Ever considering taking your sono skills further afield? Fellow sono and overseas adventurer Jess Hodge tells us about her experience (a few years back now) registering in the Great White North.
Registration
Technically, sonography isn’t a regulated profession in many areas of Canada, but employers would usually require you to be a member of Sonography Canada (which is comparable to ASAR). Unfortunately, Sonography Canada doesn’t have reciprocity with Australia and once I arrived in Canada, I quickly learned that there would be very few employers that would hire you without a Sonography Canada membership. There are also some additional requirements depending on which Provence you would like to work in. To become a member of Sonography Canada (if you’re from or trained overseas) you will need to sit their exams to pass and be qualified as a Canadian General Registered Sonographer (CGRS) to be employed. They have separate qualifications for vascular and cardiac sonos.
As a sono from Australia, I applied under an ‘Alternative Pathway Application’. They assess your eligibility and tell you this application can take up to six weeks to be processed. They consider your qualifications and experience on a case-by-case basis to determine if you are eligible to sit their exams.
Exams
On to the next hurdle- theory exams! Timing is also tricky as they only do these at certain times of the year in certain locations. They now hold them 3 times a year, but it was only twice back then. I lived in regional Canada, so travelled to a University 2 hours away to sit the exams with a supervisor. It was a big day! I did 6 hours of theory exams across 4 categories:
- Core Component (including physics)
- Abdominal/Superficial Structures
- Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Generalist Vascular
There was a practical component as well – the Canadian Clinical Skills Assessment (CCSAs). You do these once you pass the theory exams and they are again only done in certain exam centres across the county. We were in New Brunswick, so I needed to travel interstate to Ontario to do it. They have examiners come and watch you scan and assess you. They also save your images and send them off to be examined. It’s intense! Once you pass those, they put you on the register and you can get a job over there.
Timing
They’re quite strict with the timings for applying for the exams. I missed the original registration cut off for the February exams when we arrived in December, and then had to wait until June to do the theory exams! I eventually did the exams in June and then started work at the end of August so all up, it took a few months, even after the initial delay.
Save your pennies
The exams themselves are quite expensive, the theory one was $1025(CAD) and the practical exams were also very pricey at $1800(CAD). Then there were also application fees, flights, accommodation, car hire etc to get to the exams (depending on where you’re living in Canada). You definitely need to have some solid savings to fund the exams etc, especially when you can’t work in your profession for at least a few months after arriving. I was looking at getting a job in a different field over there but ended up coming back to Australia and staying with family while I locumed. I knew I had to wait months to do the exams and I didn’t want to lose my skills. The hourly rate of locum work meant I could easily cover the cost of flights back to Australia myself, and accommodation was paid for when locuming, so it made sense to do some work back in Australia while I was waiting and studying for the Canadian exams.
Final thought
I had been told that you can get jobs over there without being Sonography Canada qualified/certified, so I decided to suss it out when I was over there before I enrolled for the exams (to see if I didn’t need to do them!). But once we got there, the reality was that employers do require you to have it. It’s worth their while for due diligence and for patient safety. But it was tricky to have missed the exam cut off and then have to wait so long until I could do the exams and get the process in motion! It was a huge learning curve and a long process, but it was an amazing experience to be able to work in Canada!
If anyone would like further info, the Sonography Canada website is really helpful!
Useful links
Alternate Pathways Sonography Canada
Traveller and visa information
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