The new exam chosen by the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) raises many concerns about various issues, including language. The “NCLEX-RN” turned out to be a disaster for New Brunswick francophones, so much so that the students demanded to be able to take the Quebec exam.
In reaction to the report of the commissioner for admission to professions, which severely criticized the methodology governing its examination, the OIIQ announced Thursday that it wanted to adopt a new test format known by the English acronym NCLEX-RN. This is the American standardized exam also used in other Canadian provinces.
However, the only French-speaking example that we have is that of New Brunswick, where the results are so catastrophic that nurse candidates have demanded to be able to take the Quebec exam.
“It’s a downright horror story from A to Z with the Acadian and Francophone community,” simply summarizes the president of the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick (SANB), Cédric Alexandre Doucet.
He explains that since its adoption in 2015, the NCLEX-RN exam was initially very poorly translated before seeing some improvements.
Despite this, French-speaking candidates remain at a disadvantage because they do not have access to the same preparatory documents as their English-speaking colleagues.
As of 2020, 38% of French-speaking candidates in Canada had failed their first attempt at the NCLEX exam compared to 14% for all Canadian candidates.
This was the best performance of French-speaking students since the adoption of this exam in the country.
The issue is so serious that the Société de l’Acadie and the Student Federation of the Moncton University Campus (FÉCUM) have taken legal action against the Nurses Association of New Brunswick (NANB), the New Brunswick order -brunswickers. They accuse him of contravening the Canadian Charter by flouting the rights of Francophones.
Ironically, Mr. Doucet says he hopes that the implementation of the NCLEX-RN in Quebec will finally make it possible to have sufficient resources to have all the preparatory documents translated in an adequate manner.
On the side of the OIIQ, the director of admissions and registrarship, Chantal Lemay, affirms that the order “is completely aware of this issue” and that it is already working with the American organization which produces the examination “to make sure that in terms of French, it will meet our expectations”.
She maintains that representatives of the OIIQ traveled to Chicago several times to observe the French items used to design the NCLEX-RN by the American National Board of Nursing Regulators (NCSBN).
“There are no issues that have been noted so far in terms of translation quality. There are certainly no issues that prevent students from answering questions,” she says.
A “disconnected” approach
According to Mme Lemay, there are still some elements to correct with the American institution, including the vocabulary relating to certain drugs or technical tools for example.
This is a concern raised by the coordinator of the department and head of the nursing program at the Cégep de Granby, Nancy Bonneau.
“We will have to make sure that the scientific terminology is adapted to our reality and that if they are talking about molecules, although we have comparable molecules. »
Beyond the good intentions of the OIIQ, the fact remains that it expresses the desire to use a tool in English, designed in the United States. An idea that the president and CEO of the Fédération des cégeps, Bernard Tremblay, describes as “completely disconnected from our Quebec reality”.
“It seems to me that we have always sought, in Quebec, to have an approach that is really adapted to our reality,” he observes, lamenting that he was never consulted on this subject.
The OIIQ says it wants to submit an official request to the Office des professions du Québec in order to adopt its new exam format starting in the spring of 2024.
In the office of the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, they are content to reply that the “will of the OIIQ will have to be analyzed by the Office of the professions”.
Canadian Press health content gets funding through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for editorial choices.