MONTREAL – Contrary to the recommendation of the Commissioner for Admissions to Professions, the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) announces that it is maintaining the holding of its next exam scheduled for March. However, candidates for the profession have a choice of whether to participate or wait until next fall.

In publishing a progress report last week, the Commissioner, who is investigating the unusually high failure rate of the OIIQ’s last audit, had proposed postponing the next audit. Me André Gariépy wanted to take the time to explore the reasons for the high failure rate before the assignment repeats the exercise.

After a week of deliberations, the order reached a compromise on Wednesday by offering candidates to practice nursing (CEPI) the opportunity to take the admissions exam in March if they so wish. The others can wait and take the next exam, which is scheduled for September 2023.

Normally, CEPIs are required to register for admission to the professional exam as soon as it takes place, otherwise they will be considered failed.

In a press release, OIIQ explains that “this decision provides an opportunity to reschedule the exam for CEPIs who feel unable to take the professional exam or who wish to await the completion of the ‘investigation'”.

Pending their participation in a future exam, these CEPIs can continue to operate in the healthcare network according to applicable regulatory standards.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, OIIQ President Luc Mathieu states that the exam cannot be canceled or postponed indefinitely.

“Anyone who is a candidate for the practice of the profession is not someone in full practice. On the one hand, it requires closer monitoring and is already limited in the healthcare network in terms of available resources. It would be there indefinitely,” he emphasizes.

In addition, Commissioner Gariépy made a further recommendation to give applicants who failed for the third time last autumn a last chance to pass the professional examination. The OIIQ confirms that it will respond to this request. Under current rules, a third failure in the OIIQ exam will result in disqualification and prevent the candidate from becoming a registered nurse.

At the same time, the OIIQ pledges to “return the right to practice as a CEPI to individuals who failed the September 2022 exam a third time” or whose deadline to pass the exam expired last fall.

This is an exception that only applies to the 148 people affected. The OIIQ does not intend to erase the outage from the records of the other CEPIs.

Luc Mathieu says that a very large majority of student nurses succeed in passing the exam after three attempts.

Health Minister Christian Dubé welcomed the OIIQ’s decision in a comment posted on Twitter. According to him, the compromise and the announced measures make it possible to “encourage the success of our future caregivers”, something the network desperately needs in times of labor shortages.

Low success rate

Last September, only 51.4% of the candidates who tried their luck for the first time passed the exam with a 55%. Following the controversy sparked by this disproportionate default rate, Commissioner Me André Gariépy launched an investigation into the reasons that led to this fiasco.

At the time the results were announced, the OIIQ had blamed the context of the pandemic for justifying an inadequate learning or exam preparation framework for students in the various nursing programs.

If we follow that logic, the next cohort due to sit the exam in March could also hit a wall. These future CEPIs were also largely trained during the pandemic. This reality also weighed on the reflection of the Order.

“It hit everyone hard, in all areas of activity. In classroom settings, it took some time to adapt teaching methods. There was much less contact with clinical simulation labs and internship environments,” recalls Luc Mathieu.

He also points out that many female students helped out during the mass vaccination campaign across Quebec. Hours spent protecting the population from the virus but so many hours not devoted to their clinical learning.

Luc Mathieu insists that the OIIQ exam has not changed and that it is wrong to suggest that it favors female university students to the detriment of college students.

“The Trial of the Order has not changed since 2018. It’s the same structure, same shape. These are the same people who help develop the clinical situations and develop the questions that arise from them,” he says.

In his progress report published last week, the professional admissions officer notes that he identified “concerning elements in both the testing and the training of candidates”. He specified that the overall success rate, including candidates who had already failed in the past, was even lower at 45.4%.

For comparison: the overall pass rate has fluctuated between 63% and 96% since the introduction of this exam formula in 2018.

Me Gariépy relies on two hypotheses that can explain the impressive failure rate. On the one hand, either “the examination had methodological flaws” or, on the other hand, “the training of the candidates or some of them did not adequately prepare”. A combination of the two factors could also play a role.

The commissioner therefore argues that “candidates are likely to have suffered damage on their path to professional integration.” In an email reply, Me Gariépy confirmed having received the OIIQ’s reply, but declined to comment as his investigation continues .

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