Quebec nurses' order will change exam after harsh criticism

The Order of Quebec Nurses (OIIQ) will be changing its licensing exam in 2024 following harsh criticism from a commissioner charged with investigating a high failure rate in the fall of 2022.

Among them was Jennifer Gunville, a nurse candidate who had been working as an auxillary nurse for nearly a decade by then.

She'd been determined to become a licensed nurse and failing the exam was a difficult experience.

"It really affected me," she said. "I have 10 years of experience and no one complained about my work."

But she wasn't the only one who didn't pass the test; about found half the nursing candidates also failed it. The high numbers prompted an investigation by André Gariépy, the Commissioner for Quebec's Office for the Professions.

The OIIQ blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for the low scores, claiming that the students had not received adequate training.

However, the commissioner's investigation called the reliability and validity of the exam into question. The report noted that the college had been well aware of the flaws in its methodology since 2018.

He asked the order to recalculate the results based on a new passing score so that an additional 500 candidates would pass.

ORDER OF NURSES STANDS BY ITS STANDARDS

The OIIQ, however, said on Thursday it is sticking with its more challenging standards and that no student who failed will be given a passing grade.

"As a public protection measure we have the confirmation that that is what is needed to practice nursing safely," said the order's Chantal Lemay.

Still, there is concern on the part of Quebec's health minister about the loss of all those potential new nurses who would have flooded into the province's ailing health network.

"We cannot afford missing 500 nurses," Christian Dubé said Thursday in a media scrum in Quebec City.

But starting next year, the OIIQ said it will change its current exam and will replace it with the NCLEX-RN exam, which is widely used in the U.S. and elsewhere in Canada.

Lemay indicated it was a good option and is also more practical.

"It's an exam that can be taken all year round. Right now, what we do in September and in March, there are around 3,000 people that are being taken out of clinical settings and have to show up on that day to the same exam," Lemay said.

Gunville agrees that introducing the new exam is a good move, since clearly there was a problem with the other one she took and then retook in March. She's still waiting to learn her score.

The OIIQ said the results will be made public next week.

With files from The Canadian Press