(Montreal) Slightly more than one in five aspiring nurses will benefit from the flexibility offered by the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) by skipping the admission to the profession exam scheduled for this this month. However, these candidates will have to appear for the next test expected in the fall.
In the turmoil that followed the abnormally high failure rate during the previous examination, in the fall of 2022, the OIIQ agreed to grant certain relief pending the conclusions of an investigation. Candidates for the practice of the nursing profession (CEPI) notably had the choice of not taking the test organized on March 27 without penalty.
According to the data obtained from the OIIQ, 2803 people were summoned for the March test. Of the lot, 2173 have confirmed their presence, which gives a participation rate of 77.5%. The 630 CEPIs who did not respond to the call will thus be able to complete their training and wait until the fall without a failure being recorded in their file.
The OIIQ points out that the examination participation rate is never 100% since candidates are absent for various reasons. Some may be sick or have left Quebec, we explain.
Normally, a person with CEPI status must present themselves when they are called to the examination for access to the profession, failing which they are awarded a failure. The aspiring nurses still have the opportunity to recover, but three failures lead to an exclusion.
The measure making participation in the March test optional was proposed as an alternative to a recommendation by the commissioner for admission to professions, Mr.e Andre Gariepy. The latter is conducting an investigation into the reasons for the starving success rate of 45.4%, including candidates who were on their first attempt and those who already had at least one failure.
For comparison, the overall success rate has varied between 63% and 96% since the creation of this exam formula in 2018, according to the OIIQ.
In a progress report released in mid-January, the commissioner recommended postponing the March review until he completes his work. The order preferred to offer the CEPI the choice. In addition, the 148 candidates who failed a third time in the fall of 2022 obtained an exemption to try their luck one last time.
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