u/Real_Market3469

Hi y'all!

I’m currently a full-time student and started my first part-time job this July. Since this was my first time working while studying, I honestly didn’t fully understand the restrictions on how many hours I was allowed to work. I know I should have checked the rules beforehand, and that was my mistake, but I’m hoping to get some advice from people who may have been in a similar situation.

My workplace pays employees bi-weekly, and our payslips show the total hours worked during the pay period, along with separate entries for things like premiums and overtime.

When I first started working, a co-worker told me that because we are paid bi-weekly, I could work up to 48 hours per pay period and that it didn’t matter how the hours were distributed between the two weeks, as long as I stayed under 48 hours.

I now realise that may not be how the IRCC 24-hour-per-week rule works.

I checked my first payslip and it shows 49.25 hours for the two-week pay period. I normally work 7.5 hours per shift, but during this period I had to stay late a few times because we were short-staffed and my replacement did not arrive on time. Those additional hours were recorded as overtime on my payslip.

I’m worried because this was my first pay period after starting the job, and I didn’t understand the rules at the time.

For context, I am not intentionally working more than 24 hours per week now, and I have been avoiding taking overtime because I’m worried about exceeding the limit.

Has anyone been in a similar situation where they accidentally worked additional hours/overtime while studying? Did it cause any issues with your PGWP application?

I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thank you!!

I’m still shaking from a med error I made last night, and I’m hoping to get some advice from other nurses.

I was recently hired at a nursing home, and I’m currently on orientation with a buddy nurse. Our orientation schedule is 3 morning shifts, 3 evening shifts, and 2 nights. Last night was my first evening shift.

My buddy nurse pulled the medications from the cart and handed them to me. I checked the dining room seating plan to make sure I had the right resident, then went up to him and asked if he was the person I was looking for. He said yes, so I gave him the medications.

Normally, I always triple-check by verifying with another nurse, checking the resident's ID bracelet, and asking the PSW if I'm unsure. For some reason, I didn't do those extra checks this time, and it resulted in my very first med error.

I'm an RPN and currently in an RN program. As soon as I realised what happened, I started shaking and panicking. I immediately ran to the charge nurse and told her I had made a med error. I had already told my buddy nurse that I wasn't comfortable giving narcotics yet, so thankfully the resident did not receive any narcotics. However, he did receive another resident's blood thinner and blood pressure medication.

We contacted the doc, and based on the resident's medical history, the doctor recommended sending him to the hospital for assessment and monitoring. When we explained this to the resident, he was understandably upset that he had to go to the hospital.

What really stuck with me was how kind he was to me. He kept saying, "We're all human. We all make mistakes. I'm not mad at you—I'm mad at the nursing home system." Hearing that made me cry even more.

This is my first med error, my first nursing job, and my mind immediately went to the worst-case scenarios. I kept thinking I was going to get sued, arrested, lose my license, or even get kicked out of my RN program.

I'm off today, but I go back to work tomorrow. I'm honestly terrified, and I'm still worried about the resident (his vitals were stable except for the blood pressure, it was on the low side). This experience has taught me that no matter how busy things are or how confident I feel, I need to verify a resident's identity every single time, even if it means checking multiple times.

Has anyone else experienced a first medication error? How did you cope with it? Also, realistically, should I be worried about being sued, arrested, or having this affect my RN program? I would really appreciate any advice or reassurance. Thank you.