While the last examination for admission to the profession of the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) is already under the magnifying glass of the Commissioner for Admission to the Professions, who evokes the hypothesis of methodological flaws leading to results historically low in its January 18 progress report, The Press of January 26 tells us, under the signatures of Ariane Lacoursière and Alice Girard-Bossé, that the difference between the results of this examination of people with a CEGEP diploma compared to those who have completed university studies reaches 20%.1
To see this reality confirmed in this way, which the college players concerned already suspected, is downright shocking for these girls and boys who worked hard for three years in CEGEP to obtain the right to serve Quebec, in a demanding program that trained the majority of our nursing staff for over 50 years.
Because, remember, nursing education has been at the heart of the college network since its creation. It is offered in 46 CEGEPs, which ensures accessibility to quality care throughout Quebec.
Obsessed for nearly 20 years with its desire to make the baccalaureate the threshold for admission to the nursing profession, by even including it as the first orientation of its strategic plan, the OIIQ claims that its examination does not contain a bias against of the college network and accuses those who make this assumption of bad faith. However, for the college network, it is clear that, consciously or not, the OIIQ exam may be imbued with this anti-CEGEP prejudice, the college representatives on the Order’s training committee having already fact that if the request for training upgrade formulated by the OIIQ was not accepted, it could choose to use the lever of its examination to achieve its ends. In this context, it is more than legitimate to ask that full light be shed on this issue.
Fix the problem… urgently
For the Fédération des cégeps, it is essential that a neutral and complete analysis of the causes of the high failure rate be carried out by the Commissioner for admission to professions in order to provide all the clarifications on this distressing result and, above all, prevent this situation from happening again in the future.
Candidates who failed the last OIIQ exam in an unusual proportion passed a difficult three-year program at CEGEP, which includes internships and relies on the use of cutting-edge technology. People who have successfully completed it complete their studies with the solid background of skills required by the workplace in accordance with an estimate established by the Ministry of Higher Education. In other words, they are highly qualified and ready to serve a population that needs them more than ever and cannot wait for them any longer. Lives and careers are at stake, hundreds of young people are at the heart of this debate and the entire Quebec population is waiting for health care.