{"rendered":"How we\u2019re helping internationally educated nurses return to doing what they love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year, The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s team of registered nurses was very pleased to welcome Marde Jade Carbonell and Renz Jerome De la Cruz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marde and Renz both hail from the Philippines. Both have substantial experience as registered nurses. Both have been in Canada for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to become registered as a nurse in Canada, internationally educated nurses like Marde and Renz have to show evidence of recent practice. Until just last year, the only way for them to gain this required work experience was to go back to their home country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, there\u2019s now a much quicker path\u2026 and The Ottawa Hospital is happy to be part of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s Supervised Practice Experience Program<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In early 2022, the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) and Ontario Health launched the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership (SPEP) program, which pairs internationally educated nurses with hospitals like ours or long-term care homes. This provides them with a practice placement opportunity to gain the experience they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve met all other requirements to practice nursing in Ontario and just need your evidence of practice, this is the program for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ottawa Hospital is a participating partner in the SPEP program and has temporary full-time paid positions available in a variety of clinical settings. And you don\u2019t have to already work with us to join our program. We accept applicants from both inside and outside our hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though our Supervised Practice Experience Program just launched last year, we already have great news to share: Like Marde and Renz, the majority of international nurses who completed our program are currently working with us as RNs and RPNs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI really loved the program. The onsite training gave me the chance to rekindle my RN skills.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Marde Jade Carbonell, RN, Geriatric Medicine Unit, Civic Campus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Marde<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the Philippines, Marde worked as a registered nurse at a hospital for eight years, eventually receiving a promotion to head nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marde came to Canada in 2018. After receiving her licence to practice as a registered practical nurse, she cared for elderly residents in retirement homes for nearly four years. But she wanted to return to working in a hospital as a registered nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marde heard about our Supervised Practice Experience Program through a friend, a registered nurse here at The Ottawa Hospital who herself had gone through the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired to sign up, Marde reached out to the program coordinator in February 2023. And in March, she began her placement in the Transitional Care Unit at the West End Villa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI really loved the program,\u201d says Marde. \u201cThe onsite training gave me the chance to rekindle my RN skills. With each passing week, I became more and more confident in my abilities to successfully carry out procedures, set priorities and respond to a variety of situations. Also, the program coordinator is so warm hearted, and my teacher was so nice to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marde completed the program in about six weeks. And only two days later, she received her RN registration. Marde is now a full-time registered nurse on the Geriatric Medicine Unit at the Civic Campus, caring for our elderly patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love my role as a nurse,\u201d says Marde. \u201cIt is rewarding for me to be able to make people who are sick feel better. At the end of the day, I feel amazing, relieved and successful because I am part of a team that saves lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the future, Marde wants to return to the program, this time as an educator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to teach RNs like me,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to help other people gain confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be working as a nurse. It brings me fulfillment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Renz Jerome De la Cruz, RN, Emergency Department, General Campus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Renz<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Renz worked as a registered nurse in a large hospital in Naga City before coming to Canada in 2017 as an international student, settling first in Montreal before moving to Nova Scotia. The Ottawa Hospital is the reason he and his wife came to our city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy wife got a position as a resource nurse at the General Campus,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renz himself joined The Ottawa Hospital as an orderly in October 2021 and joined the Supervised Practice Experience Program in January 2023, completing his placement in the Civic Campus Orthopedics Unit. Just like Marde, he received his RN registration shortly after finishing the program\u2014in a single week.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe program was great,\u201d praises Renz. \u201cI loved how accommodating the nurses were, the willingness of the nurses to teach international nurses and familiarize them with the system here in Canada. I had a wonderful teacher who taught me everything and boosted my confidence to work as a nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renz is now a full-time RN in the Emergency Department at the General Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be working as a nurse. It brings me fulfillment,\u201d he says. \u201cMy hope is to keep improving, keep learning and help patients under my care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want to hear from you<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Ottawa Hospital is committed to supporting internationally educated nurses as they grow and develop their professional nursing practice. We invite you to learn more<\/a> about our Supervised Practice Experience Program and discover other opportunities at our hospital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When internationally educated nurses Marde and Renz moved to Ottawa, they had to go through the Ontario qualification process. Our Supervised Practice Experience Program was a welcome opportunity because it gave them the practice hours needed to become fully licensed nurses in their new home country. So, where are they now? Read this article to find out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":78777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[426,166],"class_list":["post-78766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-newcomers","tag-staff-experience"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}