Nursing students will have to be patient: the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) will take 12 weeks, rather than 6, to correct the professional exam that took place at the end of March. This exam, which consists only of multiple-choice questions, had a high failure rate last September.
“We are waiting and not understanding, because the Order does not want to tell us why the correction time is as long as three months. They say it’s because of the Commissioner’s investigation, but how does the investigation increase the time for correction to three months? asks Université de Sherbrooke nursing bachelor’s student Amélie Zol.
Nearly half of nursing students (48.6%) who took the exam for the first time last September failed.
The commissioner for admission to professions, Mr.e André Gariépy, was tasked with investigating the reasons that led to this disproportionate failure rate. The case is still ongoing.
“Given the Commissioner’s investigative approach regarding the examination, the Order wishes to act with caution and make additional validations in relation to the results of the March 2023 examination”, indicated the OIIQ to The Press. The correction period for the March exam has thus been reduced from 6 to 12 weeks.
The Quebec Nursing Student Association “appreciates the work of the OIIQ to ensure that the entrance exam to the profession is fair and equitable”, but “finds it unfortunate that this caution has consequences for the next generation nurse,” said The Press spokesperson Koralie Yergeau.
Additional pressure on the network
Some students deplore the fact that this long time for correction is delaying the arrival of new nurses in the health network. “It puts pressure on a system that is already under pressure,” explains Mme Yergeau.
The OIIQ recognizes that “the context of the labor shortage is particularly difficult for members of the nursing profession and the arrival of new graduates is eagerly awaited”.
However, the Order specifies that graduates who have not yet passed the professional examination can practice in the health sector as candidates for the practice of the nursing profession (CEPI) provided they are under the supervision of a nurse.
The spokesperson for the student association, Koralie Yergeau, points out, however, that the salary of CEPIs is lower than that of nurses. “When you’re a CEPI, you’re talking about a salary of $23.49 an hour, whereas once you’re a nurse with a technique, it’s $25.81 and with a baccalaureate, it’s is $27.08 per hour. It still makes a big difference to have to wait three months, ”she notes.
The correction made by a machine
The professional exam consists only of multiple-choice questions and is corrected by a machine, which reduces the correction time, noted the OIIQ in an article published on its website in March 2018.
The correction requires “all the same a human intervention”, one can read there. The machine “is a little capricious” and “cannot read shades of gray that are too pale, poorly erased answers, two answers checked off, etc. »
Each answer sheet is scanned twice and the data is compared to ensure the quality of the scan. Candidates’ exams near the passing mark are subject to additional verification.
Student Amélie Zol hopes that these six additional weeks of correction will benefit the candidates. “If it’s for our own good, I don’t mind the delay, it’s the fact of not having an explanation that bothers me,” she says.
Students should receive their results at the end of June, rather than mid-May, as was the case in previous years. Those who fail can take it again in September. Candidates may take the exam a maximum of three times.
Learn more
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- 51.4%
- Pass rate among people who took the entry-to-practice exam for the first time in September 2022
- 82.3%
- Average pass rate among first-time entry-to-practice exam takers in the previous eight exams
source: Order of Nurses of Quebec