Working

It can take a number of years to get a licence to practice in your health care profession.  Some internationally educated professionals are never able to get a licence.  Your English language skills, where you obtained your training, the number of years since you have worked in your occupation and your Canadian work experience may all impact whether you obtain a licence in Saskatchewan.

Ensuring that you have all the information you need will help you to make good decisions.  After you consider your personal circumstances (time out of practice, financial situation, etc.) and the requirements for licensure, you may decide that pursuing licensure in your profession is not practical at this time.

Here are some of the many other options available for working in health care:

Some internationally educated health professionals decide to retrain in a related health care occupation.  Once employed, this allows them to gain important experience in a Canadian health care environment and to support themselves while continuing to work toward licensure in their original professional field. 

Although trained as a physician, Mawien decided to retrain as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist while preparing to write his medical exams in Saskatchewan.  (Read more about Mawien's experience).

Often the skills developed in one health care profession can be transferred to other occupations which do not require a license.

Go to the Career Exploration feature on the Saskatoon Health Region website to learn about what the different health care professionals do and where to get training.

To learn about jobs that require little or no specialized training, click here and choose "By Education" on the left hand navigation bar.  This will give you information on the duties, qualifications and experience required for more than 250 different jobs within the Saskatoon Health Region. 

For information on the jobs available in other health regions across the province, click here.

Patricia, who now works as a Graduate Nurse in Regina, was able to begin working immediately as a nurses' aide until she qualified for her Graduate Nurse license.  (Read more about Patricia's experience).

For some internationally educated health professionals, the quickest and most direct route to obtaining a license and employment is to re-train in a Canadian institution.

The University of Saskatchewan and other Canadian universities offer post-graduate studies in health care.  You can gain important insights into the Canadian health care system and develop marketable skills.  This may lead to work in a related field such as research.

Working in a job that is not health care related may be necessary to support yourself while working toward obtaining a license.  For example, an IEHP with training as a Medical Laboratory Technologist may be able to find work in an industrial lab or a veterinary clinic.  The disadvantage is that you will have less exposure to the Canadian health care system and less opportunity to make professional contacts.