Order of Nurses | One in three people failed the September exam

More than one in three people failed the last exam of the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) which was held last September. The Order is also putting on hold its wish to replace the current exam with the NCLEX-RN, used in other Canadian provinces and the United States.

The pass rate for the September exam for candidates was 63%, an increase from the last two exams. Graduates outside of Canada fared less well, with a success rate of 43%. In total, just over 3,000 people took the exam.

Candidates who have not passed the exam will be able to retain their right to practice as candidates for the practice of the nursing profession (CEPI), which allows them to carry out certain professional activities reserved for nurses, recalls the OIIQ.

“ [L’OIIQ] is committed to improving, as quickly and efficiently as possible, the process of the admission examination to the profession, so that the Quebec population can benefit from a maximum number of nurses able to practice and capable to offer safe, quality and humane care on the ground,” declared the president of the OIIQ, Luc Mathieu, in a press release.

The last two exams of the Order had resulted in an abnormally high failure rate. The success rates for candidates taking it for the first time were 53% in March 2023 and 51% in September 2022.

The commissioner for admission to professions, Mr.^e André Gariépy was tasked with investigating the reasons leading to this high failure rate. He revealed that the Order’s exam had flaws and called into question the quality of the questions and raised pass marks without sufficient justification.

“The work is not finished”

“The results obtained for the September 2023 exam constitute a step in the right direction and indicate that we seem to be returning to the Order’s previous results,” declared the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel.

However, she specifies that “the work is not finished”. “This improvement was only possible thanks to the supervision of the correction of the exam. The Office will continue its support with the Order, since the examination itself must be reworked,” she added.

In October, Sonia LeBel asked the Office des professions to appoint a governance controller responsible for supporting the OIIQ board of directors “to ensure that the necessary adjustments will be made”. Marie Rinfret, former citizen protector, was appointed to the position of controller.

A first report and an action plan are expected by the end of November at the latest. “We will have to see a recovery commensurate with the urgency of the situation to avoid complete supervision,” declared Mr.^me LeBel Wednesday.

NCLEX-RN paused

Furthermore, the OIIQ announced on Wednesday that it was suspending all consideration regarding the NCLEX-RN exam. In May, the Order announced that it wanted to replace, from 2024, its admission exam with the American exam. This exam is already used in several Canadian provinces.

The Order now says it wants to complete its work on the modernization of the college nursing program led by the Ministry of Higher Education before making a decision on the new exam.

The Commissioner for Admission to Professions had warned the OIIQ about the idea of ​​using the American exam. “Using an examination from a third party, especially outside Quebec or Canada, means losing part of the control over the professional standard itself and over the vision of the profession,” he declared in his report. ‘investigation.