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For registered nurse Ina Webster, it was two opportunities rolled into one. Not only was she coming home again, but she would be filling a vital role in caring for sick children.

After 20 years of working in American hospitals, Webster returned to Alberta with a new appreciation for our health care system and her role in it.

"The work environment is so much better here," says Webster. "It's very frustrating working in the U.S. because patients are so low down on the totem pole. Everything is about keeping the insurance companies happy because without their contracts you can't survive (as a hospital)."

Webster was recruited by the Stollery Children's Hospital in 2001 to work full-- time in her area of specialization, pediatric intensive care. For the most part, the ratio of RN to patient is one-to-one. In the U.S., the insurance companies would never have agreed to that, says Webster, and the ratio was often two patients per nurse. "Here, medicine is still considered a service, whereas in the U.S. it's big business," Webster explains. "Here, the main priority is the patient; if it needs to be done you do it."

According to Webster, health care is so expensive in the U.S. that parents without adequate coverage often delayed seeking medical attention for their children. As a result the children's condition at admission was critical so they ended up in Webster's ICU. She says it took several years of working and living in the U.S. to really grasp all of the differences in the health care system and the culture as a whole. For instance, lawsuits were very common in California, including those launched by patients.

Webster's experience is interesting in light of the ongoing media reports of an international nursing-shortage. For many years, American hospitals have been making frequent visits to Alberta to recruit our RNs. However, in recent years, the province's health authorities have stepped up their own recruiting efforts to encourage RNs to stay in Alberta.

While the salaries offered in the U.S. can be higher than in Canadian hospitals, Webster points out that even with her medical coverage, only 80 percent of a hospital stay was covered. With a bed costing a minimum of $1,000 a day, it wouldn't take very long to deplete her savings.

With family in Saskatchewan and Vancouver, moving to Edmonton put her relatively close to everyone. Another big draw was the exciting research going on at the Stollery Children's Hospital. Professionally, the opportunities were huge.

The work is challenging, but working with children ranging in age from newborn to 16, Webster says she never gets bored.

"While adults tend to do everything by the book, kids just do their own thing. That is what keeps it interesting."

But when all is said and done, her job is still about taking care of very sick children. That is what she loves.

This article originally appeared in an AARN Nursing Week supplement published by the Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Sun in May 2002.