INSCOL Newsletter Jan

GLOBAL NURSE

January - March 2022

CANADA

Canadian Nurses Association Unveils Massive 28-storey Mural to Celebrate Nurses Nationwide

The Canadian Nurses Association, the national organization dedicated to championing nurses across Canada, unveiled a massive, 28-storey reminder to people in Canada of the immense role nurses have played and continue to play amidst the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, which has created a health-care crisis.

The mural, entitled “We Are Nurses — We Answer The Call,” is created by artist collective One day Creates. It depicts the diverse faces of four nurses looking out at the city’s skyline. Complementing the static image featured on the wall, and as a nod to the art and science in which the nursing profession is steeped, the mural also contains an augmented reality overlay, launched via QR code on mobile devices.

The augmented reality experience brings the nurses’ faces to life with voiceovers and links to stories from the front line and other CNA initiatives. Among CNA’s initiatives is the call for a national coordinating body to address critical health workforce gaps by guiding the retention and recruitment of nurses through enhanced data collection. Nurses also deserve safe working conditions, which should include immediate deployment of mental health resources targeted to health-care workers, and additional efforts to ensure safe patient-to-nurse ratios.

Source: Canadian Nurses Association

INDIA

Nursing courses see Covid boom, 99% of BSc seats taken in 2020-21, 91% in diploma

Nurses have been among the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic due to their frontline role as healthcare providers, but that has not deterred young people from opting for nursing courses. Data available with the Indian Nursing Council (INC) show that between 2017-18 and 2020-21, occupancy of BSc (nursing) seats went up to 99 per cent from 70 per cent, while that for general nursing and midwifery (GNM) diploma courses went up to 91 per cent from 77 per cent.

There are 1,00,930 BSc (nursing) seats in 1,936 colleges. Occupancy rose steadily to 83 per cent in 2018-19 and 92 per cent in 2019-20 to the 2020-21 high, which was through the first wave of the Covid pandemic. The occupancy of the 1,15,188 GNM diploma seats in 2,711 institutions touched 82 per cent in 2018-19 and 86 per cent in 2019-20.

Source: The Print

110,700

additional nurses practitioner roles
will be created by 2029 in the
U.S.A.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics

81%

of nurses are satisfied with
their jobs in the
U.S.A.

Source: 2021 AMN Healthcare Survey of Registered Nurses

1 in 5

job vacancies in Canada in the
first quarter of 2021 was in health
care & social assistance.

Source: Statistics Canada

ENGLAND

HEE launches new campaign to get former nurses back into practice

Former nurses and midwives are being offered tailored advice on how they can return to practice as part of a new campaign to boost the nursing workforce by Health Education England (HEE).

The drive was described by HEE as being “more important than ever following the wind down of the temporary register”. The HEE initiative also comes as the NHS in England continues to record almost 40,000 nurse vacancies, while staff absence rates remain high due to Covid-19 and other reasons.

Chief Nurse at HEE, Professor Mark Radford, said: “Returners bring back valuable expertise to the professions, and we want to enable them to complete the NMC requirements, return to the register and into roles within our clinical services. Some of the processes may have changed, and there might be some new technology, but the fundamental qualities of a nurse and midwife remain the same and are just as valuable as ever. These qualities never leave a nurse or midwife, and they are always needed in the NHS.”

Source: Nursing Times

PHILIPPINES

Nurses celebrate recognition of Filipino as standalone ethnic group

Filipino nurses in the UK have welcomed the fact they can now have their ethnicity properly recorded and recognised on
NHS and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) databases. FNA founder Francis Fernando wrote on Twitter that this was a “historic moment” and added that the
NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) team had driven the move. This now means Filipino and Filipina staff can identify themselves accurately on the NHS Electronic Staff Register (ESR) and on NMC records during the revalidation process.

Previously, Filipino NHS staff and NMC members would have had to select 'Asian' or 'Other Asian', according to Mr Fernando. As of March 2021, nationality data from the House of Commons showed that people from the Philippines made up the third largest group of NHS staff in the UK, behind only Indian and British, with
25,423 Filipino staff recorded.

When looking at nurses and health visitors only, Filipino staff were the second largest group behind only British, with a headcount of 17,852.

Source: Nursing Times

U.S.A

U.S. hospitals seek foreign nurses amid pandemic strain

With American hospitals facing a dire shortage of nurses amid a slogging pandemic, many are looking abroad for health care workers. There’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals, including nurses, who want to move to the United States — twice as many as just a few years ago. That’s because U.S. consulates shut down during the coronavirus pandemic weren’t issuing visas to relatives of American citizens, and, by law, these unused slots now get transferred to eligible workers.

Amy L. Erlbacher-Anderson, an immigration attorney in Omaha, Nebraska, said she has seen more demand for foreign nurses in two years than the rest of her 18-year career. And this year, she said, it’s more likely they’ll get approved to come, so long as U.S. consular offices can process all the applications.

U.S. hospitals are struggling with a shortage of nurses that worsened as pandemic burnout led many to retire or leave their jobs. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases continue to rise and fall, placing tremendous pressure on the health care system. In California alone, there’s an estimated gap of 40,000 nurses, or 14 percent of the workforce, according to a recent report by the University of California, San Francisco.

24.2%

of Canadian nurses’ are currently
working at large hospital
settings.

Source: RNAO Nurses Wellbeing Survey 2021

57%

of the Canadian nurses are not likely to leave
nursing for a different occupation during
the post-pandemic period.

