This text is part of the special section Higher education
While we are still struggling to absorb the nursing workforce shortage, CEGEPs do not understand the desire of the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) to make the baccalaureate the only route to access to the profession. Pleading in favor of maintaining the professionalizing nature of the DEC in nursing, they urge the government to close a debate that has been going on for years, by taking up the cause of this program, whose many advantages they praise.
“The current debate leads young people to question themselves: do I choose this profession without knowing if my [DEC] will be recognized at its full value? It is a sterile and counterproductive debate. With everything we are currently experiencing, I do not understand why there is no firm position taken from [Christian] Dubé and especially of [Danielle] McCann, who is our minister, on this subject, ”pleads Bernard Tremblay, president and CEO of the Fédération des cégeps.
According to him, the labor market is far from complaining about these nurse technicians. ” On the contrary ! The last checks carried out showed a high level of satisfaction. There is also a rate of obtaining the Order’s examination which is very high for technicians, ”he emphasizes.
In his eyes, reservations about DEC are all the more difficult to understand as this training is part of a long tradition. “Since their creation, CEGEPs have trained nurses. It is often nursing schools that gave birth to the first CEGEPs. It is a very experienced faculty, on the lookout for new trends, and who are everywhere in the territory. Thus, 46 of the 48 CEGEPs train nurses in Quebec. In a context of a labor shortage, accessibility to studies is also the key to access to qualified nurses everywhere in Quebec, ”argues Mr. Tremblay.
Three possible courses
Currently, three study paths are possible to access the job market: the DEC (in 3 years), the DEC-BAC formula (in 5 years) – which attracts 46% of nursing students in CEGEPs – or the baccalaureate in nursing sciences. If the DEC-BAC formula is very interesting, Mr. Tremblay believes that it is nevertheless important to continue to allow nurses to access the job market as soon as they finish their DEC.
“Even if a person wishes from the outset to be part of a continuous process, his DEC must be qualifying and he must be able to say that he has a diploma that allows him to work, if he has to, for example , take a break from your studies, ”says the president of the Fédération des cégeps.
For Mr. Tremblay, each training has its specificities. “I question the ability of universities to properly train nurses on the technical side. […] It is not a hierarchy, but simply two approaches that are different. I have plenty of testimonials from nurse technicians saying that they have to help high school graduates who are entering the workplace because there are clearly certain shortcomings. This is why the DEC-BAC formula is very interesting. But we must recognize that there is a clear, necessary and important place for nurses with technical training, ”says Bernard Tremblay.
No time for debate in the face of crying needs
In the opinion of Sylvain Blais, Director General of the Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the current debate is irrelevant in a context of a critical lack of resources. “If I am told that we are going to start arguing about this, when there are people in my area who have to travel 130 km to access an emergency room, then I will say that we are not making the right choice, ”he notes.
In a context of labor shortage, accessibility to studies is also the key to access to qualified nurses throughout Quebec.
To help compensate for this lack of manpower, in 2022 his CEGEP will welcome two successive cohorts of 40 nurses each, coming from abroad, who will receive an upgrade lasting 9 to 14 months. “These two cohorts will be distributed throughout our territory, so as to ensure that these nurses can take root immediately in the MRC where the needs are urgent. I hope that it will not stop at 80, because our needs are in the order of 250 to 300 nurses. However, the nurses from Abitibi-Témiscamingue that we are able to recruit – or more generally those who, in Quebec, are ready to come to our region – will never allow us to reach the missing level, ”explains Mr. Blais.
In this perspective, he believes, the time has come to clarify things, also so that the future nurses that the government hopes to recruit abroad can make an informed decision. “What we give them as training, under the aegis of the Order, is a certificate of college studies to upgrade and ensure that the elements they have learned in their countries, and which would be different, will be done correctly here. If they intend to say that it will be a baccalaureate from now on, I think we should say it right away to the future 4000 [infirmières] that the Minister announces that he wants to go recruit internationally, ”concludes Sylvain Blais, not without worrying that a hypothetical change in requirements could lead future candidates to think twice before deciding to take the plunge.