Success rate: the exam of the Order of Nurses has "flaws and weaknesses"

2023-05-09 19:21:58

After investigating, the Commissioner for Admission to Professions, Mr.^e André Gariépy, concludes that the examination of the Order of Nurses of Quebec, whose success rate amounted to only 51.4% on September 26, had “flaws and weaknesses”. He reports that these issues may have resulted in the failure of more than 500 future nurses.

According to M^e Gariépy, the reliability of the examination was “poor” and its validity “affected”. An expert who contributed to the survey noted “significant problems” in the wording of the questions.

“Our investigation leads to the conclusion that the flaws and weaknesses of the exam likely contributed to the unusually low pass rate of the September 2022 session,” wrote the commissioner in his second progress report. He estimates that “more than 500 future nurses were technically failed in September 2022” because of this.

The pass rate for the Order’s exam was 15% among people trained outside Quebec. The commissioner’s investigation reveals “that at least since 2018”, candidates trained outside the province “systematically have much lower success rates” than those trained in Quebec.

M^e Gariépy judges that “the Order and other stakeholders must look into the reasons for these low rates and provide appropriate solutions”.

He concludes that a few scenarios now present themselves to the Order: questioning “the relevance and usefulness of an exam”, improving one’s exam or considering using another one.

In a press release issued in November, the Order of Nurses of Quebec argued that the September 26 exam was “no different from those carried out in previous years”. The success rate previously fluctuated between 71 and 96%, he said. The Order added that in the context of the pandemic, “many are those who have faced more difficulties despite all the efforts made by educational institutions and students”.

Further details will follow.