Minister Dubé, my goal is not to tell you what you already know, namely that working conditions are difficult in hospitals due to the lack of staff and the exhaustion of many people among the staff. This letter is to let you know that, despite the pitfalls and difficult working conditions that await me in this great sinking ship, I want to be present.
I want to be present with patients in pain, present with my colleagues who only ask for a week, just a short week, without having to call the babysitter to tell her that tonight — again! — she will be forced to work overtime. I am writing to you, therefore, to tell you that I am ready to come to the aid of this network and its exhausted workers.
You are aware that the examination of the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) of September 26 shows a declared failure rate of 49.6%. It is therefore nearly half of candidates for the practice of the nursing profession (CEPI) who have failed. It should be noted that the Order never displays the actual failure rate, refusing to include in its published statistics the rates including exam retakes.
I can say, for my part, that I am one of those who did not have the chance to pass this exam. Thus, every November 10, I will henceforth be able to say to myself, like almost the majority of the CEPIs of this cohort, “I remember”. Because yes, I will remember when I received my note accompanied by a mention specifying that I had to notify my employer that I could no longer carry out my duties as CEPI.
For my employer, the news will also be difficult to take: it means that a member of his nursing staff will disappear from the schedules, all of a sudden. Since there is already a shortage of personnel, this will create other problems that we will try in vain to solve because of the shortage of manpower. I’m not the only one living this broken dream. Everywhere in Quebec, CEPIs like me will be kicked out of the network despite their expertise and a DEC or a baccalaureate.
We cannot consider that the responsibility can simply be shifted onto the shoulders of the teachers. Personally, I was a witness and above all I was able to benefit from teaching adapted to the reality of nursing care. I saw teachers accompany us, reassure us and teach us to prepare us well for the work in the field. Whether it was during my CEGEP courses, my internships or my work as a CEPI in an establishment, my superiors noted on several occasions that my practice was very safe.
To say that the CEPIs who have failed do not have a safe practice is to conclude that all the people who supervised us did not realize the potential danger that we represented. Ethically, however, these people would have made a mistake by not denouncing this fact.
My withdrawal, despite my skills acquired during my courses to obtain my DEC, is equivalent — very concretely — to one nurse less ready to devote herself to her patients in the network. If my skills had not been adequate in three years of DEC, I would not have obtained my college diploma or had access to my CEPI job. It is not only my CEGEP (that of Sherbrooke) which can be held responsible for this abnormal rate of failure, since this is the uniform result of the province.
At this stage of your reading, Mr. Dubé, you must have perceived my will, my perseverance and my desire to work in the field of health care. In addition to the questions asked in this exam, I would have liked to have been asked: “What is your motivation to be a nurse?” I would then have replied, “I will treat each patient as I would like the ones I love to be treated.” »
But no question in this exam focused on the values conveyed in this beautiful profession, namely empathy, integrity and respect. In our course on ethics and laws, we are taught the need to be transparent in order to always properly inform users. I do not consider that I made the free and informed choice to hang up my stethoscope. They are forcing my hand today.
As many of us have requested and still hope, it would be relevant, in the context of the severe shortage that we are experiencing, to lower the passing mark to 50%, which would increase the proportion of CEPIs who have passed the exam. This autonomy would not prevent these people from being evaluated more closely over a period of six months by their department head so that their progress is taken into account in a safe manner. This is for the benefit of all, and first and foremost, patients.