It's my dream to become a nurse, but the unpaid work nearly broke me

Eyasu Yakob · For CBC First Person

· Posted: Apr 01, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

This First Person file is by Eyasu Yakob, who is simply a nursing pupil successful Edmonton. For much accusation astir CBC's First Person stories, delight see the FAQ. 

I began nursing schoolhouse successful 2021 astatine the University of Alberta during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across Canada, increasing attraction was being raised astir the shortage of nurses as galore health-care workers were reporting burnout. I wanted to beryllium portion of the solution. 

I was inspired to articulation the assemblage by my father, who worked arsenic a caregiver successful Ethiopia earlier immigrating to Canada. Like galore internationally educated health-care professionals, helium faced barriers successful having his overseas nursing credentials recognized successful Canada. Instead, helium worked aggregate precarious, low-wage jobs to enactment our family. 

Pursuing nursing allowed maine to transportation connected his legacy, and I sincerely looked guardant to the accidental to attraction for patients. I knew my travel wouldn't beryllium casual — the world expectations were aggravated and determination was the world of having to equilibrium that with respective days a week completing applicable grooming astatine the hospital. But thing prepared maine for the fiscal burdens I recovered staggering arsenic I worked toward becoming a registered nurse.

In my 2nd year, I was assigned to a objective placement astatine a suburban infirmary extracurricular Edmonton with the anticipation of being determination by 6:30 a.m. for my archetypal shift. It would person been my archetypal acquisition successful an acute attraction situation and I was already rather nervous. When I learned the infirmary was 2 hours distant from wherever I unrecorded by nationalist transit (and that buses didn't adjacent tally aboriginal capable for maine to get determination connected clip adjacent if I tried), I was near scrambling. 

With nary different choice, I bought a utilized conveyance astatine the tallness of the pandemic-inflated surge successful prices — a large disbursal I hadn't seen coming but couldn't debar if I wanted to advancement successful the program. On apical of the outgo of tuition, books, certifications and supplies, the disbursal of the car — state for the agelong commutes, costly parking fees for each displacement and conveyance security — added hundreds of dollars to my constricted fund each month.

To marque matters worse, I had assumed determination would beryllium immoderate signifier of fiscal compensation during objective placements. That's the lawsuit for students successful fields similar engineering oregon the trades who besides implicit hands-on grooming during their programs. However, nursing is an exception. None of the 1,400-plus objective hours required for my programme were paid.

For a while, I attempted to juggle assorted part-time jobs, specified arsenic moving arsenic a probe assistant, with the demands of nursing school. This meant waking up astatine 5 a.m. for my objective placement, followed by spending hours completing readings and assignments and catching up connected enactment responsibilities portion trying to support immoderate semblance of a life. The strain took a toll connected some my wellness and world performance, and by the 3rd year, the mounting pressures yet forced maine to halt moving contempt the relentless expenses.

But I was lucky. I unrecorded astatine location with my household and their enactment successful managing my surviving expenses was the lone mode I could person ever continued my studies without an income. 

Many of my classmates weren't truthful fortunate. More than a 4th of nursing students successful Canada say the fiscal load has made them see quitting.

My objective placements person been unthinkable learning opportunities to make my skills and person fixed maine the privilege of caring for patients. But arsenic overmuch arsenic determination were fantastic moments similar supporting patients' recoveries oregon the joyousness of a birth, caring for radical besides tin instrumentality a dense idiosyncratic toll. Not lone are threats and verbal maltreatment from patients each excessively common, but the regular vulnerability to infectious diseases besides presents a precise tangible wellness hazard for maine and my family.

Since the pandemic, health-care workers person been lauded arsenic "heroes" seemingly non-stop. 

However, praising heroism doesn't mitigate immoderate of the occupational hazards I person been exposed to during my training. It doesn't code the affectional load inherent successful moving successful a objective mounting and it surely doesn't assistance offset the seemingly never-ending costs of nursing school. 

I went into nursing to attraction for others, but it seems similar determination isn't immoderate attraction for me.

Amidst these pressures, I person questioned whether nursing is worthy it. At times, it feels similar I'm not being evaluated connected my imaginable aptitude arsenic a nurse, but alternatively connected my quality to endure endless fiscal pressures amidst the aggravated workload of nursing school.

Sometimes it each feels hopeless. 

When I person these doubts, I effort to absorption connected my household and connected the sacrifices they made to physique a beingness successful Canada. I privation to transportation guardant the aspirations my begetter was denied. I deliberation of the immense challenges helium overcame, and it encourages maine to withstand the structural unfairness successful nursing education.

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I americium successful my last semester now, completing my preceptorship — my longest and astir demanding placement yet. For 10 weeks, I person to enactment done 350 hours astatine the hospital, pulling 12-hour shifts time and night, weekends and holidays. 

With the magnitude of wealth I had to walk connected tuition this semester, according to my math, I'm fundamentally paying $8 per hr for this unpaid objective placement. I'm anxious to beryllium adjacent the decorativeness line, truthful adjacent to my imagination of becoming a nurse. But I can't assistance but beryllium frustrated. The fiscal precarity of nursing schoolhouse could beryllium truthful easy prevented if determination was the governmental volition to code this inequity and equip students with fiscal enactment similar paid objective placements, which would successful crook code the nursing shortage. 

Yet I cognize by the autumn determination volition beryllium a caller batch of students astir to acquisition the aforesaid roller-coaster I have. 

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