Source: RNAO Nurses Wellbeing Survey 2021

51.6%

of the Canadian nurses plan to
continue working as a nurse for more
than 10 years.

Source: RNAO Nurses Wellbeing Survey 2021

HOME OF INSCOL

In conversation with INSCOL alumnus - Tijo Jose

Heart full of zeal, mind full of courage, and the desire to be victorious. This was the state of mind of our INSCOL alumnus Tijo before moving to Canada. The future is unpredictable but we do need to put our efforts into making the most of our
lives and all the opportunities it has to offer. Before graduating in 2012 from Kerala, Tijo already had some plans for himself.

His family had a huge role to play considering his transition, success, and his present role in Canada. They supported his decision and appreciated his willingness to progress in his career. He envisioned himself working as a nurse and his cousin played a significant role in planting the seed for that as he is a nurse himself. He registered with INSCOL in 2014 and went on to complete the Critical Care Nursing & Gerontology programs at Niagara College by 2016.

Currently, he is working as a Registered Nurse in the ER at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, Canada. It’s a trauma center situated alongside the University of Alberta.

His initial experience in India after graduation was ER and he set the same goal for Canada. He fell in love with the ER because it’s fast-paced and encourages teamwork. After getting his RN, it was not easy to get into the ER since it’s a specialty stream. He kept trying his luck and with his strong willpower, he eventually achieved what he dreamt of.

On asking him about his initial years in Canada, he mentioned,
‘’I was in Southern Ontario. I was naive at that time. Apart from learning to walk in the snow, it was a honeymoon phase initially. The mindset was clear that I am away from family striving to make a life for myself. I had to work in so many different directions. Attend school, work to pay the bills, and fight the urge to leave everything and return home to my comfort zone. The good part was that I came through INSCOL and the initial foundation program I had there helped me make friends, and get accustomed to one another. It became a little easier. I had a shoulder to cry on because of the foundation program’’.

Sharing his experience of preparing for the licensure examination in Canada, Tijo mentioned,
“It gets overwhelming but the exam is conducted to test our basics of nursing. The NCLEX is there to just see if we’re good basic nurses. The exam is based on the curriculum we study as a part of our nursing programs. I believe, it’s a little hyped up but in a good way because then students dedicate themselves towards clearing it. I wrote it and I have my license for 2 provinces and this is why I’m sitting in this position. When I look back, I can say that the scare of ‘what if’ helped me push a little bit harder. It’s not a piece of cake but the scare and the hype helped me in achieving the goal of clearing the NCLEX exam’’.

Talking about the kind of jobs he did as an international student, he said,
‘’I started working as a dishwasher in Canada. It was an Indian restaurant. Every step was about learning. When you struggle, it makes you want to try harder. I learned customer service and with every job I learned how to tackle different situations. All my experiences have helped me adapt and learn. Even in nursing, I initially started as an LPN in Ontario at a long-term care home where I learned from a lot of family interactions. When I started as an RN, I worked in the field of mental health. Again, that was a different experience. It has been a diverse experience overall. Everybody has to understand that when you’re coming to Canada, you’re stepping out of your comfort zone and you have to go through the process. It’s the thing that will make you or break you. So, if you leave in between, you’re not going to reach anywhere’’.

Sharing stories like these from our alumni let us motivate and guide all the nurses who dream of working as Global Nurse. On concluding the conversation with Tijo, he had some advice for the aspirants planning to move to Canada,
‘’Be ready to do anything. If you come with a selective mindset, it won’t work in your favor. Be ready to take on challenges and consider those challenges as a step to grow rather than crying over them. Every challenge is going to help to grow in the end. I remember working 4 jobs in a day to make ends meet but I pushed through that and now I’m successful. Yes, the fire is still lit and I feel there’s so much more I have to do. Canada is a country that has more and more opportunities to offer. So, if you have the fire in you, you’ll keep moving further’’.

In the end, Tijo vocalized his experience saying,
‘’INSCOL team members have been in touch with me as my mentors and it’s been a fun ride with INSCOL. I’m not bragging when I say that I have genuine gratitude towards INSCOL for giving me this opportunity. I reached out to plenty of other agents and agencies but the process INSCOL follows to help every student knocking on their door is very helpful. There we always find people to guide us. Even now, when I go back to any of their team members, they are always ready to help and without any hesitation, they are very much delighted to help anyone and everyone from their alumni base’’.

INSCOL conducted 28 workshops in Punjab & Kerala

More than 3000 healthcare professionals were empowered by providing training as per the Global Best Practices last quarter. INSCOL being an International Training Center for the American Heart Association trained more than 120 participants in ACLS and BLS courses. Other workshops included CPR AED, First Aid Management, Team Dynamics & Critical Patient Management, Reflective Practice and Therapeutic Communication.

INSCOL Foundation Program in Chandigarh & Kochi for the May’22 intake

The INSCOL Foundation Program began in February welcoming nurses accepted in the May intake at Seneca College and Niagara College with the aim to sharpen various skills of nurses including nursing fundamentals, soft skills, IT skills and also cultural sensitization. The goal behind this program is to prepare them not only for the opportunities but also the challenges they can come across in Canada.

Chandigarh +91-977-913-1308

Dubai +971-4557-2267

Kochi +91-812-994-4544

Manila +63 927-527-7835

Delhi +91-987-591-3099

Cebu +63-906-329-1530

Toronto +1-905-673-1234

www.inscol.com