More Anglophone nurses are failing their licensing exam, according to new numbers from the Quebec Order of Nurses.
In fact, students writing the exam in English have a 30 per cent lower success rate than those who wrote it in French. The Order says this has nothing to do with the translation of the exam. But some teachers and students disagree.
Stephanie Desgagné says she spent months studying for her nursing licensing exam, but still failed. Even though the Order is bringing another translator to look over the English version, Desgagné thinks the same errors can slip through:
“You're not adding in a nurse educator, you're really adding in a translator,” says Desgagné. “What you need is someone who knows the nursing profession. Who knows how we would word things and say things.”
The move comes after students launched a petition, arguing that the exam’s questions are poorly translated and misleading. But the Order disagrees and believes other factors explain the failure rate.
President of the Order Lucie Tremblay says there are fewer English students who had the opportunity to do an “externship”, which give students experience on the field.
“The other thing is that in Quebec the scope of practice is unique and the teachers are using books from Canada and North America,” explains Tremblay. “It's not specific to the practice of Quebec.”
But some of the Cegep teachers who were part of the review told CTV off camera that the test is poorly translated in English. And many students agree.
The Order’s president says they will make changes.
“There's going to be a workshop that's going to be available in English during our conference to better prepare. We want those students to succeed.”
They will also include more English resources online. But some students say that’s still not enough.
Nursing student Gabriela Mizrahi explains, “We didn't have that in September. And I don't think that can explain why more than half of the students failed.”
The Order says they plan to address the matter further.